Francesco Bagnia

The balance of the Portimao tests is more than positive for Ducati, which presents itself at the first GP of the season as the bike to beat. Crystal clear performance and ability to be immediately incisive even with new weekend format which includes the sprint race on Saturdaysuccessfully simulated. Bagnaia he drove with extreme naturalness and finished in front of everyone, while Bastianini he has found the right rhythm and thinks he can aim for the podium in Portugal. Both opted for the 26/A hull, therefore the more slippery and less rounded one that generates the ground effect when leaning. Objectively Pecco “does another sport” to put it like Bezzecchi, despite having made a small mistake by pulling too much in the first 3 laps of the race simulation, slightly “burning” the soft tyre. The group of other Ducatisti is promising more than well with the two Mooney VR46s, Marini first of all, that despite some small technical problems they closed well as well as Martin e Zarco (which will both homologate the “pot-bellied” hull 26/B). Among the protagonists or announced we must insert Alex Marquez, reborn with Ducati after difficult years with Honda. He found himself despite the two crashes on the final day, which made him understand what the limit of this bike is. In home Aprilia there is the awareness of having worked very well. The two officers are going strong, even if Vinales he made the wrong choice of tires in the simulation of the long, focusing on the M. Aleix risks the compartment syndrome operation which in any case has a fast course, so the Spaniard could be ready in a fortnight for the first race of the year. The two Aprilia RNFs are just as fast Oliveira e Raul Fernandez, another surprise in Portimao. Aerodynamics chapter: compared to what Aprilia showed, the innovations brought by Yamaha seem to have something homemade, almost elementary enough to trigger the irony of the paddock thinking about the Electra Radio School on the last page of our dads’ magazine. It is not a case that we won’t see the rear wing tested by Quartararo in the first GP of the season. For the rest, the declarations of the French have a taste of “pretty” with an aftertaste of “so-so”. However we know that Yamaha can and must do better respecting its winning history. At Honda there is a lot to work on both in terms of engine and in terms of chassis: too much for the tastes of Marc Marquez who is currently watching his brother Alex from afar. The latter with the Gresini team Ducati is there in front in 7th place. If it’s a situation that the eight-time world champion will have to get used to, we’ll understand in a fortnight… For now Marc reveals that his brother is “smiling” in the shared motorhome. Playing with your imagination, you would need a spy radio to know what the two are saying to each other, but this type of wiretapping is illegal, even if in the famous last page of the magazine, in addition to the engineering diploma, the directional microphone was proposed, as well as X-rays. Elements of the past that only make the … doors smile.