MotoGP

[p6x]

Just to mess up this Marquez=>MotoGP=>WSBK thread...

Andrea Iannone will race for the Ducati team GoEleven in 2024.

This is also something which will be interesting to follow, given all the musical chairs that happened:

Toprak Razgatlioglu to BMW

Jonathan Rea to Yamaha

Bautista and Iannone on Ducati

 

[Lucky Phil]

16 minutes ago, p6x said:

Just to mess up this Marquez=>MotoGP=>WSBK thread...

Andrea Iannone will race for the Ducati team GoEleven in 2024.

This is also something which will be interesting to follow, given all the musical chairs that happened:

Toprak Razgatlioglu to BMW

Jonathan Rea to Yamaha

Bautista and Iannone on Ducati

 

Gigi has a history of liking to give riders he believes were treated unfairly, overlooked or considered has-beens a chance or second chance' Iannones signing is no surprise to me.

 

Phil

[LaGrasta]

Andrea Iannone is back? I'm a fan!

[LaGrasta]

KTM did well yesterday in qualifying down under. #BB33 is probably trying hard to keep up with Thrilla-Miller on his home track.

[p6x]

6 hours ago, LaGrasta said:

KTM did well yesterday in qualifying down under. #BB33 is probably trying hard to keep up with Thrilla-Miller on his home track.

Surprisingly when nobody was really expecting them to perform.

But if you look at Jorge Martin's time sheet, you will see that he is the one with the regular fast pace. The KTM's got the fast one lap down. Maverick Viñales is also doing well, but with him, it is always the lottery.

I am going to watch the race later on tonight, I am wondering if Francesco Bagnaia will manage to get to Q2.

On an other subject, it seems like Miguel Oliveira is penciled to move to replace Marc Marquez, providing Aprila's boss gives his authorization. Honda is able to propose a significant salary increase and a three years contract. In any case, Fabio di Giannantonio is still on the market, so Aprilia could easily let Miguel go, and sign Fabio to replace him.

Unless of course, Fabio Quartararo decides to go Aprilia RNF?

[p6x]

Well, as expected, Jorge Martin did the pole and fastest lap record.

BB behind but at 0.4", followed by Francesco Bagnaia who did manage Q2 with MM93.

One has to admire how Marc Marquez is shamelessly using tows to maximize his chances. In Q1, he initially started with Pecco, but when Augusto Fernandez managed 1st and Pecco 2nd, he switched to Fernandez managed Q2.

Same technique used in Q1, less successful though. Only 7th. Still, Joan Mir is only 16th.

Will Marquez continue catching tows on a Ducati?

 

[p6x]

Finally Zarco....

I thought it came at the right time, and not as a lucky gift because of the weather. He actually had to work to make it happen. Of course, Jorge Martin took a gamble, which almost worked.

Zarco explained that he felt that if he was only going to try to stay second, those behind him may have taken the chance, so he had to seize on the moment.

Anyway, we had Zarco's signature back flip on a MotoGP race finally, in Philip Island nonetheless; nice!

Tomorrow's races have been pushed up one hour on weather forecast.

 

[GuzziMoto]

It was a great race. That track tends to deliver great races. Jorge Martin took a gamble and it almost paid off. But I am not sure why he gambled. It hurt his title hopes in the end. Not a Zarco fan, but glad to see him finally get a win. Bagnia was on his game, waiting for the race to come to him and pushing the issue when the time was right. Super happy for DiGi. He seems to deserve it. He is better then his results say. Seems like his mechanic finally figured out what he needs. Shame he is loosing that seat to Marc while Alex Marquez is keeping his seat. But perhaps Alex Marquez was more about luring Marc to the team then his results. If so, mission accomplished.

[LowRyter]

glad to see #5 win one

[LaGrasta]

I'm happy for #JZ5 too.

Being a #BB33 fan, what a nerve racking race. Right there, every lap, slowly catching up to Jorge, I really thought #BB33 was going to win, then ends up 4th with an elbow push. Exciting!

[p6x]

On 10/23/2023 at 8:04 AM, GuzziMoto said:

Not a Zarco fan

I am big Zarco fan, and listening to interviews yesterday, let's not forget he won two Moto2 championships in a row, but he did waste time when switching to KTM unfortunately.

On 10/23/2023 at 11:57 AM, LaGrasta said:

I'm happy for #JZ5 too.

