After tremendous rainfall on Friday, the conditions were almost perfect for the British Superbike riders in Cadwell Park, for qualifying for the eighth round of the 2019 championship.
It was Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) took pole position, with a stunning lap of a 1’26.2 for his third pole of the season. Brookes has been well known for his Mountain performances over his BSB career, but his technique has faced criticism. A pole lap of that quality will silence those criticisms, at least until tomorrow. But Brookes’ pace has been strong all weekend, since the test on Thursday, so the Australian will certainly be a favourite going into race day.
Brookes’ pole lap was the target Bradley Ray (Buidlbase Suzuki) needed to take him to his first front row of the season. 2019 has been a difficult year for Ray so far but perhaps this is the beginning of a return to form for the #28.
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing) completes the front row for sunday’s first race, as he seeks a return to the podium having missed it on both occasions in Thruxton.
— Bennetts British Superbike Championship (@OfficialBSB) August 17, 2019
Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) has had a strong Cadwell Park debut. A front row looked likely until Bradley Ray’s stealthy lap for second, but a fourth-place start is by no means a disaster for the championship leader. Danny Buchan (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) has had a strong weekend, and qualified fifth, whilst Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) completes the second row.
Dan Linfoot (Santander Salt TAG Yamaha) suffered a mechanical problem towards the end of Q3 which compromised his session, and qualified seventh. The Tyco BMW Motorrad pairing of Christian Iddon and Glenn Irwin complete the third row.
Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) was the fastest rider to not make it out of Q2 thanks to Iddon’s late lap. That means the #18 Honda will line up at the head of row four, ahead of an incensed Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing) whose final lap was ruined when he caught Gino Rea (Bike Devil Sweda MV Agusta). Luke Stapleford (Buildbase Suzuki) completes row four.
Luke Stapleford riding the Buildbase Suzuki BSB bike at Cadwell Park 2019. Image courtesy of Suzuki
Xavi Fores (Honda Racing) starts from thirteenth in Sunday’s first race, ahead of an impressive Matt Truelove (Raceways Yamaha) who is having his best weekend on a Superbike so far. Row five is completed by Rea; whilst row six sees Josh Elliott (OMG Racing Suzuki) ahead of the injured Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) and Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki) who crashed in the Hairpin in Q1, meaning his Q2 was compromised – on his first flying lap the #7 crashed again at the Hairpin, meaning he didn’t set a time in Q2.
Ben Currie (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) was the fastest rider to not make Q2 on his first SBK visit to Cadwell. The Australian will be joined on row seven by Billy McConnell – in place of the injured Luke Mossey at OMG Racing Suzuki – and Hector Barbera (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) who is now in full time as Currie’s teammate.
Dean Harrison (Silicone Engineering Racing) qualified twenty-second, ahead of Joe Francis (Lloyd & Jones Bowker Motorrad) and Claudio Corti (Team WD-40); whilst David Allingham (EHA Yamaha) qualified only twenty-fifth after a crash, ahead of Sam Coventry (Team 64 Motorsports) and Shaun Winfield (Santander Salt TAG Yamaha). Dean Hipwell (CDH Racing) and Fraser Rogers (Gearlink Kawasaki) complete the grid.
This weekend the British Superbike Championship heads to Cadwell Park for round eight of the 2019 Championship.
Despite his penalty in the second race the and victory of his teammate Josh Brookes, Be Wiser Ducati’s Scott Redding leads both the general standings and the podium points ahead of this weekend’s two races. This could be quite important for Redding, who at the top of Ducati’s list to replace Alvaro Bautista in the factory squad for the 2020 WorldSBK season, as the particular peculiarity of Cadwell makes it a place where experience can count for a lot. As a rookie not only to BSB but also to Cadwell Park, Redding’s challenge this weekend will be a tough one.
