Crew On Two

20th May 2018

Stunning Zarco Breaks Lap Record for Home GP Pole

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.

Marc Marquez pipped to pole by Zarco. Image courtesy of RedBull content pool

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. Image courtesy of Suzuki racing

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.

20th May 201820th May 2018

Bagnaia Takes First Moto2 Pole in Le Mans

Qualifying for the 2018 French Moto2 Grand Prix was decided fairly early on. Well, pole was, at least. Pecco Bagnaia, the championship leader, set the eventual pole time early on in the session to take his first ever Moto2 pole position ahead of tomorrow’s race, in which he will hope to take his fourth podium of the season, and third win from the opening five races.

Lorenzo Baldassarri . Image courtesy of Honda pro racing

But it will not be easy, with Xavi Vierge and going with him off the front row. Vierge is looking for his first Grand Prix win, and is fresh from pushing Bagnaia all the way in Jerez for the final podium position. Whilst for Baldassarri, he is coming from a dominant win in Spain, where he waltzed away from the pack to take his and Pons HP40’s first win since 2016. Balda does not have the same pace advantage as he has in Le Mans, but he proved there that he can hang on to a tyre extremely well, and that could prove important in what could be the hottest temperatures of the weekend.

Joan Mir was third for much of the session, before Baldassarri displaced him at the end. His pace in Jerez was masked by a stomach bug. It is not a difficult conclusion to arrive at that Mir could have fought for the podium in Spain had it not been for his illness, and this weekend he is proving that. Remember, also, that Mir ran away with the 2017 Moto3 race in Le Mans, so a first Moto2 podium, maybe victory, is definitely on the cards for tomorrow. Such a result would only strengthen rumours of a move to MotoGP with Honda next season.
Marcel Schrotter and Alex Marquez will join Mir on the second row, and tomorrow’s race will be crucial for Marquez, whose championship hopes took a blow in Jerez when he crashed out of podium contention. He will be hoping to make up for that tomorrow.

Sam Lowes was the top KTM rider in qualifying, despite a crash, attained seventh place, ahead of the factory KTM of Brad Binder and the Kalex of Simone Corsi who join him on the third row. KTMs in seventh and eighth suggests that they have not found solutions to the issues they faced in Le Mans last year, and tomorrow looks like it could be a bit of a struggle for them.

Even more so, with Miguel Oliveira in tenth. The Portuguese will need another strong comeback ride tomorrow if he is not to concede too much ground in the championship. Mattia Pasini, another disappointing qualifier, will start with Oliveira alongside Romano Fenati on row four.

Hector Barbera had his best qualifying of the season in thirteenth place, ahead of Fabio Quartararo and Jorge Navarro in fourteenth and fifteenth places respectively.

Andrea Locatelli, Joe Roberts and Khairul Idham Pawi make up row six; Isaac Vinales, Iker Lecuona and Bo Bendsneyder row seven; Tetsuta Nagashima, Stefano Manzi and the inured Luca Marini were 22nd, 23rd and 24th, but Marini’s 6-place grid drop for tomorrow for his crash with Navarro in Spain means he will start 30th.

That means Lukas Tulovic will start from the back of row eight, and Steven Odendaal will head up row nine from Hector Garzo and Jules Danilo. Federico Fuligni and the replacement for Zulfahmi Khairrudin, Niki Tuuli, will start alongside Marini on row ten.

Danny Kent will start 31st, ahead of wildcards Corentin Perolari and Xavi Cardelus on row eleven, whilst the final two places of the 35-bike grid will be taken by Eric Granado and Cedric Tangre.

19th May 2018

Injured Martin Takes French Moto3 Pole

Moto3 qualifying got underway in atypically warm conditions in Le Mans for the fourth round of the 2018 World Championship, but as had been the case across all three classes over the course of the weekend, it was crashes aplenty.

Avoiding falling was the rider who finally set pole position, Jorge Martin. The Spaniard is still carrying an injury this weekend, and perhaps not had the pace you might expect from him, but that did not stop him taking yet another pole position. With the way the first section of corners work at Le Mans, and with the number of Moto3 bikes entering them on lap one tomorrow, being on the front row is key to keep out of trouble, which is precisely what Martin will be hoping to do tomorrow considering his injury, and his championship ambitions – he can’t afford another DNF after Jerez.

It was a surprise in second place, with the Czech veteran, Jakub Kornfeil, setting the time fast enough for the middle spot in the front row. Row one was rounded out by the number 33 of Enea Bastianini, who had a monster high side in the early stages of the session at Musée, but got himself and the bike back in relatively good states, and his front row start tomorrow is just reward for his efforts. He will be hoping for his first win of 2018 tomorrow.

Marcos Ramirez built on his podium at home in Jerez two weeks ago to take fourth on the grid, and it looks like perhaps the Spaniard is beginning to return to form after his difficult start to the season. Fifth place on the grid tomorrow will be filled by Albert Arenas, who is sporting a Mike Wazowski helmet design on his HJC, who sponsor the French Grand Prix hence the one-off designs for their riders this weekend. Championship leader, Marco Bezzecchi, was another who crashed, but managed to recover to take sixth place, as he looks for his fourth successive podium in sunday’s race.

Row three will be headed up by Niccolo Antonelli, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio who has been tipped by his teammate Jorge Martin to be the Spaniard’s main challenger for the world title. Andrea Migno will be off the back of the third row.

