Marc-ed Man: Marquez To Outrun Rossi?

Marquez is inevitably going to wear the favourite tag this year but the hope is that Rossi will step up his game even more than he did last year.

Like the pre-season testing in Formula 1, MotoGP riders will still be pounding their bikes around a racetrack hoping to be as prepared as possible before the start of the season by the time you read this. However, the opening salvo would have been fired.

Also, unlike F1, testing times in MotoGP are a lot more indicative of how a season will play itself out. Last year’s pre-season testing forced the Yamaha riders to concede the world championship crown to Honda and Marc Marquez. And that was pretty much how the season progressed even though Valentino Rossi nabbed a strong second place in the standings in what was his best ever performance since returning to Yamaha after enduring the misery of a factory Ducati stint.

LORENZO THE ALSO RAN?

Besting Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo was also a plus as it was essentially an ultimatum to the Japanese team of keeping the Spaniard or him that prompted him to jump ship after 2010 in the first place.

It is difficult to see Lorenzo stopping the Italian’s momentum this year as Rossi makes a bid to give Marquez a lot more to think about than in 2014.

Mind you, Marquez dropped a pretty stern warning to the MotoGP field at the end of the first pre-season test in Sepang. The factory Honda team’s lucky charm was one of five riders to drop below the Sepang International Circuit’s lap record of 1:59.70 and the only rider to break into the 1:58 minute mark.

Riding the other factory Honda bike, Dani Pedrosa was right behind the man who has spectacularly displaced him as the lead rider at the team.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF DUCATI

The only anomaly seemed to be Ducati’s Andrea Iannone in third place behind the two Hondas. After many years of promising glory, one is not yet prepared to give Ducati the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being a front-running squad like it briefly was in the 800cc era with Casey Stoner.

Iannone’s lap was probably less significant than that of teammate Andrea Dovizioso, who was seventh, and as an experienced rider he is expected to help the team to respectability on the MotoGP grid.

RETURNING MARQUES

A respectable return is also about as much as Suzuki and Aprillia would be hoping for in their return to two-wheel circuit racing’s top flight. In Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales, Suzuki definitely has the riders who are well equipped to push development as much as possible through the season.

Aprilla’s fortunes are far less difficult to pinpoint with Marco Melandri and Alvaro Bautista as the riders from the Aprillia Gresini team. There is enough experience between the two to help with development but maybe not enough to factor well in the races.

THE OTHER CLASSES

Experience is something that Jack Miller will have to pick up on the go as he makes a leap from Moto3 to MotoGP on an open entry privateer Honda team. The man who narrowly beat him to the Moto3 crown last year, Alex Marquez, will not be making such a bold step forward as he aims to conquer Moto2 en route to his near inevitable debut in MotoGP.

Also in Moto3, Mahindra Racing will scale back its involvement from a factory team to just supporting entrants.