Category: MotoGp

In 2016, Dorna’s vision was realised, where unified ECU software regulations were implemented in the MotoGP World Championship. The regulations had the desired effect, closing up the pack and making the field more competitive than ever before. The last two seasons, 2016 and 2017, have been incredible. Ten different race winners in 2016, followed by a final round championship decider in 2017 spoiled us MotoGP fans,  but this year we are paying the price.

But that is not anyone’s fault. Whilst Marc Marquez won the last two World Championships, he did not dominate them – at least not in terms of pace. There was no big speed or pace advantage that the Spaniard enjoyed for most of the season, like 2014 for example. But, in 2018, that has changed, because for the first time since that ridiculous 2014 season, Honda have built a motorcycle that does not have a major disadvantage. In fact, it is possible to say that, this season, the Honda is the best bike on the grid. Since 2015, the RC213V struggled with acceleration, initially because the engine was purely too aggressive, but then, when the unified software was introduced, it was marrying that motor with the Magneti Marelli ECU which proved the downfall of HRC. A big change came for 2017, though, when Honda switched from a ‘screamer’ to a ‘big bang’ engine, moving in line with the rest of the grid. The comparative smoothness of the big bang compared to the old screamer engine, which Honda was able to use in the past because their in-house electronics system was so sophisticated, meant that it was much more controllable for the ECU, which negated much of their disadvantage in acceleration from the past two seasons, but it was still apparent. One year on, and the acceleration deficit has almost entirely disappeared. Aside from Austin, where Cal Crutchlow complained about acceleration, and Jerez when Dani Pedrosa had similar issues, ‘acceleration’ has not been a prominent word in the 2018 vocabulary of the factory Honda riders. That has led to one thing: Marc Marquez domination.

From the moment Qatar ended, it was clear that the Spaniard was going to be hard to beat this season, and his pace in Argentina and Texas was simply frightening. But the two continental American rounds were somewhat insignificant, because Marquez is always fast at those two circuits. But, Qatar remained a worrying event for the rest of the field; Marquez had not been on the podium in Qatar since he won back in 2014, so to be less than one tenth of a second off the victory was something of a warning shot from the reigning champion to his rivals. That was born out in Jerez, where he took a commanding victory at a circuit where, again he hadn’t won since 2014. Le Mans became something of a final hope for the championship, especially with the non-score of Andrea Dovizioso in Jerez. Le Mans was another circuit where Marquez had not won since 2014 – he had struggled a lot post 2015. It was the chance for his rivals to hit back.

However, from Friday it became clear that it would not be the same as the past for Marquez, finishing FP2 on Friday in second place, just 0.168 seconds of Andrea Dovizioso despite setting his fastest time of the session on the hard rear tyre. And, whilst Dovi showed promising long run pace in FP4 on Saturday, the pace of Marquez on the hard rear tyre in warm up on Sunday morning was worrying ahead of the race. But, as you might expect, with the hard rear tyre Marquez suffered with temperature in the early laps of the race, and dropped a few positions at the start. As soon as he passed Danilo Petrucci, though, for fifth place, he jumped straight onto the back of the leading trio of Jorge Lorenzo, Johann Zarco and Dovizioso. Dovi knew the score, and he moved past Zarco and Lorenzo quickly, but just as quickly, he folded the front at La Chapelle; Dovi just got in there, too hot trying to make as much of a gap as he could before Marquez got through Zarco and Lorenzo behind. Unfortunately for Dovi, it was too much and it has probably ended his championship chances. But Marquez quickly got through Zarco and Lorenzo, helped by a crash for the Frenchman[Zarco], but by this point Danilo Petrucci had caught the leaders with Valentino Rossi in tow. Petrux was soon past Lorenzo, partly because he was after Marquez but also because he wanted to put a little bit more of his authority on the second 2019 factory Ducati contract. Rossi moved through on Lorenzo too, a lap later, and still had his sights set on Petrucci, though he knew Marquez was too far. That was the end of the action at the front.

From there on, Marquez kept Petrucci at a safe distance, Petrucci managed the gap to Rossi until the Yamaha rider had a couple of bad laps which cost him some time, after which Petrucci let Marquez go completely to conserve his second place. But the most important, of course, was the win of Marquez. The race had a real 2014 feel to it, with an explosive start after which Marc had to recover, and then a dull second half where the highlight was a, now, relatively routine save for the number 93 at turn three. This is worrying. We have had three years where Marquez has either not won the championship, or not won it with ease but 2018 seems different. Now Honda have sorted out the RCV, the reigning champion is reminding us of the reality, and in devastating fashion.