Aron Canet set the tenth fastest time, but his part in the major crash at Jerez, combined with his incident with Makar Yurchenko, got him a back-of-the grid start for this race, so his qualifying position was irrelevant today.

So, it will be Lorenzo Dalla Porta who will stat tenth tomorrow, ahead of Philipp Oettl (also sporting a Mike Wazowski helmet) and Darryn Binder. Tony Arbolino will head up row five, in front of Tatsuki Suzuki and Nicolo Bulega, who seems to have made a step forward this weekend, building on progress which was apparently made at the private Aragon test last week.

Alonso Lopez – image courtesy of Honda Pro racing.

Kazuki Masaki, last year’s Red Bull Rookies Champion, will start sixteenth, ahead of Alonso Lopez and Makar Yurchenko; whilst Jaume Masia will front row seven in nineteenth, ahead of Livio Loi and Dennis Foggia. Gabriel Rodrigo will start 22nd, ahead of Nakarin Atiratphuvapat. John McPhee set the 25th fastest time (he had a crash at the end which cost him a chance at a final attempt), which would have been good enough for 24th after Canet’s penalty, but John himself got a penalty for causing the crash on lap one at Jerez two weeks ago, which took out three other riders. That 6-place penalty would have put him last, but Canet’s penalty means the Scot will start second-last, in 27th. With penalities added this means Ayumu Sasaki will start from the back of row eight in 24th. Kaito Toba will start 25th, Adam Norrodin 26th, and then finally the two penalised riders, McPhee and Canet.

Probably the biggest thing to watch durring the race will be the speed at which Canet can come through the pack. If he keeps it clean, considering the closeness of the times this weekend, it is not impossible for the Spaniard to make the podium.

Featured Image courtesy of Redbull content pool

17th May 2018

Bezzecchi Leads the Moto3 Pack as it Heads to Le Mans

The Moto3 World Championship rolls into Le Mans this weekend for round five of the 2018 season, off the back of a dramatic fourth round two weeks ago in Jerez, which saw a new winner in the shape of Philipp Oettl as well as a pileup courtesy of Aron Canet.

It was Oettl who stole the headlines, though; as his win brought him and his father, Peter, into the same group as Stefan and Helmut Bradl, Graziano and Valentino Rossi and more, as a father-son pairing to have both won a Grand Prix. It was clearly particularly special for Peter, whose celebrations after the race were quite spectacular and who has run the team for which Philipp rides since he began in the World Championship back in 2013. We saw Brad Binder claim his first Grand Prix win in Jerez back in 2016, and go on to win the championship in the same year, will we see the same for Oettl?

There are 28 points between the German and the new; and first time championship leader, who is also riding a KTM this season. That is Marco Bezzecchi, the latest surprise from the VR46 Riders Academy, and what a start to the season he has had. A fall in the first race when he was battling for the podium now seems a long time ago; since then he has won in Argentina, finished third in Texas and then second in Spain. In two out of four races this season he has been the top KTM (Argentina, Texas) and Oettl is the closest KTM rider to him in the championship. In many respects, Bezzecchi is this season what Francesco Bagnaia was to Mahindra back in 2016 – the only differences lie in Bez’s apparent ability to fight for this year’s Moto3 World Championship title, and the KTM’s allowance for him to do so, although there is little doubt that the KTM is disadvantaged compared to the Honda. But three podiums in the last three races show that, whilst the Bezzecchi-KTM partnership might not be the outright fastest one out there. It is, at the moment, the most consistent, and consistency wins championships: Alzamora in 125cc, 1998, Hayden in MotoGP, 2006, Vinales in Moto3, 2013, are all prime examples. The KTM has always been strong on the brakes, with good stability, and such a trait is a helpful one at Le Mans with many stop-start sections, so maybe this weekend Bezzecchi will be able to get onto the podium once more, and maybe Oettl can join him there.

Furthermore, the weather in Le Mans is, certainly, uncertain. Whilst the forecast has been showing, for the most part, a completely dry weekend with decent temperatures, is would not be unlike Le Mans to throw some rain into the equation this weekend, and we know from last year as well as Argentina that Bezzecchi excels in low-grip and rain conditions – maybe the French weather will present an opportunity for the Italian.

Jorge Martin at Le Mans 2017 . Image courtesy of Redbull Content pool

Jorge Martin comes into this weekend lying second in the championship, but also injured, after the aforementioned Canet-caused mayhem in Spain. It is a wrist injury for Martin, but he is hoping to be fit for this weekend, and really it would be a surprise if he was not able to compete, but there is always the chance that, like Leon Camier at Imola last weekend, he is unable. It was a crash for Martin in Le Mans last year, with six laps to go, and it was the same the year before when he crashed on the final lap. So, perhaps not a great circuit for Martin, and with the injury he is carrying, this weekend could present an opportunity for his championship rivals to make an advantage to the Spaniard.

One such rival could be the person who caused Jorge’s injury, Aron Canet, who lies fifteen points off the lead, in the World Championship and seven from Martin. Canet fought for the podium in 2016, his rookie year, but nearly took his teammate out in the penultimate corner, trying to pass for third. As it was, they both stayed on, but considering that, in combination with Argentina FP1 and Jerez two weeks ago, a reputation is building for Canet, and not one he would like. Hopefully, this weekend his speed will be the main talking point, not his potential danger to the rest of the field.

