Francesco Bagnaia primed for “intense days” at preseason Portimao test before “final decision” on Ducati fairing

Francesco Bagnaia is honing in on deciding Ducati’s fairing for the start of the 2023 MotoGP season, the key call facing his team.
Francesco Bagnaia, Sepang MotoGP test, 12 February
Francesco Bagnaia, Sepang MotoGP test, 12 February

The 2022 Desmosedici was the best machinery on the grid and powered Bagnaia from a 91-point deficit to pip reigning champion Fabio Quarta𓄧raro on the final day.

Ominously,🎐 D🐈ucati are focused on getting off to a better start this season rather than being forced to mount another comeback.

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"We are now very close to th⛎e first race of the season, and so this tes🌊t will be crucial,” said Bagnaia ahead of the preseason test in Portimao. 

“In Sepang, we managed to do a good job and bring the new bike to the﷽ same level as last year's. We are very close to being 100%, and I am sure we will be able to complete our work here. 

“Porti𓆉mao&🎀nbsp; is a very different track from Sepang, and, of course, so are the weather conditions. 

“So it will be crucial to try the different fairings tested in Malaysia ag♛ain to have more data to analyse before making a final decision.✤ 

“We will also have to work on the race weekend,🀅 especially the sprint race. It will be two intense days, but I am ready and excited to return to work."

After the S🃏epang te☂st, Bagnaia reported back: “The fairing was the same thing. It is totally different, a different effect on the ground, so you have to do a different thing when riding.

“It was better in the braking, this is already a good thing for Ducati. Inღ the long corners, I have to understand. It is good to test here because there are a lot of long corners. There is great potenti꧋al.”

Enea Bastianini, Sepang MotoGP test 10-12 February
Enea Bastianini, Sepang MotoGP test 10-12 February

One of the biggest ꩵthreats t🌼o Bagnaia’s MotoGP championship this season is likely to come from the opposite side of the same garage.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Enea Bastianini earned a call-up ꦕfrom Gresini Racing and, even with his facto🌳ry seat assured, he showed willingness to fight Bagnaia wheel-to-wheel last season.

Bastianini won the second♋-most amount of races behind only the champio🌜n.

"I am happy to get back on track thi♉s weekend and return to work to prep༺are for the new season,” Bastianini said. 

💃“We are now practically two weeks away from the first race, and I can't𝄹 wait! 

“Although we completed a good p🎀art of our program in Sepang, two very♋ intense days await us here. 

“It will be important to repeat some of the tests we did in Malaysia to have different data to compare. In addition, we will need to start working on fine-tuning the bike for the race and simulate a sprin☂t race to understand how we will have to approach this year. We hope to find good weather on both days."

Bastiani🐽ni said about afte🌳r the Sepang test: “The potential of the new bike is good so I am confident.

“It is better. For me, it has a l𝔍ittle bit more power. The bike is very similar to the old one, but with more potential.”

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