2022 MotoGP Discussion (No Links - Contains Spoilers!) | Page 9 | GTAMotorcycle.com

2022 MotoGP Discussion (No Links - Contains Spoilers!)

New top speed record… 363.6 km/h IIRC…. Freaking bonkers…

Totally bonkers. But it just goes to show that top speed isn't everything. Turning and stopping also important as well.

Quatararo on the brakes was absolutely superhuman keeping those VR46 Ducs at bay down the start/finish straightaway. It was David vs several Goliaths.
 
Suzuki a no-show which was a shame and Enea isn't helping his hopes of a factory ride. Good race though for the most part.
 
Totally bonkers. But it just goes to show that top speed isn't everything. Turning and stopping also important as well.

Quatararo on the brakes was absolutely superhuman keeping those VR46 Ducs at bay down the start/finish straightaway. It was David vs several Goliaths.
Well, yes and no…
If you looked at the sector comparisons between Pecco and Quartararo, something becomes apparent. 1 and 4 were Pecco’s, 2-3 were Quartararo’s. Pretty much each and every lap.

The other Ducati riders simply don’t have the skill or haven’t gelled with the GP22 as much as Pecco has. He was gaining on them in pretty much every sector.

Quartararo admittedly rode the wheels off that Yamaha.
 
Well, yes and no…
If you looked at the sector comparisons between Pecco and Quartararo, something becomes apparent. 1 and 4 were Pecco’s, 2-3 were Quartararo’s. Pretty much each and every lap.

It was the 'yes' part I was referring to. :)

Before FQ could gap the two VR46s, lthere were a few laps where he was being slipstreamed quite noticeably at the end of the straightaway and his superior braking helped stave them off. But to your 'no' point, once he gapped the two Ducs he had a comfortable margin to pull away instead of defend. A lesser rider would have been constantly fending off the two higher powered bikes every lap, playing YoYo and trading off between each of their fast and slow sectors.
 
Part of the reason I love Mugello so much is that despite the mega-straight, it's still very much a corner speed track. Yamaha actually has a much better record there than Ducati or Honda over the past decade. As for top speed, I heard an interview with Oliveira's crew chief recently where he said they don't pay attention to top speed anymore, but rather how many seconds it takes to cover the straight. Makes sense, as it's actually quite rare for the top speed rider to also have the fastest lap...

It's hard to know how much Quartararo is single-handedly keeping the Yamaha competitive, and how much the other Yamaha riders just aren't able to bridge the gap. Dovi has all but admitted he can't do it anymore, DBinder sort of fell into the job because of legal issues, and Frankie has been absolutely nowhere since his injury. Separately, another interesting theory from Oliveira's crew chief was his theory that Quartartaro's long torso lets him get more weight over the front tire in the braking zone, as this Michelin front apparently grips best when loaded vertically.

And while everyone has been criticising Yamaha for falling so far behind on aero development, Fabio was able to make passes that Bastianini and Aleix couldn't, seemingly because they reverted to the smaller Yamaha aero package. Bestia crashed because he got too close to Aleix and got sucked into the slipstream. Fabio's biggest complaint has been his inability to pass without power, but the Suzukis bumped their power and it's gotten them nowhere.

As incredible as the Aprilia has been in FP for most of this year, especially at race pace rather than time attack, making passes in the race has obviously been a weak spot for them. I had assumed this was down to Aleix being cautious and his racecraft (and I'm sure that's still a huge factor), but it may also be because the massive Aprilia wing gets the bike out of shape if it follows too close mid-corner. This limits passing opportunities to ends of straights (not much use if the Ducatis are so much faster) and when the leading rider goes wide (a la Marquez in Jerez).

I think the bigger issue is the sheer volume of Ducatis on track, which is a problem Dorna needs to address. When five of the top seven for most of the race are on the same manufacturer's bike, it affords huge unfair advantages to some riders. I'm really hoping the rumours of VR46 to Yamaha next year are true.

