Episode 219 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show covers the MotoGP action from the Dutch TT at Assen.
On the mics, we have Steve English, David Emmett and Neil Morrison, as the trio attempts to talk about the racing action at the Cathedral of Speed.
Of course, before the show can get to the on-track action, the guys have to first tackle the breaking news that Maverick Viñales will be leaving Yamaha at 2021.
With the news coming out on Saturday, talk of Maverick Viñales leaving the Yamaha camp was rampant in the MotoGP paddock.
Tipped widely to be headed to the Aprilia Racing garage for the 2022 season, Viñales’ woes on the Japanese squad have reached a zenith in their difficulties, shown clearly at the Sachsenring round last weekend.
The Spaniard’s experience on the Yamaha YZR-M1 has been mercurial, however, also shown clearly by this weekend’s result at Assen.
Nonetheless, following Maverick Viñales‘ request, Yamaha has agreed to put an early end to their current two-year contract.
Saturday at Assen only deepened the enigma that is Maverick Viñales. After being fastest in both sessions of practice on Friday, the Monster Energy Yamaha man added FP3 to his belt in the morning, then finished second in FP4.
That result was a little deceptive, however: he started FP4 on a used soft tire with 15 laps, nearly two thirds race distance, on it, and put nearly race distance on it, ending with a couple of 1’33.7s.
For context, the race lap record at Assen is 1’33.617, set by Marc Márquez on lap 4 of the 2015 race. Viñales’ second run was on a new medium tire, assessing tire choice for the race.
Eventful. That was the best way to describe the first day of practice at Assen.
The riders got a chance to sample the new asphalt, and they also got a chance to sample typical Assen summer weather: cool and dry in the morning, sprinkles of rain in the afternoon, followed by a downpour harsh enough to soak the track and allow a few laps in full wet conditions.
Not ideal for working on bike setup, especially if your name is Garrett Gerloff, and you have been drafted in to replace Franco Morbidelli, who spent the morning having surgery on his meniscus and ACL, and faces an 8-week period of rehab.
That would mean a return after the two races in Austria. But more of Gerloff later.
As expected, Valentino Rossi’s Aramco Racing Team VR46 MotoGP squad will be on Ducati machinery when it comes into the premier class next season.
Considered widely to be the best bike on the grid, and with Ducati eager to expand its ranks in the grand prix class, the leasing of Italian machines by VR46 was widely tipped, despite Rossi’s links to Yamaha.
As such, the Saudi-funded race team has a three-year contract with Ducati Corse for Desmosedici race bikes, which will span the 2022-2024 seasons, while the Saudi government has a five-year deal with VR46.
American racing fans will see a familiar face on the MotoGP grid this weekend, at the Dutch TT in Assen, as Garrett Gerloff will be filling in for Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha SRT squad.
Making waves already in the WorldSBK paddock, Gerloff’s race debut in the MotoGP Championship could be a sort of audition for the 25-year-old, showing off his skills for the grand prix paddock for the first time.
Austin is back on the MotoGP calendar. Today, the FIM announced that the Motegi round of MotoGP has been canceled, as travel to Japan is still very difficult, with the Circuit of the Americas being put in its place on October 3rd.
The changes have obviously been made in response to the pandemic, and as COVID-19 continues to be a problem around the world, more changes are likely.
Episode 217 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show covers the MotoGP action from the German GP at Sachsenring.
On the mics, we have David Emmett and Neil Morrison, and they are joined by two esteemed MotoGP photographers, Cormac Ryan-Meenan (CormacGP) and Rob Gray (Polarity Photo).
On Friday, at the meeting of the Safety Commission, where MotoGP riders meet with representatives of Dorna and the FIM to speak freely and without penalty about matters pertaining to every aspect of safety (the clue is in the name) at MotoGP events, the riders invited Rivacold Snipers Team Moto3 rider Andrea Migno to attend, to discuss ways to improve safety in the smallest capacity class of Grand Prix racing.
The invitation had been issued in response to the terrifying scenes at the Barcelona Moto3 race, where riders were sitting up and backing off in the middle of the track in the final laps of the race. It was a miracle that nobody was seriously injured.
Stern lectures were given, and serious thought given to how to improve the state of affairs, and how to avoid such extremely dangerous situations in the future. The riders and officials gathered there did their level best to find ways to improve the safety of the sport.
Fast forward 11 days, and in the final minutes of MotoGP Q2, those self same riders are sitting up on the racing line, hanging around for a tow, cutting the throttle while others try to follow them, gesticulating wildly at one another as they cross the racing line while riders on fast laps approach at high speed.
It was as if the people who were focusing their mental energy on finding ways to prevent riders from creating dangerous situations on track had lost their collective minds, and decided to illustrate the problem by doing all of the things they had been condemning less than 24 hours earlier.
Day one of the German Grand Prix is in the bag, and is Marc Márquez still the outright favorite for the win on Sunday?
If you went by FP1 on Friday, you would say yes: the Repsol Honda rider took three flying laps to set the fastest time of the session, before turning his attention to working on race pace.
He used one set of medium tires front and rear for the entire session, ending with a 1’22.334 on a tire with 24 laps on it. That lap would have been good enough for thirteenth place in FP1, just a hundredth of a second slower than Miguel Oliveira’s best lap.
Oliveira made it clear that he considered Márquez to be the favorite at the end of the day as well. “For me since the beginning Marc is the clear favorite for the win on Sunday,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider told us.
“We have been trying to understand what he is doing different to the others on this track because he is so successful.”
By the end of the afternoon, Marc Márquez didn’t look quite so invincible. The Repsol Honda rider finished the day twelfth fastest, six tenths off the fastest rider Miguel Oliveira.
The KTM man had achieved his first objective. “I believe together with him will come another couple of riders that are able to challenge for the win. I am working to be one of them,” Oliveira said on Friday afternoon.
Episode 216 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show previews the upcoming German GP at Sachsenring.
On the mics, we have Steve English, David Emmett, and Adam Wheeler, as they get us ready for the on-track action coming this weekend.