Marco Bezzecchi was the last Ducati rider on the timinsheets, except for test rider Michele Pirro as he admits work needs to be done.
Bezzecchi has so far not had the same feeling with the 2023 bike, particularly the engine, compared to the 2022 machine he won three grand prix’, and a sprint at Assen with.Fabio Di Giannantonio: “If the race was tomorrow, I could be not so bad…”
Asked if he’s satisfied, Bezzecchi said: “No. for the moment no. Yesterday I felt a little bit better. Today we struggled more and lost the way trying many things.“The bike has a different engine and different way to stop. I struggle a lot stopping compared to my old bike and I don’t trust the front the same way.
“I struggle to put power to the ground as well. The engine works differently so overall I’m struggling on entry and exit.Bezzecchi finished day three of the Sepang test in 17th spot - 1.3 second down on reigning two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia. Bezzecchi said the issues adapting to the 2023 bike began in Valencia, although he was able to mask over the problems with a good timme attack performance later in the day.
“Yes, already in Valencia I noticed this problem,” added Bezzecchi. “For one lap I was quite competitive because with new tyres you have more grip and more confidence, but I saw that I was struggling a bit.“Having so much grip, you try more and more and more to go faster, but it’s normal to get to a point where you want even more but you can’t.”