Already thirty six points clear of Maverick Vinales, the championship fight is over. You could say that this is a negative perspective to have, but, be honest, can you see anyone being able to claw back the deficit they already have? Vinales is 36 points back, and he just finished seventh; Zarco is 37 back and on a satellite bike; Rossi is 38 points adrift but bad results await the Italian in the next races and Andrea Dovizioso, who was the main threat to Marquez coming into this season is already nearly two wins back in the standings. Now, you can say that good tracks are coming for Ducati, but even if Dovi wins many races in the remaining part of the year, realistically he is going to need Marc to make mistakes, and in races Marc does not make mistakes, generally. So, essentially, without a major anomaly, Marquez has the championship won.

The next question is: can anyone beat him in the remainder of the season? Maybe Danilo Petrucci could. He finished second yesterday, with an outstanding ride. It is debatable how much Marquez was pushing after he extended his lead, but nevertheless, Petrucci kept Marquez within reasonable range for the majority of the race, which, as was proved in Jerez and Austin, is not an easy task. Furthermore, Petrucci took the points neither Dovi nor Lorenzo could pick up for Ducati. When the pressure has been put on Danilo, when contract season has arrived, Petrux has turned up, and he is making it difficult for Ducati to let him go. Mugello is next, and it was third place for Petrucci last year and after this result, he will be full of confidence that he can take the top step this time round.

The third place of Rossi came as a surprise. He lucked into fifth two weeks ago in Jerez, and it was a similar case this weekend. However, unlike in Jerez, it was individual mistakes that gave Rossi the podium in Le Mans. It has to be said that he deserved the podium, the weekend had gone in a similar vein to Jerez, although not as extreme, for the Movistar Yamaha team. They were fast in the cool temperatures of the morning, but in the afternoon they struggled. This was highlighted on Saturday, when they were first and third in FP3 in the morning, but only managed eighth and ninth on the grid. Modifications made in warm up on Sunday morning proved a success for the number 46 and they gave him the grip and acceleration gains required to allow him to fight. But the problems for Yamaha are not over, not nearly, and Rossi was under no illusion about the struggles he and the Movistar Yamaha team are going to face in the next races, but he will hope the test in Barcelona this week will help them continue the progress.

Maverick Vinales will be hoping for progress, too, after his seventh place in Le Mans. He is second in the championship after the French Grand Prix, but nobody really knows how. The Spaniard has finished fifth, fifth, second, seventh and seventh, so his current standing is a surprise to everyone. The problem in Le Mans was the same as usual for Maverick: a poor qualifying followed by a poor start and average pace on a full tank limiting the damage he could do at the end of the race to nothing. The frustration is that at the end of the race he is always fast, he and his team just need to find a way to make him comfortable on a full fuel load, and that has to be their focus in Barcelona for the test. The fourth place of Jack Miller in France was the result of a stunning ride. He ended the race just six seconds behind Marquez, one second behind Rossi and, importantly, two positions and four seconds ahead of Lorenzo on the factory bike. As Petrucci, Miller is making it difficult for Ducati to turn him away from the factory seat for next year. Furthermore, Miller reckoned that with an extra lap or two he could have passed Rossi for the final podium spot. Unfortunately, Jack made a couple of mistakes and they ultimately cost him, but for sure he will be wishing the organisers did not shorten the race by one lap for this year. Dani Pedrosa took fifth place in France. He put a move on Jorge Lorenzo for that fifth position which was very similar to the one which he tried in Jerez, which resulted in him colliding with Lorenzo and high siding. This time it was more successful for the number 26, though, and he made the move as clean as you like. He will be hoping for improvements in the future, but right now Dani just needs to find some consistency after a disrupted start to the season.

There was no positivity for Jorge Lorenzo, though. He started the race well, leading nine laps, but after he was passed, he collapsed, falling to sixth by the end of the race. Lorenzo blamed ergonomics of the Ducati GP18, saying that the fuel tank doesn’t offer him sufficient support in braking, which leaves him too tired by the end of the race. Being beaten by both Pramac rider won’t help his chances of staying in Ducati in 2019, but with his favourite track up next, Mugello, he could redeem himself at the Italian Grand Prix.

