It was a Yamaha 1-2-3 on day one of the Valencia test at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, but one man was ahead of the rest: Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT).

The Frenchman ended the day top of the pile after 82 laps, the fastest of which was two tenths off his pole: a 1m30.163s. Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was second and 0.164s off after 66 laps, with Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) completing the top three but a few more tenths in arrears.

At Yamaha, 2020 therefore began with a bang. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders Vinales and Valentino Rossi – who was ninth – had a new chassis, engine and notably different air intake. Rossi’s new Crew Chief, David Munoz, was on hand as well as the team enjoyed an addition of a slightly different sort.

Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Quartararo and Morbidelli, meanwhile, tried the carbon swingarm, and Quartararo tried some aero new to him, but not to Yamaha.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was fourth quickest and only 0.015s off Morbidelli after 58 laps, with the biggest headline from the Borgo Panigale factory proving a new chassis. Danilo Petrucci also stole some limelight for tougher reasons, with the Italian only putting in 10 laps due to pain in his shoulder exacerbated by his crash during the grand prix.

Nevertheless, he was 12th overall. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) was tenth after an apt 43 laps, trying some new parts but the full package is expected by the Jerez test. Ducati test rider Michele Pirro was on the other side of the Pramac garage, with Francesco Bagnaia remaining sidelined following his crash during the GP weekend.

Honda, meanwhile, were fifth with reigning champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). He put in 60 laps although one was cut short as the number 93 crashed, scattering a few parts through the gravel. The biggest news at Honda was a new chassis though, as well, of course, as the arrival of Alex Marquez.

The number 73 was at LCR Honda and had an early crash later replicated by test rider Stefan Bradl at turn 10, although Alex completed 53 laps by the end of the day. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) was 11th and did 69 laps working towards 2020.

Suzuki locked out sixth and seventh on day one with Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) leading teammate Alex Rins. The former did 63 laps and the latter 76. The Hamamatsu factory had a new engine previously tested by test rider Sylvain Guintoli, and that’s what Alex Rins set his fastest lap with.

KTM were all hands on deck: a new chassis, different engine spec, a new steering damper and work focusing on electronics, fairing, winglets, seats kept them busy. The new chassis – still a tubular steel frame – is aimed at improved adaptability. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was 10th and did 58 laps. New teammate Brad Binder was also a big addition for the Austrian factory and he put in 70 laps as a new era in his career begins.

Red Bull KTM Tech 3 also had a new kid on the block, although he’s taken part in his first grand prix: Iker Lecuona. The Spaniard was impressive once again, despite a crash, and ended the day in 13th after 57 laps. Dani Pedrosa was on track for KTM too, putting in 52 laps and based in the Tech 3 garage as Miguel Oliveira remains absent through injury.

At Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, there was nothing new as yet, with work focused on improving electronics and engine braking. Andrea Iannone did 54 laps and was 14th, Aleix Espargaro did 45 laps and was 16th. Test rider Bradley Smith was also on track and caused a red flag with a crash, rider ok, but he did complete 50 laps for the Noale factory. Riders are back on track on Wednesday to continue testing.

Current Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) number three Wayne Maxwell remains confident that he will be able to make the grid in 2020 despite the news that Team Suzuki Ecstar won’t race-on next season.

Maxwell, 37, has been a mainstay in ASBK since his debut almost 20 years ago and has no intention to hang up the helmet following the shock news that Suzuki Motorcycles Australia has suspended its factory program.

This year saw Maxwell string together a series of race wins including the overall victories at Winton and Morgan Park aboard the Phil Tainton Racing-prepared GSX-R1000R, however, he fell short of the crown following multiple DNFs at the beginning of the season and a more difficult finale in Sydney earlier this month.

To learn the news that Suzuki would close its official team altogether came as a surprise of sorts to Maxwell, who had anticipated that the manufacturer would scale back to a single-rider effort even though both he and 2019 teammate Josh Waters were contracted through 2020 on two-year agreements. Suzuki also exited the sport at the end of Maxwell’s title-winning campaign in 2013.

“It was a bit of a surprise, but I sort of knew that they’d talked about cutting back to one rider,” Maxwell told CycleOnline. “With the year that I had, I thought I was going to be pretty safe, but with motorcycle racing, nothing’s guaranteed.

“I wasn’t too stressed either way as I would have still sort of got paid my salary from Suzuki if they had of terminated my contract, so it wasn’t a massive concern. Picking up a seat is not the hardest thing, getting paid is. It’s disappointing, you know, because last time I rode for Suzuki the same thing happened – maybe I’m the bad luck there!”

Maxwell has indicated that he intends to team up with one of the few privately-operated teams on the grid with a share of his own backing if it can be secured, but didn’t disclose who he is currently in discussions with. He has declared though that he would not be willing to pay for a factory-supported seat at this stage of his career.

“The plan is to keep going and in the current climate now I’d say the only person on a decent salary is Troy [Herfoss] on a one-year deal,” he continued. “Motorcycle racing is taking a change, so it’s coming to a time where I’m going to have to use all of my knowledge and personality to find sponsors.

“At the moment I’m more confident of being on the grid than not. It’s still early days, this news is only really a week old, so hopefully I’ll be on the grid. It took a while to put a budget together and there are some teams in place that are quite good, but don’t have the funding. We have to find a little bit of funding from me and from the team to hopefully make 2020 count.”