Espargaro ends MotoGP pre-season on top

Espargaro ruled supreme on the final day of Indonesia, ending winter tests with confidence building day. Repsol Honda Team team-mate Marc Marquez put in final stint of intense work.
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Espargaro ends MotoGP pre-season on top

Testing Report

Sunday, Feb 13th 2022

Mandalika Test

MotoGP 2022

Espargaro ends MotoGP pre-season on top

Pol Espargaro ruled supreme on the final day of running in Indonesia, ending the winter tests with a confidence building day as Repsol Honda Team team-mate Marc Marquez put in final stint of intense work.

Sunday, the final day of MotoGP pre-season testing, saw a late revision to the schedule as riders were given more time for practice starts and the circuit given time to clean the start-finish straight. With the break in action coming at 13:00 Local Time, a natural lunch break was added into the day.

Pol Espargaro ended the morning session as the fastest rider with a best lap of 1’31.060, 0.215s clear of second place World Championship Fabio Quartararo at the time. This continues the fine form the #44 has found aboard the new Honda RC213V. Aside from the headline-grabbing lap time, Espargaro was able to round out his testing programme and conclude a fruitful five days of running. With his work done, Espargaro and the Repsol Honda Team decided to end his day early, just before 14:00 Local Time. Even with the early finish, Espargaro’s 1’31.060 stood as the fastest lap of the day, bookending an extremely positive three days in Indonesia for the #44.

The last day of testing was a day about mileage for eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez as he completed a total of 74 laps. Marc Marquez suffered a fall at Turn 2 but was able to remount and return to the Repsol Honda Team garage before eventually heading back on track. Ultimately ending the day in 14th, Marquez was only 0.733s behind his team-mate as he focused on long runs and bike setup to preserve his shoulder. Overall, Marquez concludes the test in ninth place. The overview of the five days of testing has been ultimately positive for Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team as he returns from injury.

The Repsol Honda Team completed a total of 1,702 kilometers across the three days in Lombok with Marc Marquez totaling 212 laps while Pol Espargaro completed 180.

Now the Repsol Honda Team prepare to start another year battling for the MotoGP World Championship, the 28th season of cooperation between Repsol and Honda HRC. The season begins under the Qatar floodlights on Sunday, March 06 where both Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro are determined to start the year on the front foot.

Pol Espargaro ⁴⁴

1st 1’31.060

“I’m feeling really pleased with how this pre-season has gone and especially here in Mandalika. It’s nice to get the fastest time but what’s more important is our pace and feeling with the bike, I’m able to ride how I want. I have to say congratulations to HRC and the Repsol Honda Team for all their work over winter, they’ve put in a lot of effort and the results are showing. Normally at hot tracks like here and Sepang I struggle a lot, but right now we leave having done two good tests and able to find somethings for long runs and on our one lap speed. Yesterday we solved a small issue we were having and it really helped us with the one lap speed. Now it’s time to rest a little and get ready for Qatar, my confidence is good and I can’t wait to race.”

Marc Marquez ⁹³

14th 1’31.793

“I really enjoyed riding the bike a lot today, I was tired at the start of today like everyone but having fun and enjoying riding was the best way to work today. I have some pain in my shoulder today so that’s why we didn’t focus on a time attack, because pushing for a fast lap requires a lot of power and I worked on race pace and setup. I continued to improve my feeling on the bike and comparing now to Malaysia, it’s a big difference. We have made a big step with the new bike and the feeling is getting better with each lap. HRC and the Repsol Honda Team have done a great job to get us to where we are today and I am looking forward to starting the season. A few weeks to keep training more and then we race!”

Mandalika Test Day Three

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	Espargaro Pol	44	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1'31.060
2	Quartararo Fabio	20	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.014
3	Espargaro Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	0.325
4	Morbidelli Franco	21	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.356
5	Bagnaia Francesco	62	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	0.376
6	Rins Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.417
7	Vinales Maverick	12	SPA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	0.418
8	Zarco Johann	5	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.428
9	Binder Brad	33	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.514
10	Marquez Alex	73	SPA	LCR Honda	Honda	0.543
11	Oliveira Miguel	88	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.560
12	Marini Luca	10	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	0.605
13	Nakagami Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	Honda	0.627
14	Marquez Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.733
15	Miller Jack	43	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	0.810
16	Dovizioso Andrea	4	ITA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	0.830
17	Bezzecchi Marco	73	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	0.841
18	Di Giannantonio Fabio	49	ITA	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	0.855
19	Bastianini Enea	23	ITA	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	0.950
20	Martin Jorge	89	SPA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1.484
21	Gardner Remy	87	AUS	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1.800
22	Binder Darryn	40	RSA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	1.989
23	Fernandez Raul	25	SPA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	3.836

Location Information

Mandalika International Street Circuit (known as Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit) is located in the Mandalika resort area on the Central Lombok Regency in West Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. The circuit is a venue for Asia Talent Cup, Superbike World Championship and Grand Prix motorcycle racing races.

Length	4.3 km
Width	15m
Left Corners	6
Right Corners	11
Longest Straight	507 m
Constructed	2021

Circuit Records

Pole Position	New Circuit
Race Lap	New Circuit
Race Time	New Circuit
2022 Winner	New Circuit

Mark McGhee (609)

I was born a century too late, or maybe too early.
I like to ride motorcycles and write about that.