MotoGP Sepang test: Marini leads final day from Bagnaia

The third and final day of the Sepang test in Malaysia was once again affected by rain, but only late on in the final hour when most had completed their run plans.

A late time attack just before the end of the penultimate hour put Marini to the top of the times with the best lap of the test at 1m57.889s to complete Ducati’s clean sweep at Sepang.

A damp start when the track opened at 10am local time kept most riders inside their garages, with Pramac’s Johann Zarco venturing out briefly to set the only lap time – a 2m10.411s.

As conditions improved in the second hour, 16 riders put times on the board, with Marco Bezzecchi – Friday’s session-topper – setting the pace on his VR46 Ducati with a 1m59.506s.

He would be bested by team-mate Marini in hour three, who moved clear with a 1m58.642s, before Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin took over in hour four with a 1m58.204s.

Martin, who topped Saturday’s session, was carrying pain in his hand from a crash on day two, but feels Ducati is in a position to simply refine its 2023 challenger moving to the final pre-season test in Portugal next month.

The Pramac rider’s lap stood as the benchmark until the final 90 minutes when Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales – who had stopped with a technical issue earlier in the day – moved to the top of the order with a 1m58.136s.

He would improve on this on his follow-up lap, finding a further tenth, though it would not be enough to keep him at the top of the timesheets.

With an hour and 10 minutes remaining, Marini made his definitive move to the top of the order with a 1m57.889s that would safely see him to the chequered flag as the fastest rider of the 2023 Sepang test on his 2022-spec Ducati.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team (Photo by: MotoGP)

World champion Bagnaia shadowed him by 0.080s on his factory Ducati, with Vinales completing the top three from the sister works team Ducati of Enea Bastianini and Pramac’s Martin.

Aleix Espargaro only put in 32 laps on his improved RS-GP package and was sixth fastest from Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi.

The Marquez brothers completed the top 10, with Gresini Ducati-mounted Alex Marquez 0.281s quicker than the factory Honda of Marc Marquez – who focused on two of the three 2023 prototype RC213Vs he had at Sepang on the final day.

Raul Fernandez was 11th on his RNF Aprilia ahead of Honda’s Joan Mir and Tech 3 GasGas rider Pol Espargaro, with Brad Binder shadowing him on his factory team KTM.

Hour one pacesetter Zarco was 15th ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller, who had a crash on the final day, while the factory Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli were a low-key 19th and 20th.

Pre-season testing continues in Portugal on 11-12 March.

MotoGP Sepang test day 3 - results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Luca Marini	Ducati	54	1'57.889
2	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	43	1'57.969	0.080
3	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia	56	1'58.036	0.147
4	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	42	1'58.149	0.260
5	Jorge Martin	Ducati	46	1'58.204	0.315
6	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	32	1'58.307	0.418
7	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Ducati	50	1'58.344	0.455
8	Marco Bezzecchi	Ducati	61	1'58.363	0.474
9	Alex Marquez	Ducati	49	1'58.385	0.496
10	Marc Marquez	Honda	55	1'58.666	0.777
11	Raúl Fernández	Aprilia	47	1'58.710	0.821
12	Joan Mir	Honda	45	1'58.784	0.895
13	Pol Espargaro	GASGAS	37	1'58.797	0.908
14	Brad Binder	KTM	52	1'58.812	0.923
15	Johann Zarco	Ducati	50	1'58.852	0.963
16	Jack Miller	KTM	54	1'58.901	1.012
17	Miguel Oliveira	Aprilia	52	1'58.922	1.033
18	Alex Rins	Honda	55	1'58.932	1.043
19	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	63	1'58.943	1.054
20	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	44	1'58.986	1.097
21	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	44	1'59.535	1.646
22	Augusto Fernandez	GASGAS	46	1'59.660	1.771
23	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	40	1'59.923	2.034
24	Stefan Bradl	Honda	43	2'00.435	2.546
25	Katsuyuki Nakasuga	Yamaha	0
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