When there are just under 20 days left until the Italian GP scheduled for June 2nd on Mugello circuit and to best prepare for the Tuscan stage of the world championship on the track owned by Ducati, all the Honda and Yamaha riders took to the track in recent days, as well as the Aprilia MotoGP and Ducati MotoE test teams.
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Japanese at “Casa Italia”
Both Honda and Yamaha have chosen Mugello as one of the test tracks for the 2024 season, going to school on the same circuit where the Ducati Desmosedici GP and Aprilia RS-GP were born, which have won in MotoGP in recent years. In fact, in these days, taking advantage of the concessions offered by the MotoGP regulations, the official Yamaha and Honda teams as well as the LCR team with Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami are present at Mugello to continue the development of the new bikes in order to reduce as soon as possible the gap that sees the M1 and RC213V far from European bikes. From the few photos available it is possible to see some of the innovations brought to the track especially by the house of the golden wing on Luca Marini’s bike. A new windshield now very similar in shape to that of the latest evolutions of the Desmosedici GP24, but also a new tub as well as the use of very conspicuous deflectors placed behind the front mudguard. The “fins” on the tail also change in number and shape with the latter then joining together creating a small aileron. Work at Honda continues and will continue like this until at least the middle of next season as it seems impossible for the Japanese company to reach 130 points in the constructors’ standings by the Silverstone GPat which time the bracket for each team will be recalculated based on the maximum score that can be achieved. To date, in fact, after five rounds, Honda is stuck at just 17 pointsYamaha also suffers the same fate and, despite being in slightly better shape, has scored 28 points at the start of the season. The Japanese are very far from the European manufacturers with Aprilia at 100 points, KTM at 107 and Ducati even 170.
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Aprilia with Savadori, Ducati with De Angelis
Despite being the only manufacturer in the last two years to have won a GP besides Ducati, Aprilia wants to further reduce the gap with the Borgo Panigale manufacturer and so Tester Lorenzo Savadori came to the Tuscan racetrack to continue the development of the RS-GP. The Ducati MotoE test team is also on track with Alex De Angelis took to the track with the first evolutions of the V21L, the MotoE designed by Ducati which could receive important upgrades from next season, significantly improving the performance of the Borgo Panigale electric prototype.
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