Canet did take a podium last year, though, although a long way behind the victor, Joan Mir. The other rider on the podium, in third place, was Fabio Di Giannantonio, who will be coming into this weekend looking to make up for the missed opportunity in Spain, where he had the pace to win the race all weekend, but was unable to use it on Sunday, and ended up down the order in seventh place after he was caught in the second group due to a mistake in Dry Sack in the mid-portion of the race.

Enea Bastianini has a crucial round this weekend, too, after a 50% crash rate in the first four races. Admittedly, his second DNF of the season was entirely not his fault, as he was caught up in the incident with Canet, but the crash in Qatar looks like it is really hurting the Italian at this moment, as he is thirty points away from the top spot in the standings. Even if he could not challenge Martin or Canet in Qatar, he would have taken sixteen points for sure, which would put him just fourteen points off at this point in the season. At the end of the year we always look at the ‘ifs and buts’, and this seems like a particularly popular one for people to speak about with respect to the Moto3 class in November. But there are many races to go, and perhaps this will be the one where “La Bestia” turns his season around.

17th May 2018

Bagnaia and Baldassarri Head to Le Mans to Continue Italy’s Moto2 Monopoly

After four rounds of the 2018 Moto2 World Championship, it is Francesco Bagnaia who is leading the standings. It has not been a perfect start to the number 42’s season, a ninth place in Argentina definitely proving something of a blot on the copy book at the moment, as well as providing reason to doubt his championship credentials. But two wins in Qatar and Texas, as well as a third-place last time out in Spain, have proven enough, so far to be able to land Pecco the top spot in the championship at this stage. Le Mans has proved fruitful for Bagnaia in the past too; he scored his second Moto2 podium there last year with a second place, just 1.7 seconds off winner and eventual champion Franco Morbidelli, and he took third place in the 2016 Moto3 race on the Mahindra behind the KTMs of Romano Fenati and Brad Binder. With that in mind, the championship leader could be tough to beat this weekend, but as ever in Moto2, and especially this weekend, there is no shortage of riders who will fancy their chances this weekend.

None fit that description more, perhaps, than Bagnaia’s flatmate, and fellow VR46 Academy rider, Lorenzo Baldassarri. The Pons HP40 rider won the last race at Jerez in convincing fashion, with superior pace across the whole weekend that he put to use in the race on Sunday to win by nearly three seconds. It was his second win of his career, and an important one, because he had been knocking on the door of a victory in the first two races, but struggled a bit more in Austin. The victory took him back to second in the championship standings, nine points behind Bagnaia – so the Italian is firmly in the hunt. But it has been two crashes in the last two years for Balda in Le Mans, and he will need to change that if he wants to remain in the championship fight which, this year, seems tighter than ever in the intermediate class.

Miguel Oliveira at Le Mans 2017 – Image courtesy of Redbull Content pool

Miguel Oliveira announced in Jerez that he will be moving to MotoGP in 2019 with the Tech3 KTM team – a smart move by all accounts. However, the announcement seemed to disrupt the Portuguese’s rhythm on Saturday in Spain, when he qualified fourteenth. Clearly frustrated by the poor result, he fought back viciously in the race, to come back to the top positions in five laps, and end up finishing a fairly comfortable second. However, Jerez proved that, at least in the case of Baldassarri and the Pons team, it is possible for the Kalex chassis to keep hold of the rear Dunlop just as well, if not better, than the KTM, and this was an area which was thought to be a particular strong point of the Austrian chassis. The loss of this advantage could prove pivotal in the title battle, and furthermore the Le Mans layout proved a difficult one for the KTMs last year: Ricky Cardus (who was replacing Brad Binder) finished thirteenth and Oliveira could only manage seventeenth. It is possible that the high grip surface (which was new for last year) disadvantaged the KTMs with their soft-on-tyres chassis, and if that is the case then this year it should not be as bad since the surface has lost a little bit of grip since last year. Either way, the KTM teams will have last year’s data to work with to solve any issues, which should help them if they encounter similar issues. If they struggle like last year, it could be a critical weekend for the Kalex riders to make an advantage to the likes of Oliveira and Binder.

Fifteen points separate Mattia Pasini from the top of the championship. The Italian veteran has a sniff at this title, and when Paso senses the door ajar, he requires no invitation to charge through it. Not only that, but Le Mans is the round before Mugello; Pasini’s home race and a special one for him. He will be looking to head to Mugello in good form, to hope to fight for the victory like last year.

Le Mans is one of Marini’s favourite circuits, and last year he scored his best ever qualifying position with fourth. He made a bad start, though, and was trying to come back through the field when he fell trying to pass Pasini at the first part of Les Esses Bleu. Last race in Jerez, Marini crashed into Jorge Navarro on lap one at Dry Sack, and as such he will start 6 places lower than his qualifying position this weekend. To add to the number 10’s woes, he has suffered a dislocated shoulder in the run up to this weekend, so it will be a tough one for the Italian, but he could spring a surprise.

The likes of Xavi Vierge, Alex Marquez and Joan Mir should all be competitive this weekend. Vierge was in the fight for the podium in Jerez but just ran out of time to launch an attack on Bagnaia at the end. Marquez, in Spain was the only rider who, over the course of the weekend could match Baldassarri’s pace, but a strange crash in the race prevented him from challenging for the podium. Joan Mir would likely to have been in that podium fight as well, if he was not feeling ill with a stomach bug. The Swiss Innovative Investors KTMs of Sam Lowes and Iker Lecuona could be there too, if the KTM has a better time of it this year in France than it did last. And with all of those considerations, it is fair to say the French Moto2 Grand Prix is shaping up to be an exciting affair, and perhaps we will see the first non-Italian intermediate class win of 2018.

