This time two years ago, on Tuesday after the last race of the season, all eyes were on Jorge Lorenzo.
The excitement of his much-anticipated first experience with Ducati was only comparable to Valentino Rossi’s pre-2004 Yamaha debut – which had to wait for Sepang because Honda would not allow him to race for Yamaha in the 2003 Valencia Test.
This year we will see how Lorenzo handles his first contact with Honda’s RC213V.
This test could be more bearable for Lorenzo than for his colleagues, because he’s freshly returned to Valencia four GPs have missed due to the left arm injury he sustained while training in Buriram last month.
It should also be exciting for the four rookies moving up to MotoGP – Joan Mir, Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira and Francesco Bagnaia – when they work with their new teams.
But for those just finishing a full MotoGP season, the Valencia Test is less attractive. There is no better time to go on vacation than the end of the season, as it is the best time to rest and recharge your batteries.
But the tightness of the calendar and the restrictions of the regulations force teams and drivers to stay on the track. And these circumstances sometimes mean that these test sessions are not conducted in the most favorable psychological and physical conditions.
“From a driver’s point of view, this is the worst test we can do as we are very tired in every way,” Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso told Motorsport.com. “But since we only do a few over the course of the season and the bike has to develop, we have to do it.
“If you’re riding for an official team, this particular test is very important as it sets out some specific parts that will be used on the bike for the next year.”
As in 2017, the MotoGP family will stay in Valencia until Wednesday, then head to Jerez, where the factories will further develop their motorcycles for 2019.
November 28-29 in Jerez is a crucial day for making decisions; In some cases, feedback from the drivers can lead the team to reject some parts that can be very important.
Suzuki is proof of that risk – in 2016 tests it took the wrong turn on engine spec and struggled with the consequences throughout year 17.
“This test is really annoying, but official teams have to do it,” added Dovizioso, who will be sharing the Ducati garage with Lorenzo’s replacement Danilo Petrucci during the test.
“The worst thing is that they ask for a lot of things in a short amount of time, but you make the most of the time you have.
“If you work four hours in a row, that’s four hours of quality.”