Метка: Catalan GP

Bagnaia wanted to «bust a myth» with Turn 5 pass on Martin in Catalan GP

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Bagnaia scored a key victory in Sunday’s race at Barcelona after coming on top in a close duel with title rival Martin, overtaking him on lap 19 of 24 with an impressive move on the inside at Turn 5.

It was the same corner at which he had slid off his factory GP24 on the final lap of Saturday’s half-distance contest, a crash that further widened his deficit to Pramac rider Martin in the championship standings.

Bagnaia was left «curious» by his fall on Saturday as he claimed he was circulating at a lower speed than before, but he found redemption in the grand prix by making the all-important pass going into that very left-hander.

After taking the chequered flag in first, Bagnaia gave a first bump while passing through Turn 5 on the cool-down lap, showing the significance of that corner to him in a topsy-turvy weekend.

Asked about his overtake on Martin, he said: «I decided to do it in corner five, a bit just for what happened yesterday.

«Because yesterday I crashed there in a very strange situation. So I just decided to bust a myth. Yeah, and it worked well.»

He added: «I lost 12 points in very…pfff! I take it slower and I crashed so this is something I will never accept.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

«And today I did it again but much much slower because the gap was more and I decided to do it very slowly and it worked but corner five is very, very tricky.

«We saw many, many crashes during the weekend and it was very important for me to finish the race.»

Bagnaia appeared to lose touch with Martin and then second-placed rider Pedro Acosta in the early stages of the race, dropping as much as a second behind the leading duo.

But the Italian revealed that he was saving his tyres to mount an attack later on, a strategy that paid dividends when not only was he able to reel in the Spaniard and take the lead but also build a buffer for himself in the closing laps.

«The pace, I just decided to remain [as] constant as possible and don’t push at the start like Martin and Pedro, and it was the correct choice because then in the last laps I was able to be very fast and controlling the pace, so I’m just very happy, just very happy

«When they overtook me I just tried to do one lap [with] a bit more push, but I saw the front tyres were a disaster, the consumption couldn’t be much aggressive on the rear and it was a disaster.

«So I decided to control it more. And after 10 laps I started to see that my strategy was working. I was a bit scared at the moment but it worked. And as soon as I arrived to Jorge it was important to overtake him for the pressure of the front.»

Read Also:



Source link

Marquez “not proud” of recent MotoGP comebacks after latest podium

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Gresini Ducati rider failed to get out of Q1 two weeks ago at the French GP but managed to recover from 13th on the grid to finish second in both the sprint and grand prix at Le Mans.

At this weekend’s Catalan GP, Marquez qualified a lowly 14th due to difficulties in extracting the best from fresh soft rubber but recovered to second in the sprint and third on Sunday.

But speaking after the grand prix, Marquez says he is “not proud” of his recent fightbacks because it means it’s the result of “some mistakes”.

“I’m not proud about it, especially because if you make that comeback, it means that it’s coming from some mistakes,” he said.

“But apart from that, starting from that 14th position, I feel like it forced me to start on that soft rear option.

“I don’t know if it was better or worse, but in the end, I had that extra grip in the first laps to overtake the riders and in the end it was difficult, but even like this I caught the Aprilia guys on the medium and I had something more.”

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez was one of only four riders to gamble on the soft rear tyre but noted that he had some “guarantees” that it would go the 24-lap distance if he rode it correctly.

“I said to my team, ‘give me the medium from the warm-up to do the sighting lap, if I don’t have a good feeling I will put on the soft’,” he added.

“On that sighting lap, the feeling was not good and then I put the soft on.

“We know and we had some guarantees and we analysed that the soft rear was on the limit, but was able to finish the race. We managed in a good way.

“In the end, I suffered a lot to keep Aleix behind, but also he was suffering with that medium.”

Marquez sits third in the standings and is only 41 points behind Jorge Martin following the Catalan GP.

While he accepts he is a “contender” in the title race, it’s only because he sits third right now and this, he feels, is his “real position” on current form.

“Of course, we are a contender. Why? Because we are third in the championship after six races already,” Marquez said.

“But, we are third. And it’s our real position because there are two guys who are a bit faster.

“If we want to fight with them especially, we need to improve the qualifying.

“I know that being on the podium here in Montmelo is super special and super important because it’s one of those circuits that I hate.

“But apart from that, when I say it’s a difficult circuit for me I never give up and I try to do double work to work better.”

How many positions has Marquez made up in the last four races?

Starting from 13th at the French GP and 14th at Barcelona, Marquez has made up 45 positions.

