Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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FEATURE I 2023 FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW P92 The Sprint will take place at 15:00 each Saturday. And the winner will score 12 points with points going all the way down to ninth place (nine for second, seven for third, then six, five and so on). Manufacturers will likely run a smaller fuel tank for Saturday's affair, with capacity limited to 3.17 gallons (it's 5.81 for Sun- day's race). "The configuration of the bike will be quite different. We have some different items ready," said Antonio Jimenez, Aleix Espargaro's crew chief. This will place stresses on riders like never before. "We're a little concerned about some circuits that are very demanding on the rider," said Paolo Ciabatti, Ducati Sporting Director. "Like Austin, Mugello. Our riders are not used to this kind of stress in general. Will the riders have time to recover physically and mentally from the stress? This is another area which will probably make the championship more interesting." And technicians will have their hands full. Paul Trevathan, crew chief for Pol Espargaro, listed a few of the difficulties he foresees. "Bike develop - ment—forget it at the racetrack. You have two one-hour sessions and guys are stressed to get into Q2 in FP1. [Setup] will all be based on a feeling. You won't have enough data to quantify it. That'll make it really tough. The bike has to be an all-round package that when it rolls out on track, it's working. "I understand we need to do something. It's just Saturday is going to put so much pressure on the riders. You just run out of time. We know it's going to be a fairly intense thing. And if the bike's not working, Jesus Christ! Then the stress factor is going to be super high. Longer meet- ings. Two times race data to look at. My god!" UPPING THE AERO ANTE Aerodynamics are playing a greater role in MotoGP than ever. At Sepang, Yamaha and KTM tested a "diffusor" style fairing, which is aimed at ac- celerating airflow between the fairing and ground at full lean, following Ducati's lead (Aprilia and Honda also used this tech - Testing has indicated reigning champion, Ducati Lenovo's Francesco Bagnaia (left) will face sterner tests from within, as in teammate Enea Bastianini (right).