Scott Redding at Oulton Park. BSB 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
Of course, Cadwell Park is well known for The Mountain, a feature for which it is quite unique – it is rare to leave the ground with both wheels on an asphalt circuit – but perhaps its greater challenge is how narrow the track is, barely wide enough for two of BSB’s safety cars to fit side-by-side. Of course, with a motorcycle there is more space, but with 220 or 230 horsepower, that extra space can seem non-existent. Additionally, in Cadwell Park, the bike is almost never upright, even the front straight is kinked, and the longest straight on the track has a reasonably significant curve in the centre. Being precise is the key to Cadwell Park, especially in qualifying – the narrowness means overtaking is extremely difficult, so a strong starting position is important for a good result in the race.
Last year, it was Leon Haslam who took both victories in Cadwell, and he was halfway to achieving the same feat twelve months previously before he dropped out of race two. However, in his absence this year, Kawasaki has picked up only one race win, courtesy of Danny Buchan (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) in Knockhill. Buchan has been spectacular over the mountain in the past, but a crash at its foot last year saw him drop out of race one, able only to achieve an eighth place in race two. The #83 has shown he is fast enough to make the Showdown this year, but with it approaching could do with a healthy haul this weekend to find some more security before the Oulton Park triple-header in the beginning of September.
Despite Haslam’s successes, it is difficult to think of Cadwell Park without making the link to Josh Brookes. The Australian has been well-known for his enthusiasm at its most famous part throughout his time racing in Britain. Despite this, Brookes hasn’t found the top step there since 2015, when his race two triumph was the last in a sequence of victories spanning three rounds. The Ducati has been dominant this season, and Brookes will have gained confidence after his Thruxton victory, but finding the right setting and the necessary confidence with such an extreme motorcycle on such an extreme circuit could prove tricky in the partnership’s first year.
Andrew Irwin. Winner at the 2019 BSB Thruxton Race. Image courtesy of Honda BSB racing
Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) will have also gained confidence from his Thruxton victory, the first of his career in BSB. Not only did Irwin take his first BSB win two weeks ago but he also leapfrogged his teammate, Xavi Fores (Honda Racing) for the final provisional spot in the Showdown. Irwin arrives in Cadwell Park seven points clear of Fores, who tested at Cadwell at the beginning of the year; Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing) – who won at Cadwell back in 2014 on a Honda and arrives in the BSB paddock this weekend having dominated the Ulster Grand Prix, with seven wins at the Irish road race – is sixteen back of Irwin. Having missed both races in Thruxton thanks to injuries from his qualifying crash, Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) has also been dragged into the Showdown scrap, the #95 sitting just twelve points clear of Fores. With only five races before the Showdown six are decided, this battle is only going to continue to intensify.
James Ellison, who won in Cadwell Park just two years ago, will not be racing this weekend, having split with the Smiths Racing squad. The team have not announced a replacement for the #77.
After the MotoGP qualifying session, clouds hung over the Red Bull Ring, bringing the track temperature down for the Austrian Moto2 qualifying session at round eleven of the 2019 World Championship.
Q1 saw Iker Lecuona (American Racing) top the session despite traffic. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46), Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) and Brno runner-up Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) joined the #27 Spaniard in moving through to Q2.
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In Q2, Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) took his first career pole and a Moto2 lap record for the Red Bull Ring. 2019 has been a strong season for the Japanese, and after a poor race for his #090 Honda team at the Suzuka 8 Hour last month before Brno, the #45 has rebounded well in the two GPs since then.
Joining Nagashima on the front row are Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), running the old KTM frame, and rookie Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), the 2016 Asia Talent Cup Champion qualifying third on his first visit to the Red Bull Ring. In all, it is a quite peculiar front row.
Row two sees Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) ahead of Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP). Qualifying did not go so well for Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), so a second row start could be important for Luthi who finished third behind Marquez in the 2017 Austrian GP. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) looks to be back on the pace this weekend after a dismal race in Brno. The Italian qualified sixth.
Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) has plenty of question marks surrounding his future after a difficult ten races with Marc VDS, but a seventh-place in qualifying in Austria will help things. Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) join the #97 on the third row.
Luca Marini has been quite consistent this weekend, but not able to make the difference with a new tyre in a time attack – the Italian finally qualified tenth ahead of Alex Marquez and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), with the new KTM chassis, who will join him on row four.
Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) heads up row five ahead of Iker Lecuona and Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2), the Italian’s fastest lap ensuring the first fourteen riders on the grid of tomorrow’s race are covered by just 0.400 seconds.
The sixth row is more detached from the fifth row than the fifth is detached from the first, almost, with Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) – who crashed in Q2 – 0.319 seconds behind Pasini in sixteenth. One tenth further back of Schrotter is seventeenth-placed Andrea Locatelli, whilst Fabio Di Giannantonio was eighteenth, almost one second slower than Nagashima.
Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) at the Red Bull Ring. Image courtesy of KF GLAENZEL/Dynavolt Intact GP
Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) was the fastest rider to not make Q2, qualifying nineteenth. The MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward duo of Dominique Aegerter and Stefano Manzi join Bulega on row seven, qualifying in twentieth and twenty-first respectively.
Jonas Folger (Petronas Sprinta Racing) will go from the front of row eight as he replaces Khairul Idham Pawi again. Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) will join the German on the eighth row; whilst Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) – who won in Austria in Moto3 last year – will start twenty-fifth ahead of Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team).
Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP) qualified twenty-eighth on his first visit to the Red Bull Ring and will start ahead of Joe Roberts (American Racing) and Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing).
Teppei Nagoe, replacing Dimas Ekky at IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, will start from thirty-first, ahead of last-placed Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) on the back row of the grid.
The Moto3 qualifying session in Austria for round eleven of the 2019 World Championship saw Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) take pole position in dry conditions.
Q1 saw a return to days past, with riders more concerned with having people out of their tow than actually setting a lap time. Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) returned to pit lane to get people out of his slipstream, and it worked. He had clear track in front of and behind him on his fastest lap, which was enough for him to top the session. The Spaniard was joined in advancing to Q2 by Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers), Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0).
In Q2, the track remained dry, and the riders remained hectic. On the final run, almost all of the riders were together on track, fighting for track position – potentially illegally.
In the end it was Romano Fenati who qualified fastest, ahead of Sachsenring pole sitter Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Jaume Masia.
John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was one of the few riders to lap on his own in the final run, and for a minute or so he had pole position. In the end, he ended up fourth, with the Honda Team Asia duo of Ai Ogura and Kaito Toba joining him on the second row in fifth and sixth respectively.
Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) had a problem at the end of the session and had to be pushed the wrong way down pit lane. He qualified seventh ahead of Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers), whose final lap was one of many to be hindered by traffic, and Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing).
Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) rounds out the top ten in qualifying, heading up row three from Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46), who has been strong this weekend but had his Q2 compromised by a crash on his first run. Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) completes row four.
Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) heads up row five from championship leader Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) who had some problems early on in Q2, seemingly with the brakes. When he got back out his strategy was not perfect, and so he was only fourteenth. Andrea Migno completes row five.
Row six sees Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) ahead of Makar Yurchenko (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0).
Stefano Nepa (Reale Avintia Arizona 77) had a strong session in Q1 but was only fast enough for fifth, meaning he will head up row seven in nineteenth and will be joined by Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP).
Can Oncu, Austrian Moto3, 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Row eight sees Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) ahead of Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) and Gabriel Rodrigo’s replacement at Kommerling Gresini Moto3, Jeremy Alcoba; whilst Riccardo Rossi (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) is ahead of Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and wildcard Maximilian Kofler (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) on row nine. The two Red Bull KTM Ajo riders, Turkish twins Can and Deniz Oncu qualified twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth respectively. Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power) qualified thirtieth but a grid penalty means he will start from the back of the grid, meaning teammate Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) will start from the back of row ten.
In Austria, the qualifying session for the eleventh round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship took place on a particularly warm Red Bull Ring.
In Q1, it was Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) who topped the session from Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing), with the two moving through to Q2.
Q2 saw another demolition of the field from Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). Since the middle of last year when Ducati started to beat him with horsepower and acceleration, Marquez’ mission has been to defeat the Bologna bikes. Not only has Marquez strolled away with this year’s championship, but he has also defeated Ducati in two of their best circuits: Le Mans and Brno; and beaten Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) in Mugello.