17th May 2018

Thank You, Kenan

Estoril 2010. That was the first time I saw Kenan Sofuoglu race, in the Portuguese Moto2 Grand Prix, as a wildcard. He rode a Suter, which then was quite a competitive chassis, and for much of the race he was leading by what you might call a ‘country mile’. He then ran into some problems with his brake lever, though, and finally finished fifth. But it was an alarming debut in Grand Prix racing by the, then, two-times World Supersport Champion. I remember watching the race, I was at my dad’s house, and I remember him telling me how Sofuoglu was a dominant rider in WSS, but I didn’t really know what that meant, I had never seen a Superbike race, let alone Supersport. It’s fair to say that I had two ideas about World Supersport when I tuned in for the Aragon round, in the middle of the 2012 season (yes, it took me that long). In my head, there was the option that Sofuoglu would be light-years ahead of the pack, or that everyone else would be as stunningly fast as Sofuoglu. As it went, there was a battle at the front in the early laps, and for me the race sort of ends at that point, I don’t remember much else, because of what happened at the end of the straight on lap eight. Sofuoglu was slipstreaming fellow Kawasaki rider, Fabien Foret, popped out of the slipstream and threw his body at the Frenchman in an aggressive manner which I had not seen before. It is this aggression which makes Kenan one of the most controversial figures in racing.

Immediately, my head is telling me to make the comparison with Marc Marquez, that both have proven themselves to be both absurdly fast, extremely successful and yet also potentially dangerous on the race track. I guess the comparison would be valid. Marquez proved in Argentina this year that with the correct circumstances he can be dangerous, as Kenan did in Aragon. But, in reality, they are not so similar at all. Marquez’ aggression comes purely from his ambition to win everything, every corner, every lap, every session, but Kenan’s aggression comes from his background, which gives him similar ambitions as Marc.

Kenan was not born into money, or a nation which has a strong support system for young motorcycle racing talent, like Spain. Kenan hails from Turkey, a country on the border of Europe and Asia, and the instability of its continental allegiance is born out in politics too – not so long ago the country’s government was the subject of a(n) (unsuccessful) military coup. Kenan had to make his mark in racing early on, one bad race and his career could be done – there was no second chance for him. As such, he forged his career from outstanding aggression, and the aggression that helped him to the World Supersport Championship crown in 2007 for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda stayed with him throughout his career, because he always had something to fight for. That 2007 title put him on an unparalleled level in Turkey, the kind of fame that David Beckham might be accustomed to in Britain. Sofuoglu was Turkey’s idol and he knew it, so did the government, who took a vested interest in Kenan’s career.

In 2008, Sofuoglu made the move up to World Superbike, but it was ill-fated, with a best position of ninth and a final championship standing of eighteenth. But it was not a winless season for the Turk, who made a wildcard appearance in the final race of the season in World Supersport where he was victorious.

A move back to World Supersport in 2009 followed, but he was beaten to the championship by Cal Crutchlow – it was third that year for Sofuoglu, with Eugene Laverty taking second in the championship.

But the three wins he took that year helped set him up for championship number two in 2010, when he continued in WSS and took another three wins to beat Laverty to the championship by eleven points. That was a remarkable year for Sofuoglu, as he did not finish off the podium all season, and had that aforementioned wildcard in Moto2 in Estoril, too. Of course, that set up the opportunity to move to Moto2 full time in 2011 – the hope being that the familiarity in engine characteristics compared to what he had been riding in WSS would help Kenan make a smooth transition, or at least smoother than his attempted move to WSBK. It did not work, though, as Kenan scored only 59 points and finished a lowly seventeenth in the standings.

Back to World Supersport, then, for 2012, where he had that controversial moment with Fabien Foret, as well as one in Magny-Cours with Dan Linfoot at the Adelaide hairpin, but still came out of the season with World Championship number three.

2013 would not be the same, though. Sam Lowes had left Bogdanka PTR Honda and joined Yakhnich Yamaha over the winter, and had been blisteringly fast in testing. Sofuoglu would take the first win of the season in Phillip Island, but the pair would battle strongly for the entire season. My biggest memory of that season is the battle they had in Turkey, visited for the sole reason that Kenan Sofuoglu would bring in the crowds. It was a stunning fight Lowes and Sofuoglu shared, and somewhat fittingly it was Sofuoglu who won his only ever home race in a World Championship. Looking back now, that victory was extremely important. It was not enough, though, for the championship – Lowes took that in Magny-Cours.

The next year, 2014, would be worse for Sofuoglu. The Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki he was riding had numerous issues throughout the year, most notably when Sofuoglu was leading convincingly at Imola on the 20^th anniversary weekend of Ayrton Senna’s death at the same track. Sofuoglu retired and that allowed the Pata Honda of Lorenzo Zanetti to take the victory, sporting a Senna replica helmet design. Just one win and two other podiums that season were of course nowhere near enough for the number 54 to stop Michael van der Mark clinching the championship.