I saw some folks complaining that the race yesterday was dull, but I was absolutely riveted. Sure, once in the lead, Pecco set out his stall at ~1 sec. ahead of Fabio and managed it from there. But there was plenty of action in behind, much of it with big championship implications. Pecco has jumped up to fourth in the championship and isn't done yet, Quartaro extended his lead over Aleix (though not by much), Suzuki generally is out, Honda is definitely out (hello Mir, possibly bye Marc for good), Bastianini is looking less and less like a true title contender (and will struggle more as Ducati further develops the GP22), Martin is out but will probably win a race or two, KTM can still do okay in the race but QP kills them, Maverick is the same but worse, Bezzechi is emerging as the most interesting rookie, etc.
 
Speaking of aero, did anyone else see the potentially huge moment between AE41 and MO88 in FP1? Oliveira ran into the grass just over the hump on the main straight after getting blasted by Aleix's turbulence:

According to both riders, Aleix got sucked into Miguel's slipstream, which pulled him towards the KTM. Then, as he passed, the reverse happened to Oliveira, with the Aprilia's wake pushing him onto the grass. It's a much bigger issue at Mugello, as the straight has that kink just before the braking zone.

In the weird window before the podium where Dorna tries to eavesdrop on the rider's chat, Quartararo talked about how scary it was when Pecco went past, describing a big blast of turbulence. And to be fair to Yamaha, I think that was the only time he got passed (that stuck) at the end of the straight, despite being surrounded by Ducatis for a long period, as his ability to brake late kept them mostly at bay. Bagnaia was just faster on the day.
 
Won't wreck everyone's viewing experience with details...
But wow.. what an absolutely epic F-up in MotoGP today.
 
It's spoilery here, as per the thread title. Just in case, I'll leave a gap...






Bad weekend for anyone interested in a title fight, that's for sure, but a dream weekend for Fabio and Yamaha. He can suck it the next time he complains about how slow his bike is. So slow he was half a second faster than the rest of the field. Boo fricking hoo.

Supposedly Aleix was looking at the timing screen, not his pitboard, and because Quartararo was so far ahead, it showed 0 laps left with him already crossing the line. A precious 9 points thrown away, but he did manage to salvage it and it could've been much worse, as he could've been smoked by someone from behind. Aside from Quartararo, I think Zarco was happiest, collecting a podium from a race where he mostly just hung back.

It's unlikely that Yamaha will lose too many points until after the series moves away from Europe, but if last year is an indication, they may struggle late in the year. It's not over yet. Just need a DNF somewhere for Fabio and things are right back open again...
 
After the race was actually over and he was stopped on track, I like to believe that the track marshal that came up to him offered him medical assistance for the pain
 
if you can catch the review, Taka Nakagami's helmet hits the rear wheel of Bagnaia. So... yeah.... Taka Nakagami's HEAD took Bagnaia out of the race.
 
Never seen that b4.....Alex will not sleep well tonight, nor his team....BIG, BIG mistake...oh well s$^# happens 😉
 
Kenny Jr did it at Estoril 2006, in one of the greatest races of all time. He was dicing with Rossi and Toni Elias, and let up at the line thinking the race was over, only to see the other two carry on. It was less obvious than Aleix, no waving, but who knows how it would've turned out if he stayed on the gas...


Elias rode the wheels off his Honda to steal points from Rossi in what turned out to be a pivotal shift that helped Hayden pinch the title. The five points Rossi dropped to Elias was exactly the amount he finished behind Nicky at the end of the year.

Incidentally, for anyone complaining about too much parity in MotoGP, that was the last time a non-factory rider won a race for a decade...
 
Incidentally, for anyone complaining about too much parity in MotoGP, that was the last time a non-factory rider won a race for a decade...

To be fair, that period in history was dominated by only 5 riders, who just happened to be secured by the factory Yamaha, Honda and Ducati.

Out of 142 races between 2008 and 2015, 140 of those races were won by VR, Stoner, Pedro, Lorenzo and MM. I don't think it had anything to do with parity amongst the racebikes. All of those races were won by a huge margin from the rest of the field, on the order of 15-30 seconds back to the Best of the Rest.

Those races weren't won by the machinery they were on. They were won because they were piloted by Aliens from another planet.
 