Marc Marquez Pole-sitter for the 2019 Red Bull Ring MotoGP. Image courtesy of Jaime Olivares/Box Repsol
Austria is pure Ducati territory – or it has been – the gains made in engine power for this year by Honda have levelled that particular playing field and in Q2 Marquez was able to take advantage and make pole position by 0.434 seconds, a colossal margin by any standard in a regular, dry qualifying session. To beat the Ducati by 0.488 seconds over one lap when the Desmosedici has been so dominant in Austria is quite incredible. To take the record for premier class pole positions (fifty-nine now for Marquez) away from Mick Doohan at the same time is simply brilliant (coincidental) timing on the part of Marquez. He will be tough to beat in the race.
Yamaha had looked stronger than expected all weekend, and three of their four bikes were in Q2. Fabio Quartararo’s last lap on the Petronas Yamaha SRT satellite M1 was enough for second on the grid, in front of Dovizioso who will be demoralised with a distant third on the factory Desmosedici.
Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) made his first run on a medium rear tyre, and was quite fast. He was able to improve on his second run and held a position on the front row for a while. Quartararo ended the Spaniard’s hopes of starting from third, but a fourth-place start gives Vinales an opportunity tomorrow. Like Quartararo, though, he will face the problem of faster motorcycles, which around a circuit like Austria are almost impossible to defend against.
One such faster motorcycle is that of Francesco Bagnaia who made a career-best qualifying with fifth place on the GP18 Ducati, ahead of fellow satellite rider Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU), also making a career-best qualifying in sixth on last year’s RC213V.
Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) will start seventh after an anonymous session for the Spaniard. A distracted Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) will start from eighth, alongside Rins, and will be hoping to put in a performance that convinces Ducati to let him stay in favour of Jorge Lorenzo in the satellite Ducati outfit. Cal Crutchlow completes the third row in ninth, his best lap coming on the medium tyre in his second run.
Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) made the same decision as his teammate, Vinales, to start Q2 with a medium rear. Again, he was quite fast, but with the soft in the second run he was not able to improve enough, and could only manage tenth after Nakagami’s late lap. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team), who crashed late on in Q2, will line up alongside Rossi on row three.
Q1 was a tough battle. Whilst it was Bagnaia and Crutchlow who moved through to the second session, Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) all had realistic shots at making it through. In the end, Oliveira, Morbidelli and Rabat missed out, qualifying thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth respectively.
Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) went from the highs of KTM’s first front row in Brno one week ago to sixteenth place at their home race in Spielberg. Joining the double Moto2 World Champion on the sixth row will be Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini). The second Aprilia Racing Team Gresini machine of Aleix Espargaro will head up the last row, from Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement at the Repsol Honda Team, Stefan Bradl, who had bike problems at the beginning of his second run.
Featured Image courtesy of Jaime Olivares/Box Repsol
This weekend the Moto3 World Championship arrives in Austria for the eleventh round of the 2019 season in Spielberg.
Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) arrives in Spielberg after winning in Brno one week ago and reclaiming the championship lead which he now holds over Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) by three points after the Italian finished second in the Czech Republic. Canet has never finished on the podium in Austria, with a best finish of fifth coming in 2017. Canet will have to deal once again with the KTM’s speed deficit to the Honda this weekend, as well, which should be more pronounced at the Red Bull Ring thanks to the amount of time spent at full throttle on a Moto3 bike. On the other side, though, one of the KTM’s strongest points is its braking stability, which will be especially important in Austria with several big stops, at turns one, three and four.
One of Lorenzo Dalla Porta’s strengths is that he is fast in the straight lines, and this will be especially advantageous for the Italian this weekend at a track where he finished fifth last season. The areas where Dalla Porta will be strong this weekend, Canet should be weaker, and vice versa. This should make for an interesting race and, with this being Moto3, the two championship combatants will not be alone on the track on Sunday.
Joining the two on the podium last weekend was Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) who was joined by Canet on the list of multiple Moto3 winners in 2019, which consists of only the #14 and the #44. Mostly, since Arbolino’s win in Mugello, his form has been strong and, with the exception of Sachsenring, the Italian has been fighting for the podium in each of the last five or six rounds and will hope to continue that into this weekend.
Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) was also in the podium battle in Brno, although he missed out to to Arbolino and Dalla Porta on the final lap. Masia’s debut in the World Championship was in Austria back in 2017, when he impressed with a ninth place. Masia has not won since Argentina and not stood on the podium since Mugello, has been waiting a while for a trip to the rostrum – winning on a KTM in Austria would perhaps make that wait seem more worthwhile.
Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) is not racing this weekend after his broken pelvis and collarbone in Brno. The Argentine will be replaced by CEV rider Jeremy Alcoba, running the #52.
This weekend, just one week on from the Czech Grand Prix, the MotoGP World Championship heads to Austria for round eleven of the 2019 season.
The Red Bull Ring (or A1 Ring, Osterreichring if you are otherwise affiliated) has traditionally been known as a ‘Ducati track’ since the Austrian Grand Prix returned to the motorcycle grand prix racing calendar in 2016. The Bologna bikes have won each of the three races held in Spielberg since its return, and with three different riders: Andrea Iannone in 2016, Andrea Dovizioso in 2017 and Joge Lorenzo in 2018. To continue their unbeaten run in the Alps this year, though, will be more difficult than ever before courtesy of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team).
The first year of the Red Bull Ring saw Marquez and Honda struggle with a lack of acceleration in the RC213V thanks to its aggressive motor and the simplicity of the unified electronics software that were new for that year. Since Honda moved to a ‘big bang’ configuration in their MotoGP prototype, though, Marquez has challenged Ducati until the last corner, despite missing power compared to the Ducati in both 2017 and 2018. This year, Marquez has that power he was previously missing, and that could be the final piece to see him on his way to a first win in the Austrian Grand Prix – the only race Marquez is yet to win on the MotoGP calendar.
Andrea Dovizioso at Brno 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
The forecast, then, looks bleak for Ducati. Having just been defeated convincingly at Brno, a track at which they were expected to be able to challenge Marquez, they are potentially staring at a first defeat in Austria, a circuit almost designed with the Desmosedici in mind, with its emphasis on straight-line performance and the track’s quantity of substantial straights and acceleration zones. For Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) to become the first multiple winner at the Red Bull Ring in its current guise, or for Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) or Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) to become the fourth winner in as many years, this Sunday is going to take a particularly strong weekend.
Marquez is the only rider to have gotten within three seconds of the winning Ducati over the line, with Jorge Lorenzo’s gap to Andrea Iannone in 2016 being 3.389 seconds when the Spaniard was third for Yamaha. The Iwata manufacturer have not had a podium in Austria since, with a best result of fifth place coming in 2017 courtesy of Johann Zarco. Last year, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was the top YZR-M1 in sixth place after qualifying in fourteenth before the public apology of Yamaha to its riders on Saturday. In fact, Rossi’s average speed in the race last year was 0.4kph slower than in 2016, whereas Lorenzo was 0.4kph faster in 2018 than Iannone in 2016, and Marc Marquez was 1.3kph faster than himself in 2016. Part of Rossi’s loss of speed can be explained by his poor qualifying in 2018, but nonetheless this shows Yamaha’s relative lack of progress in the last three or four years.
Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) took his first finish since Barcelona in Brno, but still the Spaniard is without a podium since Jerez in May. To achieve a top three this weekend with the GSX-RR would be tough, since it has a similar problem with horsepower as the Yamaha, demonstrated especially well in Mugello. Realistically, Suzuki will be hard-pressed to make the rostrum this weekend – a top five and in front of the Yamahas would be a strong result for the GSX-RR.
This is an important race for KTM, since it is their home GP and the race track is owned by their title sponsors. The RC16 should work well in Austria, and has made significant results in the past at the Red Bull Ring in the hands of Mika Kallio in 2017 when the Finn was tenth and less than twenty seconds from the leader at the line.
Joan Mi (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) are both out of action this weekend. For Lorenzo, the issue is still the injuries from the crash in practice in Assen, while for Mir the problems are more recent, after he had a large crash in Brno at the Monday test where he reportedly found the barrier on the outside. Lorenzo will be replaced once more by Stefan Bradl this weekend, whilst there will not be a second Suzuki on track in Austria.
