We could see that Saturday’s Tests in Mandalika were seriously underway because Brad’s binder’s name was at the top of the timesheets for most of the day. The timekeeper was already well short of Pol Espargaro’s best time on Friday and reached 1:31.814 on his third pit exit. But until the last hour of the test, no one followed, and Luca Marini was finally the fastest with a lap of 1:31.289. The teams and the drivers have been too busy testing hard, optimizing the parts, and refining the configuration to find the best base to launch their strike of the 2022 MotoGP Championship in Qatar in three weeks.
A day of driving had made a big difference to the track surface, with a clear line with high grip. Off the track, the track was still dirty and very peril – Raul Fernandez crashed very hard and wandered around with bruises on his face from the impact on Saturday afternoon, and one of Marc Marquez’s training starts ended in a massive fishtail with a lot of sideways movement and little forward dynamics. But the track was usable. “You always had to be pretty careful with everything that’s out there. The grip wasn’t fantastic, but on the line it was ok,” Jack Miller said. This line and the failure of the start of Marc Marquez’s training made the drivers think strategically about qualifying.
“If you want to prepare your start well for the race, you want to qualify as second, fifth or eighth,” laughed Johann Zarco before continuing more seriously.
“You must use this line. Because we are coming out of turn 17 and where we are going on the straight, it is quite clean to start. But it is true that it is difficult to try from another Position. I hope you will do something because, as I said, if not … The first row is good, but the perfect place is the second.” Dirt on the track has also been a problem for the WorldSBK series. In the wet, there was a lot of grip, in the dry, the dirt became smooth and difficult to handle. At a meeting of the Safety Commission on Saturday evening, the drivers had made it clear that the Situation before the race had to be addressed here in March, and Dorna and the FIM had taken note of this.
“We have completed the Security Commission and I think the Situation will be much better than on the first day,” Andrea Dovizioso said. “I think they will do the right things to prepare the track, and it will be much cleaner.” The problem of stones on the track, breaking off from the aggregate, was more difficult to solve. “I’m not sure about the stones. I think they will do everything they can, but I don’t know…. When driving, you constantly break the asphalt. If this happens, you can clean up every day, but following the drivers at this time is painful!”
With a day of significant Tests, it became possible to assess where the various factories and drivers were located. Many riders had completed long runs and completed many laps on used tires to get an idea of who was in good shape for the race. The riders spent time on both the middle and the soft back, but although the soft was very good and remarkably durable, it will probably not be available for the race. There were concerns about a tire edge overheating. However, the soft tail was fast. “This afternoon with more temperature and The switch, we managed to do 30 laps with the switch, and the last lap was two-tenths slower than the fastest lap,” Pecco Bagnaia said. “So we have worked to be as consistent as possible and we are very competitive.” Other riders focused more on the back of the middle, knowing that Switching might not be an Option for the race. “I am satisfied with the average rear tire,” said Johann Zarco.
“I have improved a lot, and that is very important because it is not sure that we will have the soft for the race because there is a good grip, but maybe it is too close to the limit for the hot temperatures on the right side, so it was important to improve with the back of the middle.” KTM’s Miguel Oliveira had followed a similar thought process.
“In the afternoon, I focused on the medium rear tire because we had information that it might be too soft for here, so it will probably be difficult to have this mixture for the GP weekend.” So who is fast in terms of potential running speed? The best way to find out is to ask drivers to pay attention to their position relative to others. I was very lucky with Alex Rins, who had studied the Analysis that was given to him by one of his engineers just before his Zoom debriefing.
“We have a guy in the team who sends us the average, the fastest 15 laps throw the fastest path,” explained the Suzuki Ecstar driver before going down the highlights.
“So, we have Quartararo first with 1’32.3, Espargaro Pol 1’32.4, Márquez 1’32.5, Rins 1’32.6. we’re pretty good. In terms of pace, we are on the right track, then we have Viñales, Bastianini, Bagnaia, Oliveira, Nakagami, Mir.”Rins was happy with where he was. “I am quite happy. We’re working well. Good feelings, so ready to start.” Rins acknowledged that it was still a little early to draw serious conclusions. “This is the pre-season period,” he said. “I mean, we have Bagnaia as seventh at 0.5, I as tenth at 0.5, I am at 0.3. everyone is pretty close. You never know until you get to Qatar.” However, there was a factory that had caught his eye. “I think the manufacturers who are ready to drive when the race is tomorrow will be Honda. Because Pol Espargaro and Marc Márquez are second and third. Suzuki is on the right track, even Aprilia, they have taken a good step.”