Cal Crutchlow spent the night in hospital on Saturday after his high side in Q1 at Garage Vert. He had blood in his lungs, and several other internal injuries, but just six hours after he was discharged from hospital he was on the grid and he finished eighth, just two seconds from last year’s winner, Vinales. Before Mugello it will be important for Cal to recover, especially for a circuit which is so physical, with many changes of direction. Ninth place went to Aleix Espargaro, who will have just been happy to finish after such a difficult start to the season. It was a good finish, too, ahead of Alex Rins on the factory Suzuki who rounded out the top ten, and the finish was just as important for Alex as Aleix, as the number 42 had also only had one finish from the opening four races. The pair will hope that from now they can build some consistency into their seasons, although there is nothing to lose for either of them, as they both have contracts for next year to stay put in their respective teams.

Pol Espargaro took KTM’s best finish of the season in eleventh place, and the result showed the progress KTM have made since Le Mans last year, as their race time was 20 seconds faster than 12 months ago. Hafizh Syahrin took twelfth place as he returned to more regular form after a difficult Jerez where he suffered with injury. Thirteenth went to Franco Morbidelli, who was running

as high as ninth before his tyre let go. The final result is not what he will have been after, but the weekend shows continued progress for the reigning Moto2 World Champion. Bradley Smith and Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the points, and fifteenth will be a welcome result for Taka, after an injury sustained on Friday. Andrea Iannone’s slim Suzuki chances for 2019 perhaps went up in smoke on Sunday when he crashed at La Chapelle on lap one. The next lap Iannone was joined on the side lines on the next lap by Alvaro Bautista, who felt he had the potential for a top ten, and then Dovizioso two laps later. Zarco fell with 19 laps to go, and the final fallers came on lap ten when Scott Redding and Tito Rabat fell.

A race which started with a stunning double overtake from Johann Zarco in turn three and turned into a fairly dull affair has potentially decided the championship. There are still fourteen races to go, but the worrying thing is that they could all follow the same path. The 2018 MotoGP field is perhaps the most competitive in years, but it is at risk of producing one of the most predictable seasons. Maybe something will change when the paddock arrives in the home of the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello in two weeks time.

 

Featured Image courtesy of Hondanews.eu

Coming into MotoGP qualifying, there had been 67 crashes across all three classes over the course of the French Grand Prix weekend, and surely the number was only going to increase during the most high-pressured fifteen minutes of the weekend.

And indeed it did. Alvaro Bautista was the first to fall in Q1, followed by Karel Abraham and then a giant high side for Cal Crutchlow before Pol Espargaro crashed as well. In Q2, it was Aleix Espargaro who was the first and only who crashed at turn two. Well, he lost the front at turn one, let go of the bike at turn two, and the bike came to a halt on the outside of turn three. It could have been a lot worse for Aleix, but he returned to pit lane in time to get out on his second bike.

However, it could not have been much worse for Cal Crutchlow. He crashed in FP3, then again in FP4, before the monster high-side at Garage Vert on his final Q1 lap. He cracked the throttle, and the electronics did not save him, it almost looked a bit like Dani Pedrosa’s Aragon 2013 crash when he came out of turn 12 with, to his surprise, no traction control. Cal came crashing down on his back, on the right side, and was then collected by the bike too, for good measure. It had been a messy day for Cal upto that point anyway, and he had been quite animated on Friday at times, too, but it was difficult to foresee his day ending in that way. He went to hospital for check-ups, where it seems to have been discovered that he has suffered no broken bones, but heavy bruising has occurred. He did not go unconscious after the incident, which means that he could theoretically race tomorrow, and it is difficult to ever discount Cal Crutchlow from fighting to race. Either way, it could have been a lot worse for Cal, and it is good to know that his injuries are not too serious.

In fairness, it was a surprise to see Crutchlow in Q1 in the first place, after the start to the season he has had, winning in Argentina, and pole in Jerez being the highlights of an opening four rounds that got many people wondering (again) whether he would replace Dani Pedrosa in Repsol Honda.

But the Q1 session was very close, and it was to be expected: Dani Pedrosa, Alex Rins, Danilo Petrucci, as well as Crutchlow all being riders who had a decent shot at getting through to Q2. In the end it was Pedrosa and Petrucci.

