Category: Crew On Two

In the moments after the Moto2 race in Brno, rain started to fall. This meant that as the riders lines up on the grid for the MotoGP race, the surface beneath them was wet, which wouldn’t have been a problem if the rest of the track was the same.

Between turn two and turn fourteen, the track was completely dry, but between turn fourteen and turn one the track was wet. This meant that riders would have to choose slick tyres, but starting on a wet track and heading into a wet turn one presented obvious safety risks that even Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), perhaps the most relaxed rider on the MotoGP grid when it comes to non-ideal conditions, acknowledged. Those problems included twenty-three bikes arriving at turn one with no grip and no temperature, and all of them leaving the grid with no traction control with slick tyres on a wet surface, such are the limitations of the control Magneti Marelli ECU.

As such, the decision was taken to delay the start of the race. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was one of the riders most clearly expressing his desire for this decision, for which he received some criticism. Ultimately, if Jack Miller thinks it is unsafe, it is probably unsafe.

The race finally got underway thirty-five minutes late. One of the hopes among fans was that dry conditions would prevent Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) from repeating his Saturday performance when he took pole position by 2.524 seconds with slick tyres on a wet track, where the dry line was maybe two-tyre-widths-wide at its widest and non-existent at its frequent narrowest. Nonetheless, Marquez made the holeshot.

One of the issues with the conditions at the race start was the inconsistency in grip across the track, with the left side of the grid – where the front of each row was – was dry, compared to the middle which was partly wet and the right side which was mostly wet. This meant that while the likes of Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Valentino Rossi were able to make clean starts from dry grid slots, the likes of Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) from KTM’s first MotoGP front row or Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) from the back of the third row struggled more for grip off the line.

With Miller alongside Marquez on the grid, and the Spaniard making the holeshot, the ‘holeshot device’ on the Ducati was made to look relatively useless. But it was the performance off the line of Andrea Dovizioso which showed its potential, as the Italian was steaming up to Marquez as they approached turn one, but did not have the over-speed to pass the championship leader.

Behind Dovizioso were Jack Miller and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), with these three and Marquez pulling clear of Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in the opening stages.

It is normal to see Dovizioso lead. He likes to control the pace at the front of the race, to look after his tyres so he can fight at the end. Perhaps the fact that the Italian was consistently 0.3-0.5 seconds behind Marquez put the writing on the wall. There was no challenge to Marquez’ leadership in the first half of the race and, as the tyres started to drop further in the second half, Marquez’ pace maintained, whereas for the three behind him it started to drop.

Lights-to-flag race wins were a rarity for Marquez before 2019, but they seem to be his preferred method now, perhaps as a result of the slightly weaker front end on the 2019 RC213V, or perhaps a simple realisation on the part of the pilot: that he doesn’t need to fight, he can just run away. Running away is a much more simple way of winning races, although difficult to do in the current age of MotoGP, where the bikes are so close and the operating windows for the tyres are so narrow. But Marquez and Honda have found a way this year to effect this, and it has been devastating. Winning in Brno (Marquez’ fiftieth premier class triumph), considered a Ducati track previously, might be the final nail in the 2019 MotoGP World Championship coffin – or, if you’re Marquez, the beginning of the engraving process on you’re sixth premier class plate.

Behind Marquez, Dovizioso was able to pull away from Alex Rins who, for a couple of laps, was beginning to look half-threatening to Dovizioso. But Rins’ tyres went away and Dovizioso escaped to a relatively depressing second place, which leaves him sixty-three points behind Marquez ahead of Austria next weekend.

When Rins’ tyres dropped, Jack Miller took advantage, and took third place. Rins had a look over his shoulder and confirmed that his only focus was Miller with no pressure from Cal Crutchlow (LC Honda CASTROL) behind. Although he had the focus, Rins did not have the grip, and so Miller was able to claim his second podium of the season after he was also third in Texas back in April.

Miller is known as a strong wet weather rider, and one who is strong in mixed conditions, or when the tyre doesn’t match the surface. It is perhaps then no surprise that Miller was the only rider to even get remotely close to challenging Marquez in qualifying, just let down by the timing of his switch to slicks. However, it should be noted that Miller’s two podiums this year have come in the dry, and also that they came on weekends where grip was limited.

It is slightly paradoxical that the most aggressive riders, like Marquez and Miller, should be so strong in low-grip, compared to a gentle, smooth rider like Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) or Dovizioso. But, their comfort with the bike sliding is their advantage when all the bike wants to do is slide.

Alex Rins was resigned to fourth place at the end, showing Suzuki still need to find something to protect the tyre in low-grip conditions. Importantly, though, it was Rins’ first finish since Barcelona, an important weight off his shoulders after four weeks dwelling on two consecutive crashes from podium positions.

