Brno 2016 - After race analysis

It happened all. The bad weather compromised the race to somebody and made the life hard for somebody else. The race started in very wet conditions but with no rain. The choice of the strategy is crucial in this cases.

Crutchlow won his first GP in MotoGP class opting for a setup which initially doesn't pay back. The hard compound indeed has problem to get the proper temperature and it requires more time. The British wet experience suggested to Cal that the asphalt in those conditions would have probably issues to dry and the best choice was to arrive up to the end without swapping the bike. If he had chosen the softer option like anybody else out there (suggestible if you have to swap the bike) he would have serious problems like what happened to the factory Ducati team which dominated all the race but concluded with a no classification for Dovizioso and the 8th place for Iannone.

Rossi managed the race as a champion. Yamaha risks and decides to put the hard compound just in the rear in both the bikes. It goes bad and the riders lose lots of positions going even out from the top 10. Valentino starts to desperate and to regret for the choice but then the situation changes and the tyre starts to work properly and he becomes the fastest in a moment where nobody is. He skips the Yamahas Tech3, the Suzukis, the very fast Ducatis and Marquez. Cal is too far to start a chase with 4 laps to the end. For today it's fine like this. Surprising performance by Valentino who overtakes Lorenzo in the championship going at -53 from Marquez.

Marquez opted for the common choice getting the soft compound to then change the bike at half of the race (since there was no rain). However the asphalt doesn't dry and Marc noticed that. He decides to slow down to preserve the tires for having something at the end. He loses positions going back in 5th but remaining there checking the situation. When few laps remain to the end he changes pace and overtakes the Ducatis in the front seizing the podium. A mature and professional management by the young rider who limits the damage once again in the best way. (197pt)

Lorenzo fails again in the rain making confusion and changing the bike in the wrong moment, when he was starting to recovery positions. He also tried to swap the bike a second moment but changing his mind at the last minute. Hilarious moment which shows a leaking of professionalism by the Spanish rider who is literally wasting points important for the championship. It seems he is there just for presence. He concludes in last position with on lap of gap.

Great result for the Ducati Avintia racing team GP2014 which having old generation Ducati made a better result than the factory team. Baz 4th and Barbera 5th after a great battle with Iannone

Next round at Silverstone

Brno 2016 - Qualifying

Compare to last year, the lap times are finally improved. We can officially say that Michelin did it.

Brno is a very fast track and definitely not flat. This conformation is against Honda which has big trouble setting the electronic. Also this time Marquez doesn't know it and made the best lap time taking the pole in a circuit which he doesn't like. He made really a miracle doing better than Lorenzo who was the fastest up to few laps before. We have to remember that Lorenzo made the best lap time also last year. Marc was also helped by Valentino that was making the fast lap in the same moment trailing him.

Iannone has been another protagonist this weekend: it's always the fastest of the Ducatis and will be surely present tomorrow. More problems for the other Ducati of Dovizioso, behind even the GP2014 of Barbera. Leaking of consistency also this time.

Good result for Aleix Espargaro who is doing well in the fast laps, we hope the same for the race. Vinales slower than him, I think will be hard to see him as a protagonist tomorrow.

Rossi fails again during his fast lap: chooses a bad moment to enter and he remains stuck in the traffic behind Pol Espargaro who ruined his lap. As long as Valentino doesn't fix this stupid defect he got, starting in a good place on the grid will be always a problem. That is a crucial moment in the race. Despite that, Rossi is confident and believes to be enough fast for the race and we wish that to be true.

We'll have bad forecast tomorrow for the race which will move the situation on the grid.

Below the grid of the last year for a comparison:

Spielber 2016 - After race analysis

I regret to say it, but this was a pretty boring and predictable race.

This are the results:

The gaps are content and indeed for all the race I had the impression that the riders were close to overtake each other several times. However this is not happened probably because Spielberg is a very fast circuit and there are not so many "dare spots".

Iannone gave to Ducati something that Dovizioso has tried to since when he started with them: a victory after 6 years of starving. He ran a clean race with no risk and the reward is the first victory in MotoGP class, the best way to conclude the weekend.

Dovizioso didn't surprise, like usual, present but absent in the same time he arrives second and brings important points to Ducati. By the way I just want to remember he ran 250 GPs getting 10 victory and just one of them in MotoGP (where he began in 2008). His consistency is highly questionable.

Lorenzo (-43pt) made another step before the race which gave him the opportunity to overtake Rossi (-57pt) and to keep the position, struggling anyway if we look the final gap.

After a perfect start and a mistake in the first corner which compromises both him and Lorenzo, Marquez played essentially in defense, limiting the damages in a track not suitable for Honda, like many others. (181pt)

Pedrosa made a wonderful job concluding 7th, starting from 12th. i would say the most spectacular and unpredictable thing happened in this race. (-76)

Next round in Brno

Spielberg 2016 - Qualifying

Ducati confirms his superiority here on Spielber taking the first and the third position. Despite the expectations due to the test results and the free practices results, they struggled a bit in qualifying since a good improvement of Yamaha but even of Honda which has his fastest riders Marquez and Crutchlow very close to each other. It's clear that Honda started to bring pieces also to the satellite teams since Marc is the only one is getting point but rightly he cannot make miracles, perhaps...

Pedrosa too far and with so many difficulties is not even in the top ten.

Rossi sweated particularly a lot this weekend, but against all the expectations, realized a wonderful last lap splitting the Ducatis and leapfrogging Marquez and Lorenzo, up to that moment faster than him.

I've noticed no particular phenomena of "trailing", where the riders follow other riders during the lap time for having references and wake, so we have pretty clean time laps.

The first 10 riders are in less than 1 second and there are no significant differences in the top speeds. It seems to be a pretty balanced GP for MotoGp, at least compare to F1.

Remembering last tests in Austria

Unfortunately we cannot analyze the results of last year since this is the first time for MotoGP in Austria. The only thing we can do is to take in exam the last day of test on 20th of July.

Here the results:

01- Andrea Iannone – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – 1’23.719

02- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.079

03- Yonny Hernandez – Aspar Team MotoGP – Ducati Desmosedici GP14.2 – + 0.677

04- Jorge Lorenzo – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.699

05- Maverick Vinales – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR – + 0.722

06- Aleix Espargaro – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR – + 0.766

07- Eugene Laverty – Aspar Team MotoGP – Ducati Desmosedici GP14.2 – + 0.781

08- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V – + 0.809

09- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.824

10- Scott Redding – Octo Pramac Yakhnich – Ducati Desmosedici GP15 – + 0.841

Honda decided to risk and brought only the satellite teams. Just Crutchlow in the top ten in 8th position.
The Yamaha it's quite too far. More than 5 tenths in a such short circuit like that are a lot. However we cannot know which configuration they have been used and the result could be misleading.
Seems to be pretty clear the superiority of Ducati which has the factories in the firsts 2 positions and 5 of them in the top ten, probably helped by a preferable cold climate.
Good the Suzuki, both with a similar time laps. Perhaps Aleix is finding the confidence he was looking for.

We remember that Stoner participated in the first day of test taking the 4th position. KTM participated too, but being 2 seconds slower than the Red team. Not bad for a first approaching though.