To be fair, that period in history was dominated by only 5 riders, who just happened to be secured by the factory Yamaha, Honda and Ducati.

Out of 142 races between 2008 and 2015, 140 of those races were won by VR, Stoner, Pedro, Lorenzo and MM. I don't think it had anything to do with parity amongst the racebikes. All of those races were won by a huge margin from the rest of the field, on the order of 15-30 seconds back to the Best of the Rest.

Those races weren't won by the machinery they were on. They were won because they were piloted by Aliens from another planet.

Yeah, I know that was the narrative at the time, and while those five riders were/are undeniably hugely talented, I think reality wasn't quite as dramatic. Yamaha and Honda outspent the rest by miles on testing and R&D, and then made sure their top riders got drastically better machinery and crew support than the support teams. It's part of why so many rule changes were introduced to curb that spending power, as the rest of the field were just there as grid filler. Step by step, Dorna has broken down the factory advantages, starting with a spec tire, then the engine limits (six per season) and most importantly, a spec ECU.

Rule experiments like CRT bikes weren't introduced because satellite teams couldn't sign an alien, it was due to satellite teams bailing on the series because the cost to finish a minute behind the factories was getting astronomical.

Much as I love Pedrosa (and I have huge respect but not love for Lorenzo and Stoner), the only two true 'aliens' were Rossi and Marquez. Rossi for taking the sport to another level, and Marquez because he legitimately was talented in a way that crushed the competition. Marquez also did it at a time when it was much harder to rely on factory cash to build in an insurmountable advantage.

It's why there's no question in my mind that Marc is by far the greatest pure rider of all time. Rossi is a distant second, possibly even third (though my Doohan bias is strong), considering all the technical advantages he had. Similar to how all of Ago's unbreakable records are devalued by his dominant machines of that era.
 
if you can catch the review, Taka Nakagami's helmet hits the rear wheel of Bagnaia. So... yeah.... Taka Nakagami's HEAD took Bagnaia out of the race.
It killed me how the announcers didn't notice this for the longest time....they kept talking about Rins....I'm like Taka just head butted Bagnaia's tire at 100km/hr or more.
 
It killed me how the announcers didn't notice this for the longest time....they kept talking about Rins....I'm like Taka just head butted Bagnaia's tire at 100km/hr or more.

ripped his visor off too... that could have been much worse.
 
Bad weekend for anyone interested in a title fight, that's for sure, but a dream weekend for Fabio and Yamaha. He can suck it the next time he complains about how slow his bike is. So slow he was half a second faster than the rest of the field. Boo fricking hoo.

Honestly, he is riding that bike in a Lorenzo-esque manner and just checking out from the pack. I think he will run away with the championship now while scoring when the bike isn't capable of race wins. Yamaha essentially will need to build the team around him to keep him happy, and I can see him taking on Rins as team mate to act as a safe number 2 rider since Franky can't do a thing on the bike and is just as bad as Mav at this point. Mir would be too much of a challenge in the same garage in my view as I think he is the better rider between the two.

Taka's crash was hideous to watch, his head bouncing off of Pecco's bike was terrifying. I think he was riding way beyond his limit with cold tires since he knows he is likely out of a ride for next year.

Aleix was just embarrassing, but it salvaged what was otherwise a pretty boring race tbh. This is a reminder that one should never stop until they see a checkered flag. I'm surprised the dash doesn't have that to be honest, but after this it will likely be on there for Sachsenring. I still don't think Aliex had a real chance of winning a title, this will be his best season and will likely be P2 if Ducati remains as inconsistent as he has been but otherwise Fabio will win by Thailand at this rate.

Marc's surgery seems to have been a success so now it's just waiting for the healing process and recovery phase to begin. I really hope this works out, because otherwise that's it for him: barring him running that robotic prosthetic arm from Honda their aren't many options left for him now after 4 surgeries. I doubt we will ever see a repeat of 2019 but if HRC go back to what they did before his crash and solve the front end feeling I think he has another title maybe two left in him yet. If Yamaha get more power somehow it will be good to see Fabio and a healthy Marc go at it again, their duel in Thailand feels like ages ago his rookie season.

 
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