So, onto 2015, and after some successful rounds at the end of 2014 with Puccetti Kawasaki (Mahi went bust before the end of the 2014 season, which also didn’t help) Sofuoglu signed for the Italian team full-time for 2015, and fought against Jules Cluzel for the championship, and successfully so, in part thanks to the Frenchman’s crash at the Sito Pons corner at Jerez in free practice for the penultimate round of the season, which broke his leg, leaving him on the side lines for the rest of the season. But the biggest thing to take away from Sofuoglu’s 2015 season is his superhuman mental strength and emotional toughness, as he spent part of the season travelling back and forth between Turkey and the races as his newly-born son, Hamza, was in intensive care. Hamza sadly passed away in July of that year, but Kenan continued to race, in the memory of his son, and the title at the end of the season was precisely why – after what had happened to him and his family there was no way that Kenan was going to let 2015 go by without having something to dedicate to his son.

2016 saw a more dominant season from Kenan, at least on paper. There was no consistent challenger to the four-time World Champion. Cluzel was the only rider who could consistently match Kenan for pace round-to-round but Jules’ MV proved too unreliable for him to mount a serious challenge for the championship.

Without doubt the seasons after 2015 for Kenan were fuelled by the memory of his son, from which he took great strength – everything after that was for Hamza, and for that Kenan Sofuoglu deserves great respect. 2017 was no different. An injury in preseason saw Kenan miss Phillip Island and Thailand, coming back in Aragon – still injured but just about okay to ride. He wanted the championship still, that’s why he was back, but Federico Caricasulo (unintentionally) took him out at turn one in Aragon. The first race Kenan finished in 2017, he won. That was Assen, which began a run of four victories in a row. It was second in Germany, before he won again in Portimao, but another crash in Magny-Cours, just as he had taken the lead away from Lucas Mahias in the championship, took him out of the French and Spanish rounds. He was back in Qatar, but unfortunately for Kenan he was unable to take the title away from Mahias. It was second again for Sofuoglu in 2017, which is anyway remarkable considering how it started, and that season probably represents the best of any the strength and determination of Sofuoglu – he did not know when to quit.

That changed this year. A tyre failure in free practice at Australia in Stoner Curve left the now five-time World Champion both injured and shaken up. He missed the first four rounds though injury and rumours of a premature retirement were circling. Press conference was called, then cancelled in Assen, before in the weeks leading up to Imola, one of Kenan’s most prolific circuits, it was announced that Kenan would be making his final appearance at the Italian round of the 2018 World Supersport Championship. He qualified third on the grid, but he did not start there. Before the weekend, Sofuoglu had promised both his mother and the Turkish president that he would not start the race in Imola. He pulled in at the end of the warm-up lap, and that was that – the end of a remarkable career that will be remembered for so much more than its on track performances and antics.

Kenan Sofuoglu scored podiums in 85 of his 126 World Supersport races, and 43 of those were victories. In between his stints in Grand Prix and WSBK, Sofuoglu exerted pure dominance on one of the most competitive classes in the world. But that is only half the story. His World Championship in 2007 was the first for a Turkish rider, and as of 16/05/2018 he is the only rider from Turkey to have a World Championship crown. But that will change, thanks to Kenan. Not only has the 33-year-old inspired a generation of Turkish youngsters to go racing, but, as Valentino Rossi in Italy, Sofuoglu is providing the support to the riders he deems talented enough to deserve it in order to smooth their path into the World Championship, so they don’t have to face the difficulties he did as a Turkish rider in the world of motorcycling. Already, Toprak Razgatlioglu, the first of Kenan’s youngsters to come through, is in the World Superbike Championship with Puccetti Kawasaki, who Kenan will continue to help after his retirement. Further than that, the Oncu brothers, Deniz and Can, are also under Kenan’s wing. Last year, they competed in both the Asia Talent Cup and the Red Bull Rookies MotoGP Cup, Deniz winning the ATC and Can winning the Rookies Cup. This year they are remaining in the Rookies Cup, but racing for Red Bull KTM Ajo in the Moto3 Junior World Championship too. In this, Kenan is ensuring his legacy is never lost in the abyss of motorcycle racing history, whilst at the same time building on the foundations he has laid for Turkish motorcycle racing.

As he goes off to pursue a political career, in combination with his commitments to Toprak and the Oncu brothers, as well as any other riders who he takes on, Kenan Sofuoglu leaves the legacy of the greatest 600 rider of all time (and before someone points out that he couldn’t do it on the big bikes, at which point did Angel Nieto prove himself to be a big bike specialist?), a rider whose aggression on occasion overpowered his immense talent, and a rider whose will to win is almost unparalleled. But, most importantly, Kenan Sofuoglu leaves behind twelve years which demonstrate how to overcome difficult moments, how to find strength from vulnerability, and how to be a great person, in every sense. Easy-going (off-track, to which I can testify), a nice guy, and a giant person, Kenan Sofuoglu is them all.

With Kenan, the racing only tells half the story, if that. Thank you, Kenan, not just for the memories, or the incredible battles, or for the numbers, but also for being an example both as a racer and as a man.

Thank you, Kenan, very much indeed.

15th May 2018

WSBK Imola: Race 1 – Cruise Control for Kawasaki

Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team cranked up the pressure on their championship rivals with a blistering performance, leaving all and sundry reeling in their wake.

The timing at this point in the season and the venue only made the victory sweeter for the Japanese factory team, at the spectacular Autodromo Enzo Ferrari di Imola, in the Bologna region of Italy – Ducati’s home round.