Breaking this down further, Marquez’s race progression was:

French GP sprint – Starts 13th

Lap 1 – 13th to 4th

Lap 4 – 4th to 3rd

Lap 10 – 3rd to 2nd

French GP – Starts 13th

Lap 1 – 13th to 8th

Lap 3 – 8th to 6th

Lap 11 – 6th to 5th

Lap 14 – 5th to 4th

Lap 18 – 4th to 3rd

Lap 27 – 3rd to 2nd

Catalan GP sprint – Starts 14th

Lap 1 – 14th to 8th

Lap 3 – 8th to 7th

Lap 5 – 7th to 6th

Lap 7 – 6th to 4th

Lap 12 – 4th to 2nd

Catalan GP – Starts 14th

Lap 1 – 14th to 10th

Lap 3 – 10th to 8th

Lap 11- 8th to 6th

Lap 12 – 6th to 5th

Lap 18 — 5th to 4th

Lap 21 – 4th to 3rd

Watch: Pecco bounces back in Barcelona! | 2024 #CatalanGP

Read Also:



Source link

Bagnaia wins from Martin, Marquez as Acosta crashes

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Bagnaia looked on course to take the sprint victory on Saturday when he crashed out of the lead on the final lap.

Biding his time in the first half of the race, Bagnaia reeled in Pramac’s Martin to overhaul him on lap 19 of 24, before streaking away by 1.740 seconds to score his third grand prix win of the season.

Watch: Pecco bounces back in Barcelona! | 2024 #CatalanGP

It moves him back up to second in the standings, though Martin has still extended his advantage to 39 points after finishing second in the grand prix.

Marquez was one of four riders to gamble with the soft rear tyre in the sweltering conditions and used it to come from 14th on the grid to take third by just 0.052s from Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Ducati’s Bagnaia grabbed the holeshot from second on the grid from Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta, KTM’s Brad Binder, Martin and poleman Espargaro.

Acosta, also on the soft rear — along with Jack Miller (KTM), who crashed, and Alex Marquez – launched an attack on Bagnaia’s lead at Turn 10 on the third tour but ran wide and let the Ducati back into the lead.

Miller would crash just seconds later behind the leaders at the same corner, while Martin passed Acosta there for second on the following lap.

Martin then passed Bagnaia at Turn 10 on lap five to take the lead, with Acosta following the Pramac rider through on the sixth tour.

The top two quickly opened up a gap of over a second to Bagnaia, with Martin released into a 1.1s lead when Acosta crashed on lap 11 at Turn 10.

Bagnaia steadily chipped into Martin’s lead over the next few laps, getting it down to seventh tenths at the start of lap 16.

Martin’s lead fell further until Bagnaia lined up a successful attack into Turn 5 – where he crashed in the sprint on Saturday – on lap 19.

Bagnaia eased away from Martin to secure an important victory after his sprint woes, with Martin second.

Marquez’s charge from 14th started with a jump up to 10th on the opening lap, but found himself stuck behind Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli until lap 11.

Once free of Morbidelli, Marquez quickly passed a struggling Binder on lap 12 and got up to fourth ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez six tours later.

Espargaro – who won the sprint on Saturday 48 hours after announcing his retirement from MotoGP – couldn’t keep Marquez at bay and fell to his advances on lap 21 at Turn 1.

The Aprilia rider piled the pressure on Gresini’s Marquez over the final lap, but came up just 0.052s short.

Fabio Di Giannantonio was fifth on his VR46 Ducati, with Raul Fernandez sixth ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini) and Binder. Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was ninth, with Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing) 10th.

The final points went to Marco Bezzecchi (VR46), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), Acosta following his crash, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and factory Honda counterpart Joan Mir.

Enea Bastianini crossed the finish line in ninth, but was handed a 32-second time penalty for failing to comply with two long lap penalties and a subsequent ride-through for ignoring his earlier punishments.

This dropped the factory Ducati rider down to 18th.

Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez and Morbidelli joined Miller on the sidelines after crashes at Turn 10.



Source link

Why MotoGP comeback king Marquez is struggling in qualifying lately

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Gresini Ducati rider is quickly adapting himself from the Honda he rode for 11 years to the GP23 he has now, scoring podiums in four of the six sprints and twice in the previous two grands prix.

But his last three weekend podiums have come after being forced to fight back from poor qualifying results, with his brace of runner-up spots in France happening after he started 13th.

At Barcelona this weekend, Marquez once again fell into Q1 after Friday’s practice and again failed to break into Q2, this time qualifying 14th.

It’s the first time since Britain and Austria last year that he has missed Q2 on successive occasions.

Speaking to the media on Saturday after carving through to second in the Catalan GP sprint, Marquez says he is struggling for speed on new rubber and it’s been an issue since pre-season testing.

“I mean, just it’s that when I pass two, three laps on the tyre I feel better,” he began.

“And we need to understand why. In Le Mans I was a bit with the same feeling, and here [at Barcelona] again.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I mean, when it’s completely new tyres I’m struggling. I was struggling a lot already in the pre-season.

