VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P101
#72 MARCO BEZZECCHI
VR46 DUCATI
Big things are expected of 2022's Rookie of the
Year. He ended last year strongly, scoring a maiden
MotoGP pole in Thailand, and narrowly missed
podium finishes in Australia and Sepang. Crucially,
the Italian understood his main weakness in 2022:
a lack of aggression off the line. Bezzecchi's slight
-
ly tepid openings resulted in him losing a total of
60 positions (eight alone in the Malaysian GP) last
year on the first lap of races. Fix that and a podium
return should be guaranteed.
#73 ALEX MARQUEZ
GRESINI DUCATI
As the younger Marquez brother has acknowl-
edged, it's now or never. Having ditched a useless
Honda for a seat that won four races last year,
there's no hiding in Gresini, even if competing
aboard a year-old bike. Testing performances
were encouraging. Widely tipped to be one of the
year's surprises. Expect podiums. Plural.
#89 JORGE MARTIN
PRAMAC DUCATI
If awards were dished out for preseason, Martin
would be the star. He immediately took to the Ducati's
GP23 and declared himself "ready to race" after just
two days of testing. Mistakes and a tendency to flag
toward the race's end were as much his undoing in
2022 as an inability to find a base setting. But know
-
ing his explosive one-lap speed, Martin stands to
benefit from the new Sprint format like few others.
