Indonesian MotoGP: Marini inspired by test speed, Bezzecchi 'curious'

Luca Marini's Ducati GP2💦2 debut in Qatar may have been a weekend to forget, 13th place from 17th on the grid, but he'll certainly be expecting a much better MotoGP qualifying at Mandalika this weekend.
That's because the Italian was fastest of all on the second day of testing at the new Indonesian track just a🦩 month ago.
Marini's lap time, of 1m 31.289s, also put the VR46 rider third on th💛e combined timesheets, behind on🅷ly Pol Espargaro (Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), by the conclusion of testing.
"We will race here for the fir🦹st time after the tests where we were particularly competitive," Marini said. "It's a particular and fast track with a fantastic home crowd."
However, Marini's race pace at the test didn't look as impressive as his time attack and - like all riders - he'll have a parti🎐al🌠 resurfacing and revised tyre allocation to contend with this weekend.
Like Pramac riders Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin, Marini is 👍using the full GP22 engine, while factory team-mates Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller a🌺re on a hybrid 2021-2022 version.
On the other side of the garage, rookie Marco Bezzecchi has the same GP21 bike spec as Qatar winner Enea Bastianini (Gresini). Bezzecchi made an impressive start to his first premier-class raceꦺ at Lusail, but then fell while holding 13th place, ahead of his fellow rookies.
"I am 𝓀happy to back on tꦕhe bike," Bezzecchi said. "In Qatar, apart from the crash in the race, we worked very well and the feelings were always positive. In Mandalika we have already done a test and it will be interesting to understand where we will start, I'm curious."
Team manager Pablo Nieto said: "[We had an] overall good test [at Mandalika] where Luca managed to 🥀be close on the flying lap and Marco finished first amon🐠g the rookies. It's an important starting point for making a further step forward for the race."

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story💝 and Marc Marquez’s injury🥀 issues.