Cal Crutchlow came through well at the start, making multiple positions. After he passed Valentino Rossi for fifth, it was a straightforward race for the Briton – faster than those behind but not fast enough to catch those in front. His 6.007-second gap to Marquez highlights further how well the Spaniard is riding.

Although recently Brno has been considered a Ducati track, it is also a track which suits well the characteristics of Yamaha, with the long, sweeping corners allowing them to use their bikes advantage: mid-corner speed.

However, on Sunday the top Yamaha was Valentino Rossi in sixth place, three seconds behind Crutchlow in fifth, 5.5 seconds off the podium and 9.083 seconds behind Marquez. The positive for Rossi is that he was the top Yamaha rider, so it is arguable that there was little more he could have gotten from the M1. The Italian will need to repeat this, though, to truly respond to those calling for him to make way in the factory Yamaha team.

Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) passed Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) just before Rossi was passed by Crutchlow. The Frenchman, though, was unable to catch Rossi in the time he had left, and ended up three seconds behind the Italian in seventh, almost two seconds ahead of Petrucci in eighth.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) finished ninth, which is probably not going to enhance his case for a factory bike in 2020, whilst Maverick Vinales’ race was ruined by his wet grid slot and the Yamaha’s lack of power making it difficult to overtake on a track like Brno – the Spaniard finished tenth.

Pol Espargaro went backwards after a good start and finished eleventh ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) who will have been content to finish. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) returned to his form of the opening races of the season to be the second KTM across the line, almost eight seconds clear of Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) finished fifteenth in what is hopefully his penultimate replacement ride for Jorge Lorenzo.

Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) took sixteenth place ahead of Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who beat teammate Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) to seventeenth by three tenths. Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) could only manage nineteenth in his home race, whilst Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was twentieth and last on his wildcard appearance.

Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) crashed out on lap one with Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) when the Italian had contact with Zarco. Morbidelli went down and Mir had no chance to avoid the #21 Yamaha. Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was the only other retirement.

Featured Image courtesy of Jesus Robledo Blanco/Box Repsol

Rain before the Moto3 qualifying session in Brno meant the track was wet for the MotoGP riders as they went out for qualifying, but a halt in the rainfall meant the track was drying throughout both sessions.

In Q1, the track started out with already a dry line forming, and throughout the session the times scrolled downwards. Johann Zarco and Pol Espargaro moved through the Q2 for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. It was the first time Zarco had participated in Q2 for the Austrian marque, and the first time this season two RC16s has featured in the pole positions shootout.

In Q2 the track dried sufficiently for several riders to try slick tyres with time for four laps. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) who made the most of the slicks. Despite rain in the final sector on his final lap, he was able to take pole by 2.524 seconds in a display of outstanding riding talent and technique. It would have been quite easy for Marquez to decide that, with a fifty-eight-point lead in the championship, it was not worth the risk to push for pole position, a risk that could have taken him out of this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix and the Austrian GP next weekend, if not more. But take the risk he did and he was rewarded justly for it.

Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) was a few seconds behind Marquez on the track, which was just far enough to mean that when he arrived in the final corner on his final lap, there was too much water for his slick tyre, and down he went. Nonetheless, his first lap on slicks was fast enough for second on the grid.

Johann Zarco made the most of his first Q2 appearance of 2019 to put his factory KTM on the back of the front row, the best qualifying position in KTM’s short MotoGP history. After the difficult season Zarco has had, and the war of words between Zarco and KTM away from the track this season, this result is precisely what was needed for both sides to repair their relationship.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was one of only four riders to stay on wets after most had switched to slicks, one of the others being Zarco. It paid off for the Italian, who was able to improve in the final few minutes to, initially, go third. Miller’s second-place lap dropped Dovizioso to row two, but with Ducati’s holeshot device there should be a good chance for Dovizioso to try and control the race as he likes to tomorrow.

Another of the riders to stick with wets was Pol Espargaro who qualified fifth, whilst Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was unable to improve on dry tyres and wound up sixth.

Valentino Rossi’s final lap on the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1 put him seventh, which was a significant improvement for the Italian after his first run left him only eleventh. This was Rossi’s best qualifying since Le Mans when he was fifth. The Italian will be joined by compatriot Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammate, Maverick Vinales, on row three tomorrow.

Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) qualified tenth after he wasn’t able to make his slicks work. The Frenchman will be joined on row four by Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT).

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) was the fastest rider to not make Q2, and will be joined by Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Suzuki wildcard Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar) on row five.

Row six sees Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) line up alongside Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement at the Repsol Honda Team, Stefan Bradl, and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), whilst Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) heads up row seven from home favourite Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3).

Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) will start from twenty-second, whilst Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) will complete the grid in twenty-third.

