Marco Bezzecchi is also in the process of adapting to the “new” version of the Ducati Desmosedici, the 2023 model, but his adaptation is not proving to be easy, as he himself noted yesterday in Sepang.
The Italian was immediately asked, after the third day of testing, if he was satisfied, in general terms, with how the test went, and he was emphatic: ‘No. Not at the moment. Yesterday [on Wednesday] I felt better and on this third day I had more difficulties and we lost our way a bit by testing many things and decided to go back, start over, but I still don’t feel very comfortable on the bike’.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team rider later clarified what he meant: ‘The bike has a different engine and a different way of braking as well. I have many difficulties in braking compared to my previous bike, I don’t trust the front end very much, in the same way, and I also have difficulties when putting power down because the engine works differently. In general, I have difficulties in the way I enter and exit corners. With some difficulties, but we will certainly find a way to improve, it’s just the first test’.
If in Valencia he had already noticed some problem, the Italian replied: ‘Yes, I noticed this problem there, but for one lap I was quite competitive, with a new tire you have more traction and the tire gives you more confidence, but lap after lap, I immediately saw there that I was having some difficulties. Here, much more. The track here had much more traction, the conditions were unbelievable. I saw so much traction that you always try more and more, you always want to go faster and it’s normal to reach a point where you say: ‘I want even more’, but you can’t. I can’t explain it’.