So that left Q2, and it was a battle between Petrucci, Johann Zarco and Marc Marquez, it seemed, for pole. Finally, it was Zarco who took it, the home rider putting in a stunning 1’31.185 to take both pole and the outright Le Mans Bugatti Circuit lap record – the home hero in sublime form to delight the patriotic French crowd. Apparently, there was a “royal wedding” today in Britain, but I think the real prince of today has been Johann Zarco. I mean, he didn’t have to get the homeless scurried away for his moment of brilliance, and it is probably fair to say that he brought more joy to the crowd today in that one moment than any prince will in a lifetime. Today, Zarco was great, unstoppable, and it is difficult to imagine that he will be much different tomorrow, and in this moment I think it is important to point out what Johann Zarco is: different,  and is he afraid to be different? No. He embraces his quirks, he is comfortable with them, and it shows in his performances. He is someone people should look to for inspiration and he should be celebrated for his quirky success – it’s his success because it’s success done his way, and that deserves a lot more celebration than two rich people getting married. I wish people like him got what they deserve.

People like him might include Marc Marquez, although he should be celebrated simply for being the best at what he does, and for being outstanding entertainment. Marc Marquez is the personification of why people like motorcycle racing, or motorsport in general, because you just do not know what will happen. Sometimes this is bad, sometimes it is remarkably great, but today it fell somewhere in the middle. He crashed in FP3, but as he has done on so many occasions, he just got back on, and rode round some more. Two corners after a crash, he has his elbow on the deck again – the man is truly biblical. But it was the second fastest time for the reigning World Champion today. It will be difficult to keep him there tomorrow, and that very sentence when spoken on the French GP weekend is a worrying thought for the rest of the season.

After making a step in FP4 and advancing to Q2 from Q1, Danilo Petrucci qualified as top Ducati in third place, making stronger his case to replace Jorge Lorenzo next season in the factory team. Can Petrucci win tomorrow? Maybe not, but he can make it very difficult for the people who can.

Andrea Iannone will start tomorrow’s race from the front of row two. He has out-paced his teammate, Alex Rins, at both of the previous two races, and has out-performed the Spaniard in France, too. He wants that second Suzuki seat for next season, and he is going about it in a good way – a third successive podium tomorrow would only help his chances.

The #04 Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso put in a late lap to move from tenth on the grid to fifth. It was an important lap for Dovi because he needs to win tomorrow to start taking points out of Marquez, if he wants to fight for the championship. Whilst the one lap pace for Dovi was not so fantastic, the race pace looks good, and he seems to be one of the few riders who has free reign when it comes to tyre selection; soft, medium, hard – on the rear they all work. It will be a question of temperature tomorrow for Dovizioso when it comes to tyre choice, but it looks like he will be able to fight for the win no matter what the situation.

It is the third GP18 of Jorge Lorenzo which will line up at the back of the second row tomorrow in sixth place. The Spaniard will be aiming to climb onto the podium, both to make up for what he missed in Jerez, and also to combat Petrucci and Iannone. Lorenzo could win tomorrow, but will he? Well, probably not. He may have the pace to stay with the leaders but Lorenzo’s silky smooth riding style and apparent inability to maintain a rhythm after he has been passed means it will be difficult for him to maintain the fight tomorrow, especially with a fired up home hero like Johann Zarco in the mix. Even if Lorenzo gets out front, there is little to stop the Frenchman sending a torpedo into the bow of Lorenzo’s Duc if it came down to a last lap scrap, and history would suggest that he would have little with which to respond.

Jack Miller goes off of seventh place tomorrow, as he impressed once more on the GP17 Ducati. The Aussie out-qualified both factory Yamaha riders, both of whom start alongside him on row three tomorrow.

Maverick Vinales is the lead of the two Movistar bikes in eighth. He has been quick all weekend but Yamaha’s newest weakness; qualifying, once more reared its softly-sprung head in today’s Q2. It seems that, when it gets hot, even if the M1 can keep hold of the tyres over a race distance, it cannot make one lap with good speed. Vinales complained in Thailand that the bike, this year, has become too smooth. This was somewhat backed up in Jerez when Valentino Rossi, who was ninth in quali, complained that the tyres on both the front and rear were too soft, which implies there is too much weight transfer going on for the tyres to handle. The smoothness, or potential over-softness, of the 2018 M1 is unhelpful for qualifying because it means that it is difficult for the rider to feel the grip of the new tyre underneath them, because still the bike is moving too much, and this is heightened by high temperatures and low-grip conditions. If the rider cannot feel the difference of a new tyre, then they cannot make the expected difference with a new tyre. This puts the pair in a difficult spot for tomorrow, as they seem to have good race pace, but a poor first lap could ruin that, and a poor first lap is entirely possible from the third row.