Featured Image courtesy of Jesus Robledo Blanco/Box Repsol

The 2019 MotoGP World Championship returns to action this weekend after the summer break with the Czech Grand Prix, round ten of the season.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) comes into this round as the clear championship leader – fifty-eight points clear of Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) – and the favourite for this weekend. Still, Marquez is the only rider in 2019 to have won more than one race in the MotoGP class, with five wins to his name in the first half of the season. Additionally, in his history in the premier class, Marquez has only missed the podium in Brno once, back in 2014. In 2013, his first year at Brno on a MotoGP bike, Marquez won; 2015 saw him take second place between the two factory Yamaha riders; in 2016 he was third and the top-placed rider with the soft-option rear wet tyre; in 2017 he completely out-smarted the rest and won by almost twenty seconds in the flag-to-flag conditions; and last year he was out-raced by Andrea Dovizioso who made the most of the power advantage of the Ducati. This year, Ducati do not have that same power advantage over Honda, and that could be enough for the reigning World Champion to pull clear on Sunday afternoon.

With Ducati still suffering with mid-corner speed, they are relying on their power, and Dovizioso’s race-craft to win this weekend. The #04’s tactics have won him several races over the last few years, including last year in Brno. However, the aforementioned power gains of Honda this year could make things more complicated for the Italian this year. Previously, Dovizioso would sit at the front, knowing that people can’t pass him in the middle of the corner, and that he is better on the brakes, better on acceleration and better on top speed. Compared to Marquez, at least, the latter two points are no longer as valid as they were before.

The characteristics of Brno have historically leant themselves to ‘corner-speed bikes’ quite well. Whilst Honda have been successful in Brno with four-strokes – with Rossi, Gibernau , Pedrosa, Stoner, Crutchlow, and Marquez – Yamaha have also found success there with their almost opposite design philosophy. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) won for Yamaha in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. In addition to his Honda wins in 2001 and 2003, Rossi is the most successful rider in Brno in the premier class with six wins. In total, Rossi has eight wins in Brno, and of course his first win in the World Championship came at the Czech track in 1996. After a difficult period for the Italian before the summer break, Rossi is in need of a strong result in Brno, where he has not been on the podium since 2016.

Perhaps Yamaha’s best options for this weekend lie in Rossi’s Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammate, Maverick Vinales, and Petronas Yamaha SRT’s star rookie Fabio Quartararo. Vinales is riding the crest of a wave at the moment. He has not ridden the M1 as well as he is now since his first races with Yamaha in 2017 and will fancy himself for the podium this weekend at a track which should suit the M1, although the Spaniard has not been on the Czech GP podium in the MotoGP class – his last rostrum in Brno coming in 2013 when he was second in the Moto3 race.

Quartararo, on the other hand, arrives in Brno after his first crash in a MotoGP race in Sachsenring. Brno shares characteristics with Assen and Catalunya, where Quartararo was strong and took consecutive podiums. On the other hand, Brno shares characteristics with Mugello, where the Frenchman was tenth. What you can say, though, is that Brno is less reliant on top speed than Mugello, which sees the highest speeds of the year. With that in mind, the flowing nature of Brno should prove fruitful for the #20.

What works for Yamaha generally works for Suzuki, and sometimes even better. For example, when Marquez crashed in Texas this year, it worked well for Yamaha, as Valentino Rossi inherited the lead, but it worked better for Suzuki because Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) had better pace. Similarly, the meandering undulations of Mugello work well for Yamaha, but this year they worked better for Suzuki who have more power in the GSX-RR than the YZR-M1.

One of the key features of Brno is ‘Horsepower Hill’, previously known as ‘Honda Hill’ – a tag which may return this year for the run between turns twelve and thirteen. This is the part of the track that will not work for the weak-motored M1, but with slightly more power in the GSX-RR Suzuki could make advantage of this area. For sure, they will be at a disadvantage here to Ducati and Honda, but their potential advantage in the rest of the track could cancel this out. Alex Rins has a good chance to win this weekend, which would edge Suzuki back ahead of Yamaha in their private battle for the title of ‘best MotoGP inline-four’.

Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) will be missing once again following his crash in Assen. Stefan Bradl continues to be his replacement, who is fresh from a podium finish at the Suzuka 8 Hour on the factory Honda.

Featured image courtesy of Box Repsol

The ninth round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship took place in Germany at the Sachsenring, where Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took his tenth consecutive win at the German track.

Marquez made a relatively bad start from his tenth-straight Sachsenring pole and was out-dragged towards turn one by fellow front-row starters Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), but the #93 out-brakes the Yamaha riders around the outside on the entry to the first turn.

Vinales, in turn, forced out Quartararo in turn one, as Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) took third. Before the end of the first lap, though, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) took third away from Miller, although the Ducati rider came back in turn one.