Featured Image courtesy of Jaime Olivares/Box Repsol
The Moto2 World Championship arrives in Austria weekend for round eleven of the 2019 World Championship from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) comes into this round with a thirty-three-point championship lead, and colossal momentum after taking his fifth win in six races last week in Brno. Beating him this weekend will not be easy, even though the Spaniard is without a podium in Austria, such has been his dominance since Le Mans. It seems that Marquez’ understanding of the Dunlop tyres with the Triumph-powered Moto2 bikes is superior to his rivals.
That said, impressive performances from Fabio Di Giannantonio (Speed Up) and Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) last weekend, where they were able to match Marquez’ pace throughout the race, in the case of Di Giannantonio, and especially in the closing stages, proved that Marquez is reachable. Beatable, however, is unclear, but every weekend presents a different challenge and new opportunity for Marquez’ rivals.
While Brno was a good race for Alex Marquez, for his strongest championship rival, Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) it was a disaster. The Swiss crashed out early on, giving Marquez an advantage he doesn’t need. Thirty-three points might not seem like a huge amount, but when Marquez has the pace advantage he has week after week, and keeps churning out wins, it might not be long before this world title slips out of reach of Luthi.
KTM almost won their home race last year in the hands of Miguel Oliveira, before the Portuguese was passed in the final corner by Francesco Bagnaia. Things have been more complicated for KTM this year, but an all-knew chassis – a complete redesign from KTM – for Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was an apparent step in the right direction for the Austrian marque in Brno, despite the South African ending his race in the gravel. There were two podiums for Binder – who has been the standout rider on the KTM this season – before the summer break in Assen and Sachsenring, so there will be some hope in the orange camp that they can return to the rostrum in their home race despite the difficulties this season.
Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) had one of his best results of 2018 in Austria, finishing fifth on the Gresini Kalex twelve months ago. Navarro has been one of the standout riders in the intermediate class in 2019 aboard the Speed Up, and his usually strong race pace and tyre management can be a particularly strong point in Austria where traction is so important.
After missing the last three races courtesy of Stefano Manzi’s (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) error in practice at Assen, Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) is out once again this weekend. The Indonesian will be replaced by Teppei Nagoe, who replaced Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) earlier in the year.
Featured Image courtesy of Gareth Harford/ MarcVDS
After a morning of cloudless skies, the track temperature was up to 34C by the time the Moto2 riders were set to start their Czech Grand Prix in Brno, the tenth race of the season, which Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) dominated for his fifth win of the season.
Starting from pole, Marquez made a good launch, but it was not good enough to beat Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) to the holeshot. It did not take long for Marquez to reclaim the advantage, though, as he moved through for the lead at turn three.
Over the course of the next few laps, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) established himself as Marquez’ closest challenger and, for most of the race, the Italian was the only rider who could get near the #73’s lap times. There were two seconds between Di Giannantonio and Marquez, but together they escaped from the pack, and ensured their cold war was not interfered with for the entire race.
Fabio Di Giannantonio chasing Alex Marquez, Czech Moto2, 2019. Image courtesy of David Goldman/MarcVDS
The battle for the final podium spot was more visual, as Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) fought with the two SKY Racing Team VR46 bikes of Luca Marini and Nicolo Bulega, before Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) showed up on the scene as well.
Marini was eventually able to pass Schrotter with eleven laps to go, and then was able to extend a small gap. Unfortunately for the Italian, Jorge Navarro was not too delayed in passing Schrotter himself, and after doing so immediately applied the pressure to Marini.
It took a couple of laps, but Navarro was finally able to move through on Marini to take third place on lap thirteen. The Spaniard was able to stretch Marini and establish an advantage for himself, although the pressure would finally be coming from somewhere else.
Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) had been moving through the field throughout the race and was able to pass Marini with three laps to go. The gap to Navarro was up to almost one second by this point, so the task ahead of the #33 was tough, and he entered the final lap with a half-second deficit to Navarro. It was a gap which Bastianini was able to overturn by turn six, and the Italian made his move on Navarro at turn ten – just about able to pull the bike down to a late apex. From there, Bastianini was able to make an advantage for himself through turns eleven and twelve, so Navarro was unable to respond before the finish line.