Dani Pedrosa will line up tenth tomorrow, but has struggled this weekend and so might find it difficult to make progress. Tito Rabat and Aleix Espargaro were 11th and 12th.

If Cal Crutchlow starts tomorrow he will line up 13th, ahead of Hafuzh Syahrin and Alex Rins, who needs a good race tomorrow and most importantly a finish, because he only has one of those so far this season. [Update Cal has been cleared to race].

Franco Morbidelli will start 16th, ahead of the KTMs of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro. It’s strange that, since Pol signed for KTM, Bradley has stepped up a lot. Either way, he will struggle to find a GP ride for next year, and World Superbike aren’t exactly struggling for Brits, or ex-Grand Prix riders. Smith is in a hole and the next races are going to be crucial if he is going to dig himself out of it.

Takaaki Nakagami will start nineteenth for LCR Honda, perhaps their only starter tomorrow, ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Tom Luthi who complete row seven. Row eight is comprised of the eternally damned qualifier, Scott Redding, Xavier Simeon and Karel Abraham.

03/03/2018 has been an unsurprising day in the world of MotoGP: Johann Zarco has signed for Red Bull KTM for two years. This news comes one day after Pol Espargaro was confirmed to stay with the Austrian manufacturer for the next two years.

On the face of it, the move is a good one for both sides. Last year, KTM showed a tremendous development rate, as they accelerated through the midfield, whist Zarco has proven since he came to MotoGP at the beginning of last year that he has the potential, if given the right equipment, to fight for the world title, which ultimately is a goal he shares with KTM.

Perhaps, though, the move is a better one for the employer than the employee. KTM get a double Moto2 World Champion, 2017’s MotoGP Rookie of the Year and one of the smoothest, yet most aggressive riders on the grid. But what is perhaps more valuable than all of that to KTM is that Zarco is the first ever Red Bull Rookies Cup Champion, a title he won back in 2008. One of KTM’s goals when it entered MotoGP was to obtain a better retention rate of their Red Bull Rookies graduates, as an alarming amount, such as Jorge Martin, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Ayumu Sasaki had ended up on Hondas in Moto3. Zarco moving back to KTM represents an opportunity for KTM to prove to their young riders that staying with KTM is an option – that you don’t have to be on a Honda, Yamaha, Ducati or Suzuki to win in MotoGP.

So, whilst KTM get their original road racing golden child, what does Zarco get? Well, he gets a team assembled, in part, of the minds that powered KTM to three of the first five Moto3 World Championships and, in part, of some of the people who developed the MotoGP projects of some of KTM’s rivals. In addition, he gets an RC16. What exactly an RC16 actually is, is difficult to determine, because it changes configuration almost every half-hour. But, for certain, it was the most improved bike of last year, as well as probably the most disappointing bike of 2018.

Of course, KTM aren’t sprouting a fifth RC16 for 2019 for Zarco to pilot, they are sacking Bradley Smith. This is not a surprise. Smith did well to avoid being replaced by Mika Kallio for this season, and it was pretty much inevitable that he would not be riding a factory KTM in 2019. His options aren’t endless, either. He might be able to get himself a seat at Tech3 on one of their KTMs, but Avintia will likely keep hold of Rabat to partner Simeon, Marc VDS will remain with Morbidelli and bring in Alex Marquez or Joan Mir to go alongside the Italian, Angel Nieto will probably keep what they have (but may switch bikes) and Aprilia would probably prefer Iannone or a Moto2 rider to replace Aleix Espargaro or Scott Redding (or both), if it came to that, which is somewhat unlikely. It seems Smith’s MotoGP career is done.

Finally, since the other option for Zarco other than KTM was Repsol Honda, the Frenchman’s move to KTM almost confirms Dani Pedrosa’s safety on the second Repsol Honda.

Featured Image courtesy of KTM.

Qatar. The most unique race of the season, for a few reasons. Obviously, it is a night race, and the only one on the MotoGP calendar and, whether you like it or not, it certainly makes the opening race of the season stand out from the rest. The Qatari round of the World Championship is also distinct from the other races because of the amount of fans that turn up – because they don’t, for the most part. Now with a view to the track, we can see that the Losail International Circuit achieves that difficult blend of fast, medium speed, and slow sections that, in this case, sum to a track that reaches an agreeable compromise between great racing and also a circuit which the riders tend to enjoy.