A crash for Quartararo broke the pack up on lap two. The Frenchman was unhurt but it allowed a gap to appear between Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) in fifth and Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) in sixth.

On lap three, Marquez started to move the pace on, and Mille started to struggle. Rins had already passed him back for third, and before the end of the lap Crutchlow was through for fourth. Miller’s lack of pace had brought Danilo Petrucci back towards him and Crutchlow, and the second Mission Winnow Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso was there, too, as well as Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in tenth.

At turn twelve on lap four, Alex Rins got past Maverick Vinales for second place as Marquez’s advantage grew to six tenths. Marquez’ strategy was to use the first two laps to warm his front tyre, and then push to open a gap. It was a strategy which worked – Rins was able to go faster than Vinales, but not fast enough to close Marquez.

With twenty-four laps to go, Marquez’ advantage was over one second, and with twenty-two to go it was approaching 1.5 seconds over Rins, who in turn had over one second back to Vinales, whilst Crutchlow was pressuring the #12.

When Marquez’ gap reached three seconds, he backed the pace off to conserve the tyre which had been a concern over the weekend for the whole field, such were the temperatures and the particular demands of the especially anti-clockwise Sachsenring.

Marquez’ lead was extended further on lap twelve when Alex Rins crashed at turn eleven out of second place. If his win wasn’t assured already, it was now. Marquez continued out front for eleven relatively comfortable laps, and took his tenth-straight Sachsenring win. Additionally, it was his fifth win of the season, and his championship advantage opened up to fifty-eight points ahead of the summer break – a healthy margin with ten races to go and a useful buffer with strong tracks for Ducati coming up on the calendar.

Maverick Vinales spent most of the race with Cal Crutchlow no more than two tenths behind him. Originally, this was for third place but Rins’ crash made that into the second-place battle. Towards the end, the gap between the Spaniard and the Briton increased and Vinales took second place 4.587 seconds behind Marquez, and over three seconds clear of Crutchlow as he took his third podium of the season a week on from his dominant win in Assen.

Crutchlow was unsure whether he would be able to race on Sunday such was the pain he was in after his bicycle accident between Assen and Sachsenring in which he broke the top of his tibia. To turn from that on Sunday to a third place and his second podium of the season in Sachsenring is impressive from the Briton who has struggled for front feeling with the 2019 Honda. Finishing the first half of the season the way he started it is a good way to go into the summer break for the #35.

Fourth place went to Danilo Petrucci who came out on top in a big battle between himself, Dovizioso, Miller and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar). Petrucci knew that Sachsenring was not a favourable track for Ducati, but he enjoyed the track himself – with a new Ducati contract for 2020 under his belt he had no problems taking points away from Dovizioso who he now trails by only six points in the championship.

Dovizioso himself was able to turn a difficult weekend and a thirteenth-place grid slot into a fifth place, although this was not enough to lift his mood as he saw the 2019 world title slip even further away.

Jack Miller took sixth place. To be fighting with the factory GP19s is all Miller could have hoped for in Sachsenring, and he had them both well in sight at the flag. Joan Mir was seventh after a strong ride in which he almost certainly learned a great deal about how to fight in a MotoGP race and how to conserve a tyre.

Valentino Rossi was in the fight with Mir and the GP19s until the closing stages of the race, when his medium rear tyre – which most riders commented was harder than the hard compound – started to give up. The summer break has come at the right time for Rossi, who needs to reset for the second half of the season having missed the podium since Texas and not been in the top five since Le Mans.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) suffered similar late-race pace to Rossi and finished ninth. Perhaps it is useful to consider in this moment that Morbidelli has been open about modelling his own riding style on Rossi’s. Considering the comparable results of the two in recent races, perhaps it can be judged that – at least for this year’s edition of the YZR-M1 – this decision by Morbidelli has not been the best one.

Stefan Bradl, in place of Jorge Lorenzo at the Repsol Honda Team, was able to finish tenth, giving the factory Honda team their first double-top ten since Malaysia 2018 when Marquez won and Dani Pedrosa was fifth.

Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) finished eleventh, ahead of Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), the heavily and increasingly injured Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) and Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) who completed the points.

Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was sixteenth, ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) whose clearance to race was a questionable one after being admitted to hospital and admitting himself to headaches after a practice crash on Friday. The Italian had a big run-on in turn one early in the race, which compromised his result. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) crashed early on, and was the final classified rider in seventeenth.

After Fabio Quartararo crashed out on lap two, Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) also crashed out a lap later. There was not another retirement until Rins dropped out on lap nineteen. After Rins fell, only Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) dropped out, as he crashed with two laps to go after a strong ride in which he was fighting for the top ten.

Featured Image courtesy of Box Repsol