“Then I was able to compensate a bit in the first races, but then again now I’m struggling with new tyres and it’s something that we need to work on very deeply because if we start on the first two rows, or first three rows, it’s another race.

“When you start 14th, you are very penalised on your race strategy. At the moment we are able to save, but it’s too much risk.”

Marquez added that his feeling on his new soft rear at the start of the 12-lap sprint on Saturday “was terrible” and felt close to crashing.

“First two laps, the feeling was terrible,” he said.

“And then I felt like I would lose the front in some areas. In fact, in the first two laps I was even struggling to follow [Enea] Bastianini who was in front of me.

“But then on the third lap I started to feel the potential and then I started to attack the others.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“The most important thing is that the race, if you struggle three laps you have 20 laps in front.

“But I don’t like this feeling, because in the qualifying practice, you need to have that potential.

“If not, you cannot do anything and it’s there where we need to improve.

“It’s true that we need to improve a lot the Fridays. Because with today’s lap time I was starting on the third row. Still, this is acceptable on a circuit where I struggle.”

Marquez noted that a considerable set-up change for Saturday led to his strong sprint race form, though he admitted the lack of familiarity on his altered bike contributed to his Q1 exit.

“I mean, bike set-up we changed quite a lot,” he explained.

“It’s one of the good things to have fast Ducati riders inside the group.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“You analyse, sometimes they analyse and go in my direction, and this time we analyse where we were, we analysed where they are and we went a bit on that direction and I started to feel better.

“The problem of Q1 was it was the first time attack with that set-up and it was very different.

“But on the race pace, I kept going and I understood how to ride that bike because it was a big change.

“Too late because tomorrow we start 14th, but the race is long and with the medium rear tyre let’s see how we can manage.”



Source link

How Bagnaia “lost another great opportunity” in Barcelona MotoGP sprint crash

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The reigning world champion enjoyed an eventful early part of the 12-lap sprint as he battled back from being shuffled down to fourth.

When KTM’s Brad Binder crashed out of the lead on lap seven, Bagnaia was released into first place and looked on course to score a first sprint win since the 2023 Austrian GP weekend.

But at Turn 5 on the final lap, he crashed and registered a third sprint DNF of the season.

Bagnaia called the crash “curious” as he entered into Turn 5 slower than he had previously, suggesting that he was not overriding at that point.

“It looks like entering slower [into a corner], with the same braking [as before] can make you crash,” he said.

“Normally, in normal conditions it can’t happen. But here, where the grip level is a disaster, it can happen.

«So, we need to analyse it, understand it, be more careful in this kind of situation for tomorrow because the race is longer, hotter, and will be important to finish because it’s already three weeks in a row that we are really strong for the sprint race but we are not finishing for problems or crashing.

“So, we lost another great opportunity. I was fastest, I was leading, I was cruising till the chequered flag, but it wasn’t enough.”

He added: “I was 100% focused. I know how to win, and it was my kind of win because I was controlling everything perfectly.

“I had more tyre, I had more pace, so I was doing everything perfect and it’s very curious when you look at my data when you see the moment of the crash it’s really strange to see a crash in that kind of situation.

“But it was really strange today that every rider that was leading crashed, so this is strange and we have to understand for tomorrow.”

The damage being done to Bagnaia’s 2024 title defence by Saturday malaise 

In a sprint race in which championship leader Jorge Martin struggled for pace – with the Pramac Ducati rider explaining that he overheated his rear tyre – Bagnaia was on course to cut down his 38-point deficit in the standings.

Instead, Bagnaia has dropped 44 points adrift in the championship while Martin has lost just one point to new second-placed standings occupant Marc Marquez.

Something of a sprint specialist in the first half of 2023, winning four times and scoring five other Saturday podiums, Bagnaia hasn’t fared well in 2024. In fact, not since last year’s Malaysian GP has Bagnaia had a sprint podium.

In Qatar he could do no more than fourth and the same again in Portugal, after a mistake while comfortably leading saw him throw away another podium.

A difficult Americas GP round saw him come away with just two points from the sprint there, while a collision in the Spanish GP sprint meant he scored nothing.

At Le Mans, an issue with his second bike (which he was forced to race with after crashing his number one GP24 in qualifying) forced him to retire.

By contrast, Martin has won three sprints, finished third in two more and salvaged fourth from a tough day in Barcelona. Marquez has had four sprint second-place finishes from six rounds on the 2023-spec Ducati run by Gresini Racing.

Read Also:



Source link

Fernandez “crying like a baby” after “very stupid mistake” in Barcelona MotoGP sprint

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Trackhouse Racing rider qualified a career-best third for himself and the American team on Saturday morning at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Fernandez, riding the 2023-spec Aprilia that won last year’s sprint and GP at Barcelona, took the lead on lap three of 12 and quickly broke away from the pack by almost a second.