Having qualified on pole position for the sixteenth time in his career, Rea made the perfect launch from the grid as the lights went out, and never looked back. As so often is the case with the 3x world champion, once he’d found his rhythm it was impossible for anyone to close the gap. Even Tom Sykes (KRT) on identical machinery could offer no answer to the pace and consistency of the Northern Irishman. Such was the performance of the Kawasaki ZX-10RR machines, Sykes was able to establish his own commanding lead in second place over the chasing riders behind.

The factory Aruba.it Ducati team will be wondering how their rivals had so comprehensively outperformed them. On a track which their lead rider, Chaz Davies, had secured victory in the four previous races to be held at the circuit. Unlike messrs Rea and Sykes, Davies suffered a poor race start – wheel spinning off the line and becoming engulfed in the mid-pack shenanigans on the run down to the Tamburello chicane. P4 was the best Davies could ultimately manage, but due to the quirky reverse grid format for Race 2, it does mean he will start from pole position tomorrow.

Instead of challenging KRT for honours, the Ducati riders were left to fight amongst themselves for the final place on the podium. Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) emerged victorious from the in-house fight to claim the final spot on the podium, though not before he had fended off another strong challenge from Spanish rider Xavi Fores on the independent Barni-Racing Ducati. Fores eventually finished in P5 behind the two factory riders, but it was another display which showcased the breakthrough season the 32-year old is having. Behind him came young Italian protege, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati Junior Team), much to the delight of the home crowd. Despite only entering his third round of the season, Rinaldi has adjusted to life from Superstock racing. Although he faded in the final laps due to tyre wear, his result in P7 (with a fastest lap of 1″47.536) underline his potential.

It was a testing day for the Pata Yamaha outfit with both riders, Michael Van der Mark (P6) and Alex Lowes (P10), unable to hold pace with their front running rivals. The latter in particular had been on the back foot since Friday, after an engine issue forced him to sit out the entirely of the first practice session. Lowes spent the race fighting with the two Pucetti Kawasaki bikes of Toprak Razgatlioglu (P11) and wildcard entrant Leon Haslam (P9).

One team who suffered a complete disaster was Red Bull Honda. Having attempted to ride during Friday morning practice, Leon Camier ruled himself out, still suffering with injuries sustained at Aragon last month. His replacement, flown in from British Superbikes, was Jason O’Halloran. with just one practice session to his name, the amiable Aussie out-qualified American teammate Jake Gagne. However that was to be as good as it got as, early in the race O’Halloran crashed out at the fast Villeneuve chicane and had to be transported to hospital. Gagne (P16), struggling with the front end feeling of the bike throughout the weekend so far, failed to finish in the points.

14th May 2018

Haslam Doubles Up at Oulton

From the scorching temperatures of race one earlier in the day, where Leon Haslam took victory for JG Speedfit Kawasaki, there was little change for the second British Superbike Championship race of the day with the track temperature still in the forties.

Jake Dixon arrived at turn one first again, and Bradley Ray rode around the outside of Old Hall to take second. Glenn Irwin was third from Haslam, but they soon swapped orders when the pack arrived at Shell Oils for the first time, and Irwin dropped another position to Jason O’Halloran at Hizzy’s Chicane. Shane Byrne had a difficult first lap and dropped back to seventh behind Peter Hickman.

After passing Haslam at the beginning of lap three, O’Halloran moved through on Brad Ray at Lodge on the same lap for second. Meanwhile Byrne passed Hickman for sixth and joined his teammate Irwin in chasing the lead group. Then, Haslam passed Ray for third at the end of lap four, before at the beginning of lap five O’Halloran took the lead from Dixon.

Jason was intent on escaping, and set about it immediately, stretching the elastic band between himself and Dixon behind, whilst Haslam was trying to displace the RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki.

At the same time, the PBM Ducatis moved their way past Ray, to demote the Buildbase Suzuki to sixth place, and the championship leader was visibly struggling. That was on lap seven, and at the end of that lap, Haslam passed Dixon for second and pointed his crosshairs at race-leader O’Halloran, and had practically caught him by the end of lap eight, but Dixon was clearly at the limit and could not keep Haslam’s pace.

With half distance reached, it seemed that it would be a difficult task for anyone from this point to challenge O’Halloran and Haslam – Byrne was the only rider who seemed remotely capable of matching their pace but was too far back to be able to do anything about it.

So, it was a duel at the front; Honda versus Kawasaki, and the green bike took the advantage at Lodge on lap twelve. It became clear – Haslam was trying to repeat race one, where he edged away from Dixon tenth-by-tenth in the last five laps.

But O’Halloran would not be dropped, he struck to the back wheel of Haslam until the last lap, but was clearly on the limit. It looked like the Honda had enough to be able to stay with the Kawasaki but not enough to get by. O’Halloran tried, for sure, but finally could not get past Haslam – he might have been able to out-brake him at Lodge on the final lap but Leon held the inside well, got a good run out and got to the line ahead to take his first double of the year and third win in succession. The victory took him to the top of the championship both in the general standings and in the podium points, where he moved clear of Bradley Ray for the first time. It was important, too, for Haslam in other respects, because in most circumstances in the past the Kawasaki has not been able to make the soft rear tyre last the race distance, but in both races at Oulton, where the soft rear was the only option, Haslam made it work, and this could be ominous for the future.

