Coming into the 2023 campaign as the rider to beat, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) revealed that his preparations for the change in format are already well underway, and he feels they “are already prepared to do a race weekend.” Enea Bastianini joins the World Champion on the factory Ducati this year, but he struck a worried tone, though somewhat jokingly, that perhaps the Sprint won’t suit him. “My speciality is to be fast in the second part of the race, and it can be a problem for me, but I want to try and be fast in the first part!”