Being a #BB33 fan, what a nerve racking race. Right there, every lap, slowly catching up to Jorge, I really thought #BB33 was going to win, then ends up 4th with an elbow push. Exciting!

BB33 has also consumed his rear tire, that is probably why he got reined in by the rest.

Zarco was always known to be very smooth and able to preserve tires to prowl towards the end of the races. it paid off this time, since he was able to pounce on all initially in front of him. Bagnaia applied the same principle more or less. He resisted chasing Jorge Martin and gambled that he would finish his rear tire before the end.

Reading the comments on specialized media, everybody is wondering why did Jorge Martin took such a gamble... he was fastest, including on the medium tire, what was he trying to gain? he has now given a lot of leeway to Bagnaia to win the season, starting with the cancellation of the sprint race on Sunday.

With only four more Grand-Prix left, 27 points difference don't seem to be much, but if Bagnaia wins by only a few points, JM will certainly remember that tire bet...

[GuzziMoto]

The thing with Zarco I don't understand is why he signed to ride the Honda when he struggled so much on the KTM. The Honda is probably most like the KTM, especially the KTM when Zarco tried to ride it. You never know, but it seems like a long shot that Zarco will do well on the Honda. Zarco is also not known for his development skills, and riding the LCR Honda it isn't likely Honda would really use him for development anyway. That was Rins complaint riding the bike Zarco is going to ride, that Honda did not utilize him to develop the bike. Good luck to Zarco at Honda, but it doesn't seem like a good move. And it turned out it was a move he didn't have to make.

The pass Zarco made on his team mate was aggressive, and really put Martin out wide allowing Bagnia to easily slide by. That was a hard move to pull on your team mate. But I guess Zarco knows he is gone at the end of the season and showed no team loyalty. I don't blame him, just an observation.

[LowRyter]

@GuzziMoto  I don't think Zarco had a choice if he wanted to stay in MotoGP.  I think Martin's tires were gone, one lap too many....

[GuzziMoto]

1 hour ago, LowRyter said:

@GuzziMoto  I don't think Zarco had a choice if he wanted to stay in MotoGP.  I think Martin's tires were gone, one lap too many....

Zarco wasn't sure if his seat would be there for him, there was a chance Bezzechi would get his seat, and Pramac wasn't offering him longer term deals even if he was re-signed. So he took it on himself to leave on his own terms rather then letting Pramac make the choice. Turns out Bezzechi didn't take his seat, but he had already committed to leave. So that left his seat for Morbidelli. But that was only because Zarco had left.

Martins tires were gone. But when Zarco passed him down at the hairpin he did it with a block pass. That block pass opened the door for Bagnia to easily slip through along with Zarco. And it sped up Martins fall back through the front group to where everyone in the lead group passed him. And it all started with Zarco moving Martin wide at the hairpin on the last lap. It was a fair pass, but not one you would usually pull on your team mate while he is fighting for a championship. But it is done now.

[p6x]

On 10/25/2023 at 7:48 AM, GuzziMoto said:

Zarco is also not known for his development skills, and riding the LCR Honda it isn't likely Honda would really use him for development anyway.

Actually, Zarco has been praised by Gigi Dall'Igna for his contribution in validating new options for the factory bikes. One of the less known reason why he was not always at the front, is because he was checking new options before they would end up on the other motorcycles. If you remember the complaint from Bagnaia that he was not a test pilot, this is when Ducati decided that all new options would be first checked by Zarco for a green light. This often prevented him to concentrate on his own setup. But he was happy to oblige.

One of the main reason Honda signed Zarco to LCR is to use his skills, experience, to get the RCV back to where it should be. Now Marquez said that the defect of the Honda is very well known, but Zarco will be able to validate the modifications as we can expect it is going to be a step by step process.

Zarco said that he did not consider the HRC proposal, first because it was only for a single year, and second, he had already worked with Lucio Cecchinello, and the LCR team, and he felt comfortable with them. Also, he has an option to remain for a 3rd year if things go well.

The reason why he did not stay at KTM, according to him, is because they were not interested to modify the chassis to suit his riding style. They later did, but not during his time.

Zarco rode all the MotoGP minus the Aprilia. I am pretty certain he will bring some value to Honda. I would have liked that he had remained at Pramac, but again, he said that Ducati was slow to make their intentions clear. So he chose to leave before it was too late.

At Motegi, he was 2 seconds faster than the guys at the front before he went hydroplaning. He was 6th. Who knows what could have happened.