Hello everyone! Finally, the first GP is upon us! Well, it’s been a very, very intriguing winter in the world of MotoGP. We’ve seen the Team’s launch their new machines & liveries, riders training like crazy and some very promising surprises in testing.
Picture: Ducati Corse
The biggest surprise is obviously in the Factory Ducati camp, where the new Desmosedici GP15 has topped the timehseets in the final test at Losail, and not even on the Soft compound Bridgstone’s. Andrea Dovizioso and Andea Iannone have both reported that the understeer that has hampered the Ducati’s in recent years is now gone. This does not necessarily mean that the two Andrea’s will be able to fight for victory from the word go. The machine is still very, very new, and both riders are yet to perform a full race simulation. In previous years the machine has been able to stick with the front runners for the opening 5 laps or so, then the understeer would relagate the riders down the field. The only rider who could split the Ducati’s was World Champion Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda, who set a 1:55.091 just 0.184 behind Dovizioso. With Monday being a Wash-out, Ducati really do have the bragging rights of being fastest before practce starts tomorrow.
Picture: Cormac Ryan-Meenan
Further down the order of testing in the desert we saw an impressive showing from our very own Cal Crutchlow. The British rider who left Ducati at the end of last year has gelled nicely with his new Honda, andended up 7th fastest, which was the fastest of all satellite entries. Cal said in Sepang that the hardest transition has been getting used to the brakes, and how deep you can go into corners. Cal has also reported that the machine is still a little strange to him, with regard to the traction control. We’ve known for a long time that he is a sucker for being able to get very lose under braking, and carrying heaps of corner speed, and the Honda ticks the first box very well indeed. When we see Marquez under heavy braking, the rear tyre is bouncing up and down, swerving left and right and he still gets the bike stopped in time for a corner. Many of the Honda riders have said ‘you can get away with murder under braking with this bike’ it’s that forgiving.
So with Cal impressing on the Honda and setting his sights on a top 5 finish this Sunday, what about his fellow countrymen? Scott Redding is now on the same machinery as Crutchlow, and many predicted that because Redding rode the Open Honda last year, he’d adapt faster than Cal. This has not been the case, Scott really struggled in Valencia and Sepang, mainly with the technique needed to brake with the Honda, and the more complicated electronics. However at the Qatar test he finally said that it was starting to feel like his bike, and that it didn’t feel ‘Alien’ to him anymore. It’s only fair to say that Valencia and Sepang really aren’t Scott’s favourite tracks, and he especially doesn’t get on with Sepang. In Qatar he ended up 10th on the first day, and 13th on the second. I really believe Scott will do special things on that machine, but it’s going to take a small handful of races to there, perhaps less time for Cal.
Picture: Marc VDS
Bradley Smith was 8th which is fairly standard for the Tech 3 Yamaha rider, who was satisfied with his testing pace, unlike his teammate Pol Espargaro who had no front end feel with his Yamaha M1. It took a whole setup change on his machine to regain confidence and put in a decent lap time just 0.010 slower than teammate Smith. Pol does have a tendency to be strong in races though, and come Sunday he could well surprise us. On the subject of the Yamaha’s, the Factory Movistar entries of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi didn’t particularly impress, even though they now have a new gearbox that now downshifts seamlessly as well as upshifting seamlessly. This technical upgrade should make a difference in the races, and it better do for their sake, as Honda have had a full seamless gearbox for nearly 4 years. I predict Lorenzo will be fast again in Qatar, as long as he keeps the M1 up right on the first lap this year! He is now renowned for his great starts and stamping his authority on the first lap and trying to pull a gap on the field, wether or not that will work with Ducati and Honda being so strong is something we won’t know til Sunday evening. Jorge will be hard to beat into turn 1.
The Forward Yamaha’s of Stefan Bradl and Loris Baz have had mixed emotions over the winter. Initially it looked like Bradl adapted to the Open Yamaha quite well, but in terms of raw pace, he is struggling for now. Both Suzuki’s, both Avinita Ducati’s, and both Aspar Honda’s were setting times faster than the Forward Yamaha’s. It’s early days yet but this is quite a different story from last year when Aleix Espargaro was easily the fastest of the Open Class machines when he was aboard the Forward Yamaha.
Team Suzuki Ecstar have had a steady start to their comeback in the Premier Class of Motorcycle racing, with Espargaro saying the bike is one of the best he’s ever ridden. The machine is very agile and gives him and Vinales a lot of confidence with the front, and the pair finished 12th and 14th on the final day in Qatar. Vinales has been fine tuning the electronics of the GSX-RR, and just like his friend Jack Miller, he is new to rider aids such as traction control. Jack Miller has been in the centre of attention for a long while now, and his step up to MotoGP has been very impressive. Having bulked up the muscle necessary to ride a 250hp prototype motorcycle, his performance in testing has been solid, considering he’d never ridden anything over 250cc before November last year! Jack finished the final day of testing 21st, but he was still under 2 seconds behind fastest man Dovizioso. We must remember that he’s riding the Open Class Honda, the RCV1000RS, not the Factory spec RC213V. The machine is more powerful than it was last year however, featuring pneumatic valves and improved aerodynamics, such as the intake at the front is the same as the Factory machine.
Picture: motogp.com
As for the other Honda Open riders, and the rest of the elite riders filling up this year’s grid, it’s very much a lottery. The gap from 15th and 25th is incredibly small, and to predict who be the best of the rest feels quite pointless until the race is underway. One thing for certain is that Aprilia are having quite a nightmare. Initially, they were supposed to return to MotoGP in 2016, but a decision was made to return a year earlier, with a revised Aprilia ART (named the RS-GP) which is really a dying flame from the CRT era. Yes, aesthetically it looks different to the ART that Alex de Angelis will ride this year, but it’s not drastically different at all. The plan for Aprilia is to role out their full Factory prototype machine next year, and develop it along side their race programme this year. The Gresini team who fielded Honda’s last year, teamed up with Aprilia to run their comeback, are used to finishing inside the top ten with Alvaro Bautista. But with himself and Marco Meldandri setting lap times right at the bottom of the time sheet, a top ten finish seems impossible at the moment.
This weekend really is going to be exciting, the big question for me is if Ducati can prove their GP15 is capable of fighting for victory. One of their objectives in practice must be to do some long runs, preferably longer than 8 laps. If they can consistently run at a competitive pace, we have a serious race in our hands!
Top 5 Race Result Prediction:
Marquez, Rossi, Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Pedrosa…
As usual on a Grand Prix weekend, updates on facebook.com/motojimmyp and twitter.com/motojimmyp will be as frequent as possible.
My Qualifying and Race Articles will be posted on Sunday!
Cover Picture: motogp.com
MotoJimmyP 