Espargaro Becomes The Fastest In Mandalika, Suzuki's Joan Mir Cancels His Descent To The Track

Repsol Honda Team MotoGP racer Pol Espargaro practices start on the second day of the 2022 MotoGP pre-season test at Mandalika International Street Circuit, Central Lombok / Antara

JAKARTA - Pol Espargaro gave positive provisions to Honda after becoming the fastest rider during the official MotoGP test at the Mandalika Circuit, Sunday, February 13.

The rider, who is in his second year with the Repsol Honda team, is increasingly confident riding the RC213V motorcycle, which underwent a radical change this year.

Espargaro rose to the top of the first day of the Mandalika test with 1'32,466 on Friday before returning to his fastest finish of the last day, Sunday, at 1'31,060.

Different from the previous two days, on the last day the drivers were given the opportunity to start practice at midday, rather than after the test session was over, because some of them had to catch a flight at night.

A number of the drivers finished their test program early and the team crew packed their equipment in the garage.

Suzuki rider Joan Mir canceled today's track due to digestive problems in the morning. Suzuki was also one of the teams that packed up early after Alex Rins completed the Suzuki program in the afternoon.

Therefore, a number of riders chose to do a time attack in the morning as did Espargaro who made his best record on the 10th lap.

Last year's world champion Fabio Quartararo led Yamaha to second place, 0.215 seconds adrift of Espargaro, while Franco Morbidelli led his second Yamaha to finish fourth.

The time table did not experience significant changes in the afternoon when the riders tested a number of components and carried out race simulations.

Aleix Espargaro held on to third fastest on the Aprilia RS-GP, 0.325 seconds adrift of his brother.

Francesco Bagnaia was the fastest Ducati rider of the day in fifth, 0.376 seconds from the session leader, while Alex Rins led Suzuki to fifth followed by Maverick Vinales who added to Aprilia's positive result.

During the pre-season test session at Mandalika, the riders complained about the dirty and dusty track conditions, and the thin racing line due to the lack of tires attached to the asphalt.

This situation, according to FIM Grand Prix Safety Officer Franco Uncini, is normal for the new circuit, coupled with the massive construction going on around the track.

After the organizers mitigated by more intensive track cleaning, the riders were able to perform quickly on the second day when the racing line began to widen and the asphalt was covered with rubber tires which helped the bike gain traction, although it was still considered less than optimal.

At the end of the last day, Johann Zarco, Brad Binder and Alex Marquez completed the top ten rankings as the top 19 riders' records were within a margin of less than a second which showed how intense competition in pre-season was.

Marc Marquez focused for the long haul and completed 74 laps today and finished P14, 0.733 seconds adrift of his team-mates.

In the combined time of three days, Luca Marini is in third place, behind Espargaro and Quartararo, after the VR46 driver was the fastest on the second day.

Next in fourth place in general, Aleix Espargaro reaped positive results, followed by Morbidelli and Bagnaia.

Marc Marquez's best record is enough to bring the eight-time world champion to ninth in general, behind Rins and Vinales.

The results of the test at Mandalika will be crucial for both the team and the riders in determining the direction of development of their bike before the season-opening race in Qatar on March 6.

Two weeks later, they will return to Lombok to pave the way again at the Mandalika Circuit which is hosting the second series of races on the calendar on March 20.