Ducati MotoGP rider Francesco Bagnaia ended the two-day post-season Jerez test on top after setting the fastest time on Friday.
Bagnaia, the winner of four of MotoGP’s last six races, capped off a near-perfect perfect 2021 run-in for Ducati with his 1m36.872s – as the only rider to dip below the 1m37s mark in the test.
The Italian was among those extensively trialling Ducati’s new aero fairing, which Pramac’s Jorge Martin described today as a major improvement when it comes to turn-in.
Bagnaia was reported by MotoGP.com to have set his fastest time – which came early on the day – while running both the new fairing and the new-spec Ducati engine.
Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, who was left dissatisfied both yesterday and today with the apparent lack of upgrades the Iwata brand had brought to the Jerez test, finished second behind Bagnaia on the day, albeit nearly half a second off.
He’d tried a new fairing, which he described as a marginal improvement, and a new chassis, which he saw little impact from.
Despite an early crash, Alex Rins was third for Suzuki, with Pol Espargaro taking fourth place for Honda, having sampled its 2022 prototype on the day after spending the previous day with the 2021 bike.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales made it five different manufacturers in the top five, having outpaced Suzuki’s 2020 champion Joan Mir by 0.012s. Vinales also recorded the most laps of anyone with 82.
Thursday pace-setter Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) ended the day seventh-fastest, but was closest to Bagnaia across the two test days on the strength of his opening-day time.
The only manufacturer absent from the top five, KTM, was again led by Brad Binder – but Binder also had a Turn 11 fall during the day to go with his Thursday crash. His younger brother Darryn, making his debut with the new-look RNF Yamaha team after his Moto3 graduation, also had a fall, at Turn 1.
Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was the quickest rookie on the second day, 19th-fastest and 1.656s off the pace.
The Italian was a tenth and a half up on Tech3 KTM newcomer Raul Fernandez, whose team-mate and Moto2 title rival Remy Gardner was just 0.037s off despite continuing to suffer from rib pain after feeling a “crack” on Thursday.
The MotoGP field will reconvene in early February as 2022 pre-season testing kicks off at Sepang.
Session results
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1:36.872 | 42 | |
| 2 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1:37.324 | 0.452 | 68 |
| 3 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1:37.423 | 0.551 | 59 |
| 4 | Pol Espargaro | Honda | 1:37.496 | 0.624 | 46 |
| 5 | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia | 1:37.622 | 0.750 | 82 |
| 6 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1:37.634 | 0.762 | 73 |
| 7 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1:37.672 | 0.800 | 36 |
| 8 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati | 1:37.698 | 0.826 | 25 |
| 9 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1:37.717 | 0.845 | 39 |
| 10 | Alex Marquez | Honda | 1:37.760 | 0.888 | 56 |
| 11 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1:37.942 | 1.070 | 56 |
| 12 | Luca Marini | Ducati | 1:38.025 | 1.153 | 56 |
| 13 | Andrea Dovizioso | Yamaha | 1:38.029 | 1.157 | 58 |
| 14 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 1:38.085 | 1.213 | 56 |
| 15 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 1:38.100 | 1.228 | 30 |
| 16 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1:38.149 | 1.277 | 55 |
| 17 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 1:38.160 | 1.288 | 65 |
| 18 | Jorge Martín | Ducati | 1:38.435 | 1.563 | 34 |
| 19 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati | 1:38.528 | 1.656 | 45 |
| 20 | Raul Fernandez | KTM | 1:38.691 | 1.819 | 55 |
| 21 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia | 1:38.724 | 1.852 | 60 |
| 22 | Remy Gardner | KTM | 1:38.728 | 1.856 | 64 |
| 23 | Sylvain Guintoli | Suzuki | 1:39.040 | 2.168 | 56 |
| 24 | Dani Pedrosa | KTM | 1:39.185 | 2.313 | 58 |
| 25 | Marco Bezzecchi | Ducati | 1:39.312 | 2.440 | 62 |
| 26 | Darryn Binder | Yamaha | 1:39.941 | 3.069 | 55 |
