Ducati, Yamaha, Aprilia, KTM and then Honda.

Th♍at was how the MotoGP manufacturers finished last season in terms of the c🐓onstructors’ championship ranking if fifth place Suzuki is removed.

In the latest edition of the wuqian0821.com MotoGP podcast, host Harry Benj𓆏amin asked Pete McLaren and Keith Huewen to ♎list how they think the competitive hierarchy now stands after the opening test of the year at Sepang.

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Both agreed Ducati remains the bike to beat and think that Aprilia - which only lost second💃 in the constructors’ standings to Yamaha after a double DNF at the Valencia finale - looks best of the rest.

But there was disagreement o🐓ver whether KTM or Honda now has the most catching up to do ahead of the final test in Portimao on March 11-12.

Honda riders finished 10th (Marc Marquez), 12th (Joan Mir), 18th (Ale🍷x Rins) and 21st (Takaaki Nakagami) at Sepang, with the KTM/GASGAS competitors classified 13th (Pol Espargaro), 14th (Brad Binder), 16th (Jack Miller) and 22nd (rookie Augusto Fernandez).

“Ducati, Ap🗹rilia, Yamaha… KTM, Honda,” ꦫMcLaren said.

“Honda at t𒅌he back?” responded former grand prix rider and British c🌊hampion Huewen.

“I’d𝔉 change that sli♐ghtly and move the Honda in front of the KTM, but that would be about it.”

McLaren said: “I’d put Marc ahead of the KTMs...”

“You got out of that well!” joked Huewen.

Huewen🏅 then described what will be happeniꦡng back at factory headquarters between now and Portimao:

“There’s a mas🍨sive debrief and data download. Knee jerk decisions don’t work. It's got to be a meticulous look through the data to s🍨ee if they've missed anything while they’ve been on site.

“With such limited testing, you cannot get through everything you need to. And there are so many variables - from throttle pick-up to aero - that contribute to🐬 the overall lap time. The problem is if you alter one of them, you might have to alter another to compensate.

“T🦩hen there are the engineers who have also swapped teams and are still getting up to speed, i꧙ncluding Ken Kawauchi who has moved from Suzuki to Honda.

"His methodology and way of working will be an asset to Honda, there is no doubt about it because you cannot afford൲ to waste a second of time on the track or in the garage.

“Bu🐻t Portimao is also a completely different challenge. It’s like a motocross track in comparison to Sepang. So it will be interesting to see whether Ducati still has the same kind of advantage that they had in Sepan🍰g.

“And then the weather comes into it. Portimao could be red hot or blowing ♊a gale and chucking it down.”

‘Things could turn on their heads still’

McLaren said: “Things could turn on their heads still. You’ve got some teams that have left Sepang thinking they are pretty much set in terms of their bike package, Jorge Martin said h𓄧e was ready to race the 2023 Ducati after day two for example, but what if ꦦthey get to Portimao and it doesn’t work? Big alarm bells will ring because the race is shortly after.

“Either way, you’ve got just two pre-season💛 tests to gather data and try to predict what will work over an enti🐓re world championship of 21 different circuits.

"It’s so hard to make a judgement call on what parts you should pick. But they are goin꧅g to have to do it, especially in terms of the engine which will be fixed for the season at round one, and the aero, where they are only allowed one update during the season.”

Huewen⛎ added: “In a way the engine is probably the easier bit because they are already out of time to manufacturer anything different for Portimao. You might be able to make some min♎or changes but not anything massive. But the aero is going to be critical.”

McLaren: “It was interesting because some riders felt Portimao was a better place to test a🔯ero, but others said Sepang was better.

“Either way, some teams sai🅰d they still have aero parts for Portimao and I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one factory has deliberately held something back because the Portimao test will be too late for the others to copy them for the start of the season.”

“That’s again where Ducati have the advantage with their eight riders, because they can test with differꦑent aero packages and spread the workload out in a short space of time,” said Huewen. “Meanwhile, Yamaha only has two race riders.”