Out front, though, despite the best efforts of Di Giannantonio, Marquez was untouchable once again, taking his fifth win of the season. Since Le Mans, when he has finished, no one has beaten Marquez, as his understanding of the Jerez-spec Dunlop tyre has been superior to his competitors. A crash early on for Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) means that Marquez leaves Brno with a thirty-three-point advantage at the top of the standings.
Di Giannantonio, Alex Marquez, Bastianini, Moto2 race, Czech MotGP 2019. Image courtesy of David Goldman/MarcVDS
The debut Moto2 podiums for rookies Di Giannantonio and Bastianini were richly deserved. They had opposite races, with Di Giannantonio chasing lap times in his cold war with Marquez, whilst Bastianini was chasing a new target almost every lap in his fight back through the pack from the sixth row. Di Giannantonio in this race has been the only rider who has been able to match Marquez’ race pace for the whole distance since the Spaniard’s first win in France, whilst Bastianini in Brno has been the only Kalex rider to manage the tyre as well as Marquez since the same point – an impressive outing for the young Italians.
Bastianini’s last lap move relegated Navarro to fourth place, which will be a disappointment with his teammate on the rostrum. Behind Navarro, Marini completed the top five, no doubt helped this weekend by three weeks off for his shoulder to repair after a tough Sachsenring. Marcel Schrotter dropped back in the final part of the race and finished sixth ahead of liberated rookie Nicolo Bulega; whilst Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) finished eighth in front of Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) who went from seventeenth to ninth. Iker Lecuona (American Racing) was the top KTM in tenth.
Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) was unable to capitalise on his front row start, finishing down in eleventh ahead of the two KTM rookies, Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) was fourteenth, whilst Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) took the final point on his first visit to Brno.
Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) was down in sixteenth, ahead of Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team), Jonas Folger (Petronas Sprinta Racing) in late on for Khairul Idham Pawi who was unfit after Friday, and Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) who completed the top twenty.
Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) was twenty-first ahead of Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP), Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who remounted after a crash on the first lap, and Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) who was the final classified rider in twenty-fifth.
Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing) and Tom Luthi were the first to retire on lap three, before Mattia Pasini crashed out of his first ride for Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 on the same lap as Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) dropped out. The final retirement was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), five laps from the flag – not the way KTM would have hoped the first race for their new chassis would end.
The sun was out for the Moto3 race in Brno, round ten of the 2019 World Championship, as Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) took his second win of the season and reclaimed the championship lead.
Before the start, Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) stalled his bike on the grid and missed the warm up lap. He had to start from pole position instead of third.
The front row would lose its second contender at the start, as John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) engaged the pit limiter instead of the launch button. He got away well but didn’t accelerate past the pit speed of 60kph, and was lucky to only be collected by one rider, although wildcard Yuki Kunii (Asia Talent Team) will doubtless see that differently.
It was Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) who made the holeshot from pole. He was joined at the front for much of the first half of the race by teammate Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) who spent much of that period riding the outside line to maintain the lead from the group behind which was for most of the race seventeen-strong.
That group was broken up when the two Estrella Galicia 0,0 bikes collided, taking both Sergio Garcia and Alonso Lopez out of the race, and slimming the front group to ten riders.
Before this crash, three riders had been making significant progress: Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing), Niccolo Antonelli and Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power). The all benefitted from the strong effect of the slipstream throughout a lap of Brno, and were able to fight their respective ways up the order to all, at some point, at least have a look at leading the race.
Particularly Antonelli’s ride was impressive, coming from pit lane to fight for the podium and the win, setting several fastest laps along the way and not looking at risk to do any of it. Similarly, and perhaps uncharacteristically, Darryn Binder did not look to be risking much in his overtakes, although some of them were slightly late.
As the race approached its final part, the efforts of these three riders perhaps began to show, as other riders seemed to grow stronger in the closing laps, possibly as a consequence of Antonelli, Dalla Porta and Binder using more tyre to arrive in the fight at all. In comparison, their competitors were in the fight from the beginning, so did not have to apply any unnecessary stress to put themselves in a particular position.
