MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

The final preseason test is a strange creature. Most of the work has already been done at the first test at Sepang. Parts have been tried, and either accepted for use or sent back for scrap. (The parts may be scrapped, but the ideas will be laid aside and the results used to make something better next time.) So there really is a lot less for the teams and factories to test.

Looking at pictures from Buriram, you would be hard pressed to see any new parts compared to the bikes used at Sepang. Or indeed new parts compared to the Barcelona test. As I wrote after Sepang, we are at the stage of MotoGP bike development where designs are converging on the most efficient aerodynamic shape. And we probably won't see any major changes until the new technical rules arrive in 2027.

The MotoGP regulations allow for the teams and factories to have two official tests before the start of the season. The first is traditionally at Sepang, the second at the track where the opening round of the season is set to take place.

In theory, 2025 follows the same pattern. In practice, the second MotoGP test of the 2025 preseason is more of an extension of the first test than a completely separate entity. Since the riders packed up on Friday night, they have traveled to Thailand, had a day of rehearsing the MotoGP launch on Saturday, attended the huge official series launch in the center of the Thai capital Bangkok, a day off on Monday (though likely filled with sponsor obligations in an important market, especially for factory riders) and then a day to discuss the outcome of the Sepang test and the plan for the Buriram test on Tuesday, before taking to the Chang International Circuit for two days of testing on Wednesday and Thursday.

It has been three long days of testing, and a lot of work, for me as a journalist as well as for the riders and the teams. Of course, I did my work from the comfort of an air-conditioned press room, which made it a fraction easier than riding a 300 horsepower motorcycle as fast as possible in temperatures of well over 30°C.

So no long and detailed analysis tonight. Plenty of time for that in the coming days. For now, here are my initial reactions to what we saw and heard at the Sepang test.

Ducati's dilemma

There can be no doubt that the Ducati Desmosedici GP24 is still an outstanding motorcycle. The three GP24s were in the top four or five on the first two days of the test, and Alex Márquez bettered Pecco Bagnaia's time from last year at the Sepang test by nearly two tenths of a second.

So can Ducati make a better motorcycle? Even Ducati aren't sure. Both Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez are yet to be fully convinced that the GP25 engine is an improvement on the GP24. It has a bit more power, delivers it more smoothly, but it loses out in braking. And there is more time to be gained (or in this case, lost) in braking than in acceleration.

The factory Ducati riders spent almost all the test on the GP24 aero package, as well as the GP24 frame, while Ducati engineers tried swapping out all sorts of different parts in different configurations to try to improve the bike.

After the disaster of the first day of the Sepang MotoGP test, we got through the second day without losing another rider, reducing the rate of attrition to just 1.5 MotoGP riders out through injury a day. No doubt the massive crashes of Jorge Martin, Raul Fernandez, and Fabio Di Giannantonio had served as a useful warning of what is at stake in this preseason. But the conditions helped too.

It was a lot hotter on Thursday, and the sun drove air and track temperatures up much closer to what we would normally expect in Sepang. Yesterday's 38°C track temperatures were replaced by a much more usual 55°C. And also, nobody was much interested in using the medium rear, concentrating instead on the soft.

"I think the medium here is the same as Silverstone and Barcelona, but we struggle a lot to make it work," Fabio Quartararo told us. "The gap between the soft and the medium is too much and the drop is the same as the soft. So, I’m not using the medium any more, and I think everybody is using the soft."

A day relative free of drama - there were still more than a few crashes, including both Ducati Lenovo riders, though nothing serious - and a day on which the riders could focus on working. The heat kept a lot of riders in the garage for a couple of hours around 2pm, then a very brief rain shower chased everyone off the track again, but 15 minutes later work was underway again.

On the eve of the official Sepang IRTA MotoGP test, we are leaving the realm of blind guesswork and heading toward the world of speculation. We've seen the liveries, heard from the riders, even in at least one case seen the actual bikes. We've seen the times from the shakedown test, where test riders, rookies, and riders for teams with concessions have had up to three days on track.

(Many choose not to do all three days, as three days of shakedown and three days of official test takes a heavy toll, even for MotoGP riders in prime physical condition. There is no substitute for the brutal forces a 300hp, 157kg MotoGP machine impose on a rider.)

We know a little more from the shakedown test - times were fast, Fabio Quartararo two tenths of a second off his qualifying lap for November's race, and Ai Ogura posting impressive lap times throughout - but it is still hard to make a comparison with last year. Is the track in better shape? Is the grip better? Are the bikes faster?

Devoid of meaning?

Unsurprisingly, when KTM's press officer started the online debriefs with journalists at the KTM launch, we were told that neither the riders nor the team managers would be able to comment on the Austrian manufacturer's financial woes. That would have to wait until KTM's Sporting Director Pit Beirer spoke to us at the end of the day (and once his computer had finished rebooting itself for the umpteenth time). But Beirer was very forthcoming about the current situation, KTM's future plans, and how they are approaching the coming season and beyond.

"It’s been a rough winter," Beirer said with a feeling for understatement. "But it’s nice to talk about racing." Racing is what KTM does, and what they will continue to do, he insisted. "Motorsport is a major part of our company. It’s not just our passion – it’s part of our business model. We go racing. Attached to our racing activities, there is a market. We wouldn’t be part of this restructuring [process] if that wasn’t the case."