Honda tops latest 850cc MotoGP tests, as prototypes lap faster than this year's bikes

Monday’s post-Austrian Grand Prix 850cc tests at Red Bull Ring gave Marc Márquez, Pedro Acosta, Marco Bezzecchi, Diogo Moreira, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and others their second chance to test the latest R&D versions of the 850cc motorcycles they will race next year.

There was no official timing during the day – bikes ran without transponders – but the general consensus seems to be that Honda currently has the edge, just ahead of Aprilia, Ducati and KTM. Yamaha continues to lag behind.

What the tests did seem to confirm is that the 850s will be faster than the 1000s, thus defeating the main purpose of the hugely costly rules rewrite, which was to slow the bikes down. Monday’s fastest nine riders either matched or bettered the fastest lap during the previous day’s Austrian GP, ridden by race winner Pedro Acosta.

Rumours of impressive performance from Honda’s new 850cc RC213V were confirmed at Red Bull Ring, where MotoGP rookie Moreira (above) set the pace. Moreira has been mightily impressive during his debut premier-class season and the reigning Moto2 world champion has the advantage of knowing the Pirellis from his two years in the intermediate championship. Yes, Pirelli’s MotoGP tyres are prototypes, not production tyres, as used in WSBK, but their DNA is the same, according to riders and engineers.

Honda’s chief 850cc test rider Takaaki Nakagami and LCR’s Johann Zarco also took part in the test. HRC aerodynamicists are finally doing good work, trying to maximise downforce from the smaller RC213V’s front fairing, instead of copying rivals.

Aprilia leads the current MotoGP aero war and it looks like the Noale factory is working flat out to keep the lead in this vital area of performance. Note, for example, the triple element at the end of the front wing to maximise downforce to reduce wheelies and improve turning. Very Formula 1!

Bezzecchi (above) was the fastest RS-GP rider – ahead of Trackhouse’s Raúl Fernández and test rider Lorenzo Savadori – within a few tenths of Moreira.

Ducati’s 850 looks very similar to its 1000, the only outside difference being the slimmer, smaller front fairing. The Bologna brand had Marc Márquez (above), Fermin Aldeguer and Franky Morbidelli at the tests, Márquez not doing too many laps, because he’s focusing on winning this year’s championship aboard his Michelin-equipped GP26.

No doubt, Ducati has more radical 850 aerodynamics on the way, because project leader Gigi Dall’Igna never likes to show his hand before he absolutely has to.

KTM will have four new riders next year, so none of them was allowed by their current employers to test the company’s 850. Therefore, factory bosses asked Ducati-bound Acosta to ride their 850, alongside test rider Pol Espargaró and Moto2 recruit Senna Agius. Espargaró had the only crash of the day, at the chicane.

KTM’s 850 wore its usual camouflaged testing bodywork, with front wings similar to Honda’s latest. New seat aero was also in evidence.

What’s going on at Yamaha? When current MotoGP riders got to try the 850s for the first time at Brno in June, Yamaha ran its 850 engine in its current YZR-M1. And it looked the same again at Red Bull Ring. Either this means Yamaha is way behind or is cooking up something very radical, which we may see at Valencia in December.

Razgatlıoğlu, Jack Miller and test rider Augusto Fernandez tested the 850 engine and 2027 aero parts, but all of them were a second or more off the fastest times.