Tony Arblino and Aron Canet. Moto3 2019: Round Ten – Brno, Czech Republic. Image courtesy of Hondanews.eu
Lorenzo Dalla Porta, nonetheless, led onto the final lap, but both Tony Arblino and Aron Canet – both of whom had sat quietly in the top five for the whole race – went through at turn three. Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) – similar to Arbolino and Canet in his anonymity throughout the race – passed Dalla Porta in turn five.
A mistake from Arbolino on the exit of turn nine allowed Canet to cut underneath and take the lead, whilst Dalla Porta used the slipstream to put him in the position to out-brake Masia into turn ten. Another dive from Dalla Porta in turn twelve allowed Canet to escape a little before the run up the hill. The #44 was clear into the final corner, and Dalla Porta was not close enough to slipstream him to the line.
Canet’s victory was a superb one, in which he showed just how much moving away from the Monlau setup for this year has helped him. So many times we have seen Canet sit in the group and do very little but maintain his distance to the front until the final stages this year, and in this race he perfected that strategy to take his second win of the season and reclaim the championship lead.
Dalla Porta’s second place was therefore important for the Italian, who now sits three points behind Canet as the World Championship heads to KTM’s home track in Austria. Despite a poor qualifying where he was only seventeenth, the #48 proved he has the race craft, the mentality and the intelligence to recover from that situation, and in this case that means that he remains in touch in the World Championship chase between himself and Canet.
Tony Arbolino looked strong throughout the race, but there was little he could do about Dalla Porta’s late lunge in turn twelve which cost him the chance to challenge Canet in the final two corners. Nonetheless, it was a good response from Arbolino to his difficult race in Sachsenring where he finished only fifteenth.
Jaume Masia, Moto3 race, Czech Moto2 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Jaume Masia was unable to put KTM on the podium in Brno, but his race was a good one, similar in some respects to the one he made in Mugello. He was invisible for most of the race, but was able to challenge strongly for the podium at the end, unfortunately missing out by two tenths.
After starting from pit lane, Niccolo Antonelli should be quite happy with fifth place, but when he had the opportunity entering the final lap to fight for the win it is perhaps difficult to see what he actually achieved. An attempted pass from Antonelli into the first corner dropped him to fifth place on the final lap, and unfortunately for the Italian he was unable to recover from that.
Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) had a strong ride to sixth place. Brno is a track that Ogura knows, having ridden a wildcard ride there in 2018, so a good result was to be expected – to walk away with ‘top rookie’ is nonetheless impressive and shows his potential.
Seventh place went to Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) who was also in the front group for almost the entirety of the race, but was unable to launch himself into the fight for the podium. He was ahead of Romano Fenati over the line, finishing eighth after dropping out of the lead fight at about half-distance.
Ninth place went to home rider Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP), whilst Darryn Binder eventually rounded out the top ten.
Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) took eleventh place ahead of Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) who made a strong start but was unable to keep the front pace for the full distance. Thirteenth place went to Makar Yurchenko (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) who fought inside the top ten in the early stages, but fell back in the second half. Can Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took fourteenth, whilst Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) took the final point in fifteenth.
Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) started one place behind teammate Dalla Porta, but was unable to get near the Italian’s pace and was unable to follow him through the pack, finishing sixteenth in the end. Stefano Nepa (Reale Avintia Arizona 77) was seventeenth, ahead of wildcard Deniz Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team) who crashed early on – his third crash in as many races.
Filip Salac, Moto3, Czech MotoGP 2019. Image courtesy Gold and Goose/KTM
After Yuki Kunii hit John McPhee, both riders were out. Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP) joined them when he had contact with another rider in the first corner and crashed out of his home GP. Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) and Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) both finished their respective races with seventeen laps to go, before Riccardo Rossi (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) dropped out as well. Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) crashed twice before he called it a day; then Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) high sided on the exit of turn seven, moments before Garcia and Lopez came together at turn nine. Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) was the final retirement with two laps to go.