Even still, it is easy to forget that Qatar is a relatively long-standing fixture on the calendar; making its debut back in 2004. Of course, back then it was run in the heat of the day, but 2007 saw the final daytime race at Losail (and Casey Stoner’s first victory in the top class), as in 2008 all three classes began the season under floodlights. That brought the next feature of Qatar which, for better or worse, makes it distinct from the other races, and that is the infamous ‘dew point’. This meant that for many years the weekend started on Thursday, so that teams and riders could complete all the required sessions before the dew set in. For 2018, though, the first round of the season is back to a standard weekend format, taking place over three days. They have achieved this by moving everything earlier: Moto3 will start at 4pm Qatar time, so in the daytime, and the Moto2 race will make history by being the first motorcycle Grand Prix to take start under the sun and end under artificial lighting.

Since 2014, every race in Qatar has been stellar. That year, Valentino Rossi fought a Marc Marquez recovering from a six-week-old broken leg for victory until the final lap, with the Spaniard coming out on top. One year later, The Doctor took on Andrea Dovizioso in a similar battle, but with the nine-times World Champion reigning supreme on this occasion as the podium was completed by Andrea Iannone for an all-Italian podium. 2016 was a different affair: the first race with Michelin tyres since Valencia 2008 saw Jorge Lorenzo streak away in the final laps,

leaving Dovi and Marquez to squabble over second with the #04 Ducati coming out on top on this occasion. Finally, last year saw Valentino Rossi recover from a terrible weekend and preseason to salvage a podium with third place, but a couple of seconds shy of the lead battle featuring Dovizioso (yet again) and Maverick Vinales – the Spaniard making good on his preseason promise to take his first victory for Yamaha on debut, the first rider to do so since Rossi in 2004.

But what will this year hold? While last year’s Grand Prix of Qatar saw Vinales claim victory, the star of the show was of course Johann Zarco on the Tech 3 Yamaha. He crashed after six laps, but set the fastest lap time of the race, and led until he fell – all on his MotoGP debut. In 2018, using a chassis which took Jorge Lorenzo to the title back in 2015 (on Bridgestones), the Frenchman looks at the moment as though he is Yamaha’s most realistic shot at the title – and they won’t give him more support! But seriously, a disastrous preseason for the factory Yamaha team which saw them solve almost none of their 2017 issues has highlighted Zarco as their best bet. The double Moto2 World Champion was fast in all three circuits which hosted preseason testing (Sepang, Buriram, Losail) and was the only rider who could hold a candle to the three factory Hondas and the factory Ducati of Dovizioso throughout. Of course, Zarco’s first six laps of the 2016 race was not the first time Qatar had shown itself to be kind to a rookie on a Yamaha – Jorge Lorenzo took pole position in 2008 on his debut, with a lap record that still stands today (although Zarco was within one tenth of that time by the end of the test), and the same day James Toseland qualified second on his MotoGP debut to sit in the middle of a Yamaha front row lockout – something which is almost impossible to imagine at the moment.

The factory Yamaha squad had a mixed bag in preseason, but for the most part it was something of a disaster. In 2017 the M1 had chronic wheelspin, caused by a mixture of its subpar relationship with the Michelin tyres, at least those used since Mugello, and the Iwata-based engineers’ relatively poor understanding of the Magnetti Marelli electronics. These were the issues Yamaha set out to resolve for 2018, but thus far its efforts have seemed ineffective at best, with Vinales saying the new bike is worse than last year, whilst Rossi stated that the Movistar Yamaha team are merely at the same level as last season. The pair had a more positive final day of preseason, with Rossi setting a good lap time at the end of the day to enter the season as the second fastest rider, and with a pace which, on paper, would have him on the top step. In comparison, Vinales had a more difficult day as a whole, but found a better feeling in the final forty minutes, but even still it was not enough for Maverick to feel he was in a better position to last season. To flick back to Rossi, it is worth pointing out that, whilst the pace of his long run was quite positive, he only did half a race distance. After that point, Rossi admits he doesn’t really know what will happen, and he is concerned about the wear of both the front and the rear tyre. His situation seems better than that of his teammate, though, although that was common last season – when things didn’t work so well with the Yamaha last season, it was usually Rossi who would come out on top of the two. Whatever the case, it is quite clear that Yamaha have a lot of work to do if they are to challenge for the title this season. On top of that the inconsistency of the M1 which it has retained from last season means that whilst the final day of the test ten days ago proved positive for the Iwata factory’s official pair, it could all be completely different for them come the race weekend.

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