Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco led the way in the post-Spanish Grand Prix collective MotoGP test at Jerez.
Zarco, who set his fastest time of 1m37.136s in the third hour of the eight-hour session and subsequently had a fall later on, headed KTM’s Brad Binder by a tenth and a half – with Binder recording a better laptime than he had all throughout the race weekend.
Binder’s KTM team trialled a new fairing and exhaust, according to factory squadmate Miguel Oliveira, who wound up 21st on the timing screens.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo finished the day in third place, having tested a new swingarm, a new front fender and a larger brake disc.
He was 0.018s clear of Jack Miller, who said his Ducati team mostly focused on set-up work rather than trialling out new parts. Miller’s team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, who defeated Quartararo at Jerez on Sunday, clocked in 12th-fastest.
Early leader Pol Espargaro – logging the most laps of anyone at 85 – was the top Honda rider in fifth, ahead of the lead Suzuki of Joan Mir, the lead Aprilia of Pol’s brother Aleix Espargaro and Mir’s team-mate Alex Rins.
Like Ducati, Suzuki largely focused on set-up work, although Rins said he gave a runout to a previously-trialled revised swingarm and “some electronic parts”.
Gresini Ducati’s erstwhile points leader Enea Bastianini, who finished the day in 10th behind Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin, got to trial a 2022-spec fairing on his 2021 Desmosedici bike, but might not end up racing it due to aero homologation rules – with Ducati considering whether to instead switch him over to a specification being developed for later in the season.
LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami was sidelined after just 16 laps following a Turn 1 fall that hurt his left knee.
A check-up at the medical centre diagnosed no fractures, but Nakagami left the test to fly to Barcelona for an MRI – although the team is “positive he’ll be recovered and ready” for the next race at Le Mans in two weeks’ time.
Another rider forced into an early exit by a painful crash was Tech3 KTM rookie Remy Gardner, although he did at least get 44 laps on the books.
There were also crashes for fellow rookie Darryn Binder (RNF Yamaha) and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.
The penultimate hour of the test was disrupted by a lengthy red flag stoppage, seemingly caused by the after-effects of a mechanical failure for the Aprilia RS-GP piloted by test rider Lorenzo Savadori.
