It was a weekend of contrasts in Germany. Four weathers in a race weekend is usually something associated with Phillip Island, but with 86°F temperatures having welcomed the WorldSBK paddock from their summer break, the heat gradually transitioned to a downpour on a cold and windy Sunday.
With Chaz Davies and Jonathan Rea claiming the spoils in the races, there was little reason to think that this was a standout weekend, but in many ways the German round of WorldSBK could prove pivotal when the season concludes.
The music has stopped for the MotoGP riders, with all of them now having taken their seats for next year. That does not mean that contract season is over, however. We are in the middle of another migration, this time of crew chiefs and mechanics.
It all started with Jorge Lorenzo. The Movistar Yamaha rider’s move to Ducati for next season left him needing a crew chief. Once his current crew chief Ramon Forcada made the decision to stay with Yamaha, and work with Maverick Viñales, who takes Lorenzo’s place, that precipitated a search for someone to work with the Spaniard at Ducati.
It was a search that took some time, but which saw Cristian Gabarrini tempted back to Ducati. The quiet, reflective Italian had been set somewhat adrift after the retirement of Casey Stoner, with whom Gabarrini won MotoGP titles at Ducati and Honda.
First, he acted as engineering advisor to Marc Márquez and his crew chief Santi Hernandez, but Márquez made it clear he wanted only to work with Hernandez. Then he was put in charge of Honda’s Open Class project, and managing the bikes.
The MotoGP paddock will see the return of Nicky Hayden, albeit only for a solitary round, as the American will substitute at the Aragon GP for the still recovering Jack Miller.
Some fans may be surprised to learn that Hayden almost replaced at the British GP at Silverstone, with the World Superbike rider instructed to bring his leathers to England, just in case Jack Miller was deemed unfit to ride.
That chance ultimately didn’t materialize for Hayden, but with Miller sitting out the San Marino GP, again to nurture his hand injury, there again is a need for Hayden to pack his leathers, and head to the MotoGP paddock.
Releasing a press release today, the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing team has confirmed Nicky Hayden as replacing Jack Miller for the Spanish round at Motorland Aragon.
Episode 38 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and covers the fantastic racing at the San Marino GP in Misano.
Holding down the fort for this edition are David Emmett and Neil Morrison, who brought a fistful of notes back from Italy regarding the happenings of MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3.
The guys start their talk about Dani Pedrosa, who is the eighth MotoGP race-winner in eight straight races – a healthy statistic for the 2016 MotoGP Championship.
Of course, one can’t talk about Misano without also talking about Valentino Rossi, and there is plenty to talk about, with The Doctor coming to a head with his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, both on and off the track.
Before turning to the Moto2 and Moto3 paddocks for an update, the guys also discuss the progress of the MotoGP Championship race, with Marc Marquez looking more and more likely to be this year’s winner as each race passes by, for a variety of reason. We think you’ll find the show very interesting.
As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
In the latest round of poorly-kept secrets emerging at last, Yamaha have announced that they have signed Michael van der Mark for the 2017 season. He will join Alex Lowes in the Pata Yamaha WorldSBK squad for next year, replacing Sylvain Guintoli.
The move had been long expected, as it became clear over the summer that Van der Mark would be leaving the Ten Kate Honda team, with whom he has had a long relationship.
After a tough race on Sunday, managing tires on a drying track, around half of the MotoGP grid headed back to the track on Monday for a day of testing. Not everyone was enthusiastic about that.
“Usually we hate Mondays, and this is a Monday that we hate,” Danilo Petrucci told us with a wry grin on his face. He pinpointed why testing made a lot less sense for satellite riders than for factory teams.
Satellite teams only really have setup changes to test, and the occasional tires, if the single tire supplier has something new. There was a real downside to working on setup at a track you have just raced at, Petrucci said. “If you are angry because you didn’t get the best set up on Sunday, you getting more angry if you find it on Monday.”
There were a lot of firsts at Brno on Sunday. Perhaps the most consequential was the fact that we saw the first wet race in the MotoGP/500 class ever to be held at the Masarykring, the modern purpose-built circuit which replaced the old road circuit at Brno.
That had a lot of knock on effects: we saw a surprise winner in the premier class, a shift in the championship, and a long race of strategy, where some riders got it spot on, and others got it horribly wrong.
All this without the race even having to be restarted, or riders having to pass through the pits. Though of course, some did…
The MotoGP race was both fascinating and entertaining, and an object lesson in how changing weather can make morning warm up lead riders down the wrong path.
On a sodden track, with the rain still falling heavily in the morning, there were serious concerns among some riders that the softest compound wet tire which Michelin had brought was not going to be soft enough to provide enough grip.
“This morning with the extra soft the tire was completely new after nine laps,” Andrea Dovizioso said.
It rained throughout the Moto3 race – which provided enormous entertainment, a first-time winner and another first-time podium visitor – and kept raining during Moto2 – a less exciting affair, but one which still managed to shake up the championship.
The rain eased off on the final laps of Moto2, then just about stopped in the break between the end of the Moto2 race and the start of MotoGP. It was a welcome development for us hacks: chasing through the paddock to talk to Moto3 riders after the race, we had endured a soaking.
The same run down to the other end of the paddock in search of Moto2 riders was a far more pleasant affair. The need to scurry from garage to garage under the shelter of balconies was gone.
