2022 MotoGP Discussion (No Links - Contains Spoilers!) | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

2022 MotoGP Discussion (No Links - Contains Spoilers!)

Priller said:
Aaagh! This is almost as bad as Mourinho coaching Roma. I'm a huge Carrasco fan, would love to see her do well, and this is unlikely to hurt. But now we have to listen to Lorenzo tell everyone how great he was/is at every round! 🤮


How many rounds before someone would take a drone to the face? Great shots, though. Amazing how fast some of those drones can rip along these days...
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Ehh, to be honest I would have had him stay longer on the Yamaha as a test rider, but Crashlow will probably get that privilege for the foreseeable future because they won their first title since JLO's last year. But, yeah, it will be funny if he starts things reminding everyone he was 5x World Champion and comparing his 2 riders.

He has put on some serious weight since he retired, it goes to show just how much these little guys starve themselves and watch their calories when in racing trim. It's crazy because when he and Dovi has some serious biceps and forearms definition when they rode for Ducati.

Well, with Acosta now in Moto2 it may be worth a watch.

Also, Livio is at the helm for Suzuki this season; I'm not sure he will be the 'new' Davide, but Suzuki needs to try something to be in title contention.

MotoGP: Livio Suppo becomes team manager at Suzuki

www.motorcyclenews.com
 
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Winales_2017 said:
Ehh, to be honest I would have had him stay longer on the Yamaha as a test rider, but Crashlow will probably get that privilege for the foreseeable future because they won their first title since JLO's last year
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Yamaha is praying that Quartararo can qualify like he did last year, or it'll be a long season for everyone there. Not much Crutchlow can do about that, as apparently adding power to the bike completely upsets the handling and makes it much slower.

Winales_2017 said:
He has put on some serious weight since he retired, it goes to show just how much these little guys starve themselves and watch their calories when in racing trim. It's crazy because when he and Dovi has some serious biceps and forearms definition when they rode for Ducati.
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They're all like pro cyclists now, especially any rider that's taller than 1.7m, obsessed with losing those last few grams. BT Sport recently did a retirement profile on Rossi, and when Suzy Perry asked him about his diet, his expression was hilarious, saying it was easy when he started but got very hard as he aged, especially being relatively tall.

Winales_2017 said:
Well, with Acosta now in Moto2 it may be worth a watch.
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It'll be interesting, and the test times suggest he's going to make the switch just fine. Still, I've seen a few dominant little bike riders struggle with the transition to the heavier machines...

Winales_2017 said:
Also, Livio is at the helm for Suzuki this season; I'm not sure he will be the 'new' Davide, but Suzuki needs to try something to be in title contention.
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He's got pedigree, that's for sure. Interesting that he's chosen Suzuki for a return to the paddock.

Brivio gets too much credit, I think, for a championship that was as much about inconsistency across the grid as making the best bike. Mir deserves more credit, I think, especially as he had a mostly similar year last year and only got beat by a newly consistent Quartararo and a late push by Bagnaia.

Chaos said:

Reading this, I wonder if we've reached the end-of-line potential of the i4 engine. Sounds like Yamaha and Suzuki cannot keep up with the v4 especially with all the aero bits evolving, putting more pressure for more engine power.
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It's telling that Honda have followed Ducati. While they V4'd before Ducati, they hadn't quite fully committed to the dragster approach in the same way, and as this bike is a near total reset for them, it's clear where they think the wins are...

Either Dorna cracks down on the aero (which they may do, as speeds are getting dangerous again, threatening classic tracks like Mugello on the calendar), or Yamaha and Suzuki are going to have to find a way to make 300 hp engines.
 
Priller said:
Brivio gets too much credit, I think, for a championship that was as much about inconsistency across the grid as making the best bike. Mir deserves more credit, I think, especially as he had a mostly similar year last year and only got beat by a newly consistent Quartararo and a late push by Bagnaia.
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I'm actually Mir fan, I put him only underneath Marc as the best rider on the grid and I think he out performed on that bike that year. He did well last year, but the bike simply wasn't able to keep up with the Ducati or a motivated Fabio.

