MotoGP Portimao test: ‘Quartararo will be competitive’ - Bagnaia

Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia was back in charge of the MotoGP times as preseason testing concluded at Portimao on Sunday.

The reigning world champion broke both his and the Algarve International Circuit’s previous all-time record as the final day fired up before upping the ante in the closing stages with the first sub-1’38 effort thanks to a 1’37.968 on his penultimate lap.

“I’m very happy,” Bagnaia said as his 2023 preparations concluded. “We are working hard and well in this five days of preseason tests. Now I’m confident to say that we are ready at 100 per cent for the first race.

“Everything went well. We tested sprint race with both tyres and my feeling was quite good with both. Also the time attack in the last part of the day was very competitive so I’m very happy. We have to [keep our] head down and keep going like this to prepare well the first race but I think we can be happy about our test.”

Bagnaia wasn’t the only rider to tackle sprint simulations on the final day of action, with Lenovo teammate Enea Bastianini and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo setting their own benchmarks ahead of the inaugural race in a fortnight’s time.

“I just seen one of Bastianini and Quartararo and sincerely Quartararo was quite fast,” the Italian commented on his rival. “They have done a really good step in front compare the past days so Quartararo will be so competitive for sure. I’m sure that will be from the start one of the contenders.

“Also Bastianini was competitive, considering that he had more issue than me these days of test but in any case, in this moment I just want to focus on myself and maybe for the race do another improvement.”