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At the MotoGP joint test in Barcelona, Nicolò Bulega set the overall fastest time aboard the Ducati 850, 1.7 seconds off Alex Marquez's record. Pedrosa's KTM was second, followed by Nakagami's Honda, with Aprilia's Savadori 0.9 seconds off the pace.
You can't take test times at face value. Some guys go light on fuel for a hero lap, others just grind out race-sim laps at a steady pace. Even so, Bulega topping the times on the Ducati is proof the 850 is maturing nicely. Pedrosa second on the KTM is no joke either. That feel you get when you crack the throttle open with your fingertips - that's what shows up in a gap like this.
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Aprilia's Savadori being 0.9 seconds off suggests, resource-wise, they haven't quite caught up to the front-runners yet.
Is Pedrosa still active? Feels like it's been a while since I've seen that name.
Even after retiring, he's kept showing up at combined tests as a KTM test rider.
A single lap time from a combined test can swing a lot depending on fuel load, so better not to read too much into it.
Still, the fact that Pedrosa's KTM lands in second is worth paying attention to, I'd say.
Bulega topping the times on the Ducati 850 — the pecking-order battle inside Ducati looks set to get even more interesting next season.
1.7 seconds off Alex Marquez's record is a surprisingly big gap for a Barcelona combined test.
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