Image: Supplied.

A crucial MotoGP test is complete at Misano post the San Marino round of the 2023 World Championship, with Mooney VR46 Racing Team’s Luca Marini quickest as some new parts and prototypes were put to the test in a glimpse towards the future.

Marini’s benchmark was a 1m30.602s, a time that would have placed him second on the grid on the weekend to Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing Ducati’s) blistering record-breaking pole lap of a 1m30.390s.

That said, it was clear not everyone was focussed on outright laptimes, but in second was Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing Team) ahead of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder in third.

Fourth was Martin – both Prima Pramac Racing bikes using bigger side fairings. It must be noted a number of Ducati riders were absent from the test. Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) sat it out, managing a leg injury at the San Marino GP sustained the weekend prior at Catalunya.

Bastianini remains sidelined due to injury, and test rider Michele Pirro was out following his crash on Sunday, while Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) didn’t take to the track either.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jack Miller posted the fifth fastest time, the Australian sampling one chassis that test rider Dani Pedrosa used over the weekend, rumoured to be fully carbon fibre. Pedrosa didn’t join the test, while Binder used a black chassis, similar in look to his standard 2023 chassis.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo was sixth fastest, the former world champion using a bigger aero package for a couple of runs before another aero package broke cover, a combination of the first iteration of the 2023 aero plus additions previously tried by teammate Franco Morbidelli at the Portimao test.

There was also a fifth bike in the Yamaha garage, and it is believed it contained a new engine. However, when Quartararo was debriefed, he said ‘he expected much better’.

Seventh fastest was Miguel Oliveira, the CryptoData RNF rider sampling a 2023 Aprilia, alongside his usual 2022 machine, and he stated the 2023 edition was a step forward in every way. Meanwhile, completing the top 10 were Morbidelli, Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing) and Raul Fernandez (CryptoData RNF MotoGP team).

Top of the Honda riders was Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and teammate Joan Mir 14th and 16th respectively.

Both Marquez and Mir had one of the bikes that HRC test rider Bradl used during the grand prix weekend, with the new chassis, tail unit and exhaust.

Mir did a short run on the ‘new’ bike before work continued in the garage, only heading back out on it much later in the day. Marquez, meanwhile, did a few runs on the machine but concluded the ‘problems are more or less the same’, going on to state he needs time to make a decision on his future.

With the Misano test complete, the MotoGP World Championship moves to the Buddh International Circuit, India, for the 13th round of the 2023 season between 22-24 September.

Detailed results