Valencia MotoGP: Maverick Vinales fastest as Marc Marquez sends message to rivals on Ducati debut

Marc Marquez was the star of the show at the Valencia MotoGP test, while Maverick Vinales finished fastest for Aprilia Racing.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia MotoGP Valencia 2023
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia MotoGP Valencia 2023

On a day whe💟re many riders impressed, Marquez made his much-anticipated Ducati debut and gelled straight away with the GP23. 

The eight-time world chღampion made a strong start as he jumped up to thiꩵrd after his opening stint.

But it was after lunch that Marquez really put on a show as he went fastest with a low 🐓1m 29s lap.

Marquez then improved further before Vinales, who was consistently fast, went b🧸ack atop the le🎃aderboard.

Also enjoying a strong showing with his new team was MotoGP rookie Pedro🦩 Acosta, as the GASGAS Tech 3 KTM rider was just 1.2 seconds d🐬own on the top time before a late fall at turn two. 

Two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia had a solid outing as tested the new GP24 bike, as did Jorge Martin although the Pramac rider suffered two falls. The first of those came very soon after jumping onto the♎ new Ducati bike. 

Bringing a new RC213V to t🐠he fore, Honda had a strong day as Luca Marini found good pace as the test went on.

Joan Mir was a constant presenceജ around the top ten as well, whil💦e Johann Zarco enjoyed a decent showing aside from a slip off in the morning. 

Providing a late charge was Brad Binder who moved up to second, but after setting another red sector to begin his next lap, the KTM rider then crashed at t𝄹urn five after entering the corner slightly off-line. 

Marco Bezzecchi had a strong test and finished as the top Ducati ahead of Marc Marquez.&nb🔜sp;

The same was also t🐷rue for Raul Fernandez, who managed to rival Vinales for pace at different✅ stages of the one-day test.

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