O’Halloran took his second podium of the season after race one at Brands Indy, and fought until the end for the victory. This is an important step for the Aussie, and for the Honda Racing team, because finally it seems that the bike is capable of fighting for the title. He will be disappointed to have missed out on the victory, but the podium is an important result nonetheless, and he was eager to point out that this will not have been his only opportunity to take a win this season. Snetterton is next, where O’Halloran took his first BSB victory back in 2016, and he will be going there with the goal to do the same. For him it is a shame that he has to wait for six weeks.

Jake Dixon took his second podium of the day, and season, with third place as he held onto the final box spot under pressure from Byrne at the end. It is probably fair to say that Jake’s season started on Monday.

The fourth place of Shane Byrne was not what he would have expected, especially after a distant third place in race one. But the position gave him important points towards Showdown qualification, and he, like O’Halloran will be keen to get to Snetterton where he has gone well in the past.

Glenn Irwin can be satisfied with his fifth place, which somewhat made up for his crash in race one. The most important thing now for Glenn is to stay safe in the Northwest 200 (easier said than done), take some confidence from it and arrive in Snetterton after the break in a good way, ready to fight for podiums and victories, and make the Showdown.

Josh Brookes completed a double of his own on Monday. Not the one he would have been after, two 6^th places, but considering his problem this year has been rear grip it is perhaps not a surprise to see him missing from the front group with nearly fifty degrees track temperature.

Bradley Ray. Image courtesy of suzuki-racing

It was a disappointing result for Bradley Ray. After his fourth place in race one, the Suzuki rider would have wanted to get back on the podium, but he was unable to do so. This marks three races without a podium for Ray, and it is perhaps a little bit strange that he should struggle at Oulton, where he took his first BSB podium last season. However, that podium came in October, with maybe fifteen or twenty degrees of track temperature, not forty or more. When you also consider how strong Ray was in the biblically cold Donington round on Easter weekend, it might not be such a leap to assume that the Suzuki does not work so well in hotter conditions – perhaps it suffers from the traditional Kawasaki trait of not being able to hang onto a soft rear tyre. But, not working well in warmer conditions and excelling in the cold might not be such a bad thing, after all this is the British Superbike Championship.

Danny Buchan had a strong ride in eighth place. He caught Brookes at the end but the Aussie’s advances on Ray made it impossible for the FS-3 Kawasaki rider to get through, and in the end he was only half a tenth away from stealing Ray’s seventh place.

Ninth place went to Richard Cooper, who had been fighting with Buchan in the middle of the race but could not keep up towards the end when Danny upped the pace. Tommy Bridewell completed the top ten.

Peter Hickman finished eleventh, ahead of James Ellison who would have hoped for more out of this weekend, Michael Laverty who will be hoping Snetterton is kinder to him, Taylor Mackenzie and Ryuichi Kiyonari who profited from Tarran Mackenzie’s fall to be able to take a double points finish on his return to BSB – fifteenth and the final point for Kiyo in race two.

Sixteenth place was awarded to Martin Jessopp, who was three tenths ahead of Kyle Ryde, who at one stage looked like he might have been on for points. One thing I can see from watching Ryde (and if I can see it, it must be fairly clear) is that he doesn’t carry any corner speed. In Donington, I stood at the Schwantz Curve and looking into McLeans, and he was standing the bike up a lot more aggressively and a lot earlier than all the other riders, who were carrying more speed throughout the corner and carrying more lean angle when they opened the throttle. It was visible again in Oulton Park race two, when the attention of the TV director turned to Ryde’s battle with Jessopp, and Martin was almost running into the back of Kyle because the difference in corner speed was so vast. Finishing in seventeenth place when he is riding as though he has no front end is quite impressive from Kyle to be fair, but if he wants to progress in superbike he needs to work out why he can’t carry corner speed and fix it – if he does he can be very quick indeed.

Dean Harrison finished eighteenth, Sylvain Barrier nineteenth, Shaun Winfield twentieth and Connor Cummins twenty-first and last of the finishers.

There were seven DNFs: Mason Law, Luke Mossey (a retirement possible due to his bike not being properly fixed after race one), Gino Rea, Carl Phillips, Tarran Mackenzie, Jakub Smrz and David Johnson.

Now, BSB takes a break for the roads season which gets underway in the coming days with the Northwest 200, before the Isle of Man TT which begins at the end of the month. For the riders who are not taking part in the roads, now is an important time to reflect on the opening three rounds, before Snetterton sees the resumption of the season, and try to work out where they can improve, and how to do so.

14th May 2018

Dominant Baldassarri Takes Second Career Win at Jerez

After Friday’s practice and qualifying on Saturday, it was Lorenzo Baldassarri who was the favourite to take victory in the fourth round of the 2018 Moto2 World Championship, at the Spanish Grand Prix from Jerez.

But it was Alex Marquez who made it to turn one first, and took the initial lead as he looked to take his first win of the season at his home round. But it was not long before Lorenzo Baldassarri claimed the lead for himself, and from there on it was a question of tyres. With Miguel Oliveira making a stunning comeback from fourteenth on the grid, it soon became an opportunity to see whether KTM still held their advantage over Kalex in tyre consumption, and considering the prowess of the Pons HP40 team in setting a bike up to save its tyres, it was sure to be an intriguing battle.

