The visualisation trick Marc Marquez uses for MotoGP aero testing: “Imagine it’s Qatar, Jerez”

With engine design already frozen, except for Yamaha, the key homologation decision facing MotoGP manufacturers this winter concerns their start-of-season aerodynamic package.

Only one further in-season update will then be permitted for the Aero Body areas, increasing the pressure to make the right call during the limited pre-season testing window.

With just five test days split between Sepang and Buriram, reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez explained how he uses different sections of the Malaysian circuit to simulate corner sequences at other tracks on the calendar.

The factory Ducati rider, returning to MotoGP action after shoulder surgery last October, topped the timesheets on day one before ending the test fourth overall.

Marquez’s best lap of the week, a 1m 56.789s on the final morning, saw him fifth-fastest through Sector 1, including the Turn 1 braking zone, eighth in the flowing Sector 2, fourth in Sector 3 and quickest of all in Sector 4, dominated by long straights and the final hairpin.

Asked whether testing at just two circuits was enough to choose an aero package, Marquez replied:

“No. But there’s no choice! So you need to be careful.

“At this racetrack, you have a lot of different types of corners, so you need to imagine you are at other circuits.

“In different parts of the track, you can imagine the corners are more-or-less like Qatar, or like Jerez - to have some vision of the future, of how each aerodynamic package will work over 22 races.”

Marquez appeared to be favouring keeping at least part of the 2025 aero package by the end of the Sepang test, but “still I need to understand in Thailand.”