As the Qatar test has come to an end, I wanted to take a look t some data from day 2, as day 1 was mostly about settling back in and not that much about performance. As always, take these results with a grain of salt as it is only testing.
Long runs
Speaking about long runs the biggest surprise maybe was how good Aleix Espargaro looked in comparison with the factory Ducatis, confiriming the good feeling that is leaving Aprilia in this Qatar test. Bezzechi seems to have recovered a bit of form, but Di GIannantonio is still incredibly strong following his fantastic end to the 2023 campaign.
KTM seems to have focused heavily on long runs as both Binder and Acosta have the longest runs from the Qatar test, doing both a race simulation and being extremly consistent, specially Binder. Quarataro does not look that bad in terms of race pace, but the Hondas actually do. It is also surprising how far off Oliveira is from Espargaro and Viñales taking into account that he has the same 24-spec Aprilia.
Time attacks
Info: Ideal laps are the sum of the best 4 sectors from each riders. This means that if a rider puts his best 4 sectors of the day in the same lap his best lap will be as well his ideal lap.
In temrs of the last-minute blasters from the riders what sticks out is the amount of time that there is left on the table by Pedro Acosta, who may end up in the mix with Miller and Binder had he put his best 4 sectors all together. Also, massive effort from Raul Fernandez who only did 3 laps during the Sepang test and infished as the 2nd-best Aprilia.
From the best sectors chart it is really impressive how consistant the Ducatis are in the top 3, but also how there’s alwasys an Aprilia in the top 3 of each sector, including even Raul Fernandez in sector 3. Again, Bezzechi seems to have recovered a bit his form from the Sepang test but is stil far off from the race-winning pace that he had at some point in 2023.
It is slightly worrying that there are no Hondas or Yamahas in the top 10 of neither sectors, magnifying their problems with the time attacks that they already had in 2023.
Top speeds
Here in Qatar with a correctly placed speed trap sensor the Ducati GP24 doesn’t look slower than the GP23 like it did in the Sepang Test due to the sensor being too early on the straight. Yamaha’s top speed actually doesn’t look that bad, although grip and traction out of the corners may be their limiting factor when tryig to overtake.
Honda and Aprilia on the other hand look to be either lacking in power or too heavy loaded in terms of downforce, as they have claearly been the slowest manufacturers in the Qatar test.