I think he is way more talented than either Fabio or Pecco, and he is probably the only one to really challenge a healthy Marc provided Suzuki make a competitive bike this year.
 
And away we go….
Qatar this weekend!!
Couple of interesting surprises in FP1-2 so far.
 
Natural order of things is starting to come around:

LCR, VR46, RNF, Tech3 riders cannot get out of Q1.
 
Super close overall in Q2. Couple of big surprises as well I thought - be they good and bad....
 
A definitive cracking start to the season…
The winner showed an amazing amount of skill and will power.
One of lap though, and I think the podium could have been quite a bit different…
 
There were some revealing comments from Bagnaia after the race where he complained that Ducati had been so obsessed with development that they hadn't used their time to develop baseline settings for each rider, particularly in regards to the electronics. According to Crafar, Miller was also cursing the electronics when he dropped out, though that may be down to total failure rather than a bad setting. Tardozzi answered Pecco's complaints by essentially apologising to him and saying Ducati got it wrong.

Losail (Lusail?) is an outlier track (remember Vinales won last year), with minimal similarities to the European circuits where most championships are won (Portimao to Aragon). I expect Mandalika will be another unusual result, with minimal track data and unpredictable paving issues. It'll be interesting to see who can lose the least points with their new bikes until they can develop some good settings.

Also:

- That Bastianini kid might be pretty good. I had my doubts away from his home track of Misano, but happy to be proven wrong. His teammate was over 40 seconds slower.
- Who would've guessed that Pol would beat Marc in a head-to-head so resoundingly?
- Yamaha had a shocker, with everyone doing worse than expected. Quartararo looked so beaten by the end that he just looked tired, not angry.
- KTM had their usual mystery result. Binder did great (that start!), but everyone else had an awful weekend, and the Tech3 team continues the form from last year as a total non-factor. Granted, there are two rookies there, but they are on top-spec machinery, and I don't think anyone expected Raul to get beaten by Daryn Binder...
- Aprilia continued the form from last year, with Aleix being close but not close enough, and the second rider not being a factor. I'm surprised at how much slower Vinales was on the start, though Aleix obviously has a really good feeling with that bike. He got zero coverage, but Vinales did pick up a bunch of places late to finish in the points, so not sure what happened.
- Suzuki faded late, the opposite of their old form. I guess adding 30 hp (as per Miller's estimate) has an effect on tires, fuel economy, or both?
 
Bastianini and Binder were awesome. Happy for Pol too as he's had a rough time with Honda. Feel for Martin with Pecco taking him out - it was an awkward one that could have been worse / injured him. Decent result for Mir and Rins for championship points though the expectation was that they might have done better. Looks like it'll be a long season for Quartararo on that Yamaha - the finish with Zarco was close!
 
Was there any statement from Suzuki as to why they faded back later in the race after charging so well at the start?
 
Just watched the first three (of eight) episodes of MotoGP Unlimited on Prime. It's not quite as nerdy 'Inside Baseball' as I'd hoped about the tech and racecraft, but there are still some really interesting moments. Davide Tardozzi is ever-present, and some riders clearly relish the limelight (Miller especially). There's some weird omissions (such as Zarco not appearing at all and barely getting a mention despite leading the championship for an early stretch), but overall it does a great job of showing most of the riders as human and interesting.

Maybe it's my Aprilia bias, but Aleix and Maverick are the two who have caught my eye most. Aleix because he wears his heart in his sleeve and has such an underdog story. Maverick because you can see him struggling to figure out his priorities, clearly wanting to be home with his wife and newborn daughter. The split with Yamaha hasn't happened yet from what we've watched so far, but it's coming soon.

Even knowing most of the results, it's compelling. It was a fun year, so there's lots of interesting storylines...
 
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