Miguel Oliveira ahead of Alex Marquez – image courtesy of KTM media

Oliveira was able to get close to Balda on many occasions, but in the final eight to ten laps, the Italian just slowly stretched the gap on the Portuguese with sublime consistency and outstanding pace, to finally take victory after over 18 months since his first win at home in Misano. The win for Lorenzo was an important one, for him and the team. Pons HP40 had not won since Alex Rins went to Ecstar Suzuki in MotoGP for the 2017 season, and suffered last year with their rider pairing of Fabio Quartararo and Edgar Pons. Even this year, not many people expected them to challenge with Baldassarri or his teammate Hector Barbera, and if people did expect them to challenge, they expected it to be Barbera at the front and not Balda. But, ultimately, they are a championship winning team, and they belong at the front, and that is precisely where Baldassarri has taken them. Equally, Baldassarri had a difficult 2017, and failed to make the podium as he, along with then teammate Luca Marini and their VR46 management, conflicted with the Forward Racing team for whom they rode. Sito Pons took a big gamble to take on Baldassarri for this year, and thankfully for the pair of them it seems to be paying off, Baldassarri sits just nine points off the championship leader, his flatmate Pecco Bagnaia, and looks as though he may be able to challenge for this championship.

Miguel Oliveira on the podium with Lorenzo Baldassarri. Image courtesy of KTM Media

Miguel Oliveira’s ride was stunning. In five laps he had gone from fourteenth to six and a few minutes later he was second and chasing down Baldassarri for the lead. It is entirely possible that the fight through the pack took too much life out of the rear Dunlop on the KTM, and that that is why Miguel failed to sustain his victory challenge. Aki Ajo said on the grid that Oliveira was back for Sunday, implying that the Portuguese had had an ‘off day’ on Saturday, hence his poor qualifying position. Either way, the points taken by Oliveira on Sunday were crucial for his championship.

They were even more important considering he took points out of his deficit to two-time race winner this season, Pecco Bagnaia, who started and finished third. The Italian struggled to keep the pace of Baldassarri all weekend, as did most, but did well to take a podium, his third of the season. It is true that he would have missed the podium without the mid-race crash of Alex Marquez at turn two, but mistakes are what win and lose championships – it is not the fault of Bagnaia that Marquez made the mistake. Moreover, the number 42 will be content knowing that next up is Le Mans, and he showed great pace at the French circuit last season, whilst the KTMs struggled.

It was not a comfortable podium for the championship leader, though – he was pushed all the way by Xavi Vierge on the Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex, as he continued his solid form of late, and Mattia Pasini rounded out the top five. Paso seemed like he could have had the pace for the podium had his qualifying been better, as he was matching the pace of Vierge and Bagnaia at the end, but was just too far back to make it matter.

Brad Binder had a difficult race in sixth. The South African looked good at the start and seemed as though he could challenge for the victory, especially if the KTM was going to keep good life in its tyres until the end of the race, but after five or six laps he started to drop back and looked very loose on the rear. It was a shame for Binder because for the first time this season he had qualified at the front and was in a position to challenge, but for whatever reason it never happened. The positive for Binder is that he proved that he can have the pace, and surely his first Moto2 victory is not far away.

Marcel Schrotter made a good comeback in the race from 20^th on the grid after a three-place grid penalty to finish seventh and ahead of the winner of the 2016 edition of this race, Sam Lowes, by half a second. Ninth place went to Iker Lecuona, who was another rider to make a decent comeback in the race after starting eighteenth, and Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top ten.

Joan Mir, undoubtedly held back by his stomach bug from Saturday, finished eleventh, ahead of Simone Corsi, a somewhat impressive Tetsuta Nagashima in thirteenth, Hector Barbera and Andrea Locatelli who took the last point in fifteenth.

Sixteenth place was taken by Bo Bendsneyder, ahead of 17^thplaced Jorge Navarro who was recovering from lap one after he was taken out by Luca Marini at Dry Sack. It looked like Marini had out-braked himself and dived to the inside to avoid Sam Lowes directly in front of him, but could do nothing to avoid cleaning out Navarro. Marini should have gone to the outside to avoid Lowes, really, like Andrea Iannone should have done in Barcelona with Jorge Lorenzo in 2016, but things are a lot easier in hindsight. Khairul Idham Pawi took eighteenth place, in front of Isaac Vinales, Lukas Tulovic, Federico Fuligni, Xavi Cardelus who tested the MotoGP Avintia Ducati on Monday and was frighteningly slow, Hector Garzo and Jules Danilo who crashed early in the race but got back on to finish one lap down in 24^th and last place.

There were quite a few retirements, perhaps owing a large part to the lack of grip in the searing Spanish heat. Marini was the first to go after his collision with Navarro, then Eric Granado went on lap three, Romano Fenati on lap seven, Stefano Manzi on lap nine, Zulfahmi Kharrudin (who has since been sacked) on lap ten, Danny Kent went with thirteen to go, the same lap as Alex Marquez crashed out of podium contention; Joe Roberts fell with just five laps to go and Steven Odendaal with two.

The dominance in this race from Baldassarri surely puts him into the frame for a championship challenge, especially with the miniscule gap that currently separates him from Bagnaia. Le Mans is next up, where last year the KTMs struggled, so there could be an opportunity in a couple of weeks for the Kalex riders to make a big difference in the championship, and it is not an opportunity that they can pass up if it arrives.

14th May 2018

Zarco Reunites with KTM

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.

Zarco, Valencia Moto2 2016 – image courtesy of 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.

KTM at work. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool

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.

Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro at the 2018 RedBull KTM launch. Image Courtesy of Redbull Content Pool

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.