But on lap five, Fernandez crashed out at Turn 10, which he explained was down to him compensating for a mistake which cost him time at Turn 9.

“Now I feel a little bit better, but before arriving to the box I was crying like a baby,” he said on Saturday after the sprint.

“Honestly, I want to say sorry to the team. I did a very stupid mistake.

“I felt super comfortable today, I felt I had it all under control.

“I think the crash was for a mistake. I was trying to compensate for a mistake I did in the curve before the one I crashed at.”

He added: “I don’t know why; I had a lot of movement in Turn 9. I lost a little bit of time, I felt, but I tried to compensate on the brakes [at Turn 10] and I said ‘f**k, I go wide’.

Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Team

Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“But at the moment I tried to close the line and I crashed.

“Was 100% my mistake, I was maybe in that moment the ambition was too much because I didn’t want to lose too much time.

“But it’s part of the game. Honestly, I am happy because we saw we can be here. I saw that we are competitive. Just it’s a question of time.

“We need time. We need to put everything like I want and we are now on a correct way.”

Significant progress for underpressure youngster

Fernandez narrowly missed out on the Moto2 title in 2021 in a season in which he scored a record eight wins for a rookie in the class.

But his time in MotoGP has been lacking in results, with Fernandez scoring just 14 points in 2022 with Tech3 and KTM before moving to Aprilia’s satellite outfit last year – which was RNF Racing at the time.

He had just one grand prix top five all season, fifth at the finale in Valencia, while the start to 2024 has been even tougher.

Albeit not with machine parity to the rest of the Aprilia stable as he is on the 2023-spec (though is set to get the 2024 chassis at some point this season) Fernandez hasn’t breached into the top 10 on a Sunday yet.

With significant pressure being placed on him by Moto2 frontrunner and US-born racer Joe Roberts for his seat at the American Trackhouse squad, Fernandez faces an uncertain future.

But in Barcelona, after a tough Friday, he managed a first front row – beating a best of ninth in Qatar last year – and said Aprilia helped him to feel like he did in Moto2.

“It is not what we want, we don’t want to crash but we crashed when we were leading,” Fernandez said.

“So, I think we are working so well, day by day I feel more comfortable.

“Today I felt a very big change on the bike, I feel Aprilia helped me a lot. Yesterday was really difficult day, I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike, I felt it really difficult to manage the bike.

“But today I feel comfortable, I feel I can ride easy – I feel like when I was in Moto2, which was important.

Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Team

Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Ok, I did a mistake, I can’t go back, I have to be focused on what we did, I need to be focused on tomorrow and I will try to do the same tomorrow.

“I think we had the pace, it was super easy.

“The crash was not because I was trying to get the track record, just I crashed due to a mistake. But I was really calm on the bike and I feel super comfortable.”

On the biggest improvements made, Fernandez noted: “We worked a little bit on the set-up from yesterday.

“For me, the main thing is the electronics part. We changed the mind on the electronic, I tried to change also a little bit my style to adapt my style to this kind of track because for me it’s not super easy.

“But also, the big change was the electronics. It’s not [made the throttle delivery] soft, it’s something where I can drive and I don’t need to think about what to do to go fast.

“For me, the main thing is today I can ride like I want and I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. So, this is what we changed.”

Read Also:



Source link

Espargaro wins crazy sprint after last-lap Bagnaia crash

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Set to end a barren run without a sprint win since last year’s Austrian GP, Bagnaia fell off his factory Ducati at Turn 5 on the last lap of 12 while running eight tenths clear of Aprilia’s Espargaro.

Espargaro, who started from pole but got beaten up in the early laps, had recovered to second on lap eight and was promoted to the lead when Bagnaia crashed.

It marks his first sprint win of the season and comes just 48 hours after announcing ahead of his home race that he will retire from racing at the end of the 2024 season.

Marc Marquez came from 14th on the grid to finish second, besting Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta on the final lap.

A tough race for championship leader Jorge Martin saw him salvage fourth from seventh on the grid, meaning his points lead has only shrunk by one to 37.

The 12-lap sprint had five riders leading it at various stages, three of whom crashing out while heading the pack.

Bagnaia nailed the launch off the line from second on the grid to take the holeshot at the start, with Acosta moving into second from third-place starter Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing), KTM’s Brad Binder and Espargaro.

Martin moved up to sixth in the opening turns, while Marquez survived Turn 2 contact with KTM’s Jack Miller – which left the Gresini rider missing wings on the left side of his fairing – to sit eighth off the line.

Acosta put a challenge on Bagnaia for the lead on the run to Turn 1 at the start of lap two, though the Ducati rider carved past again at Turn 5.

Acosta repeated that move on lap 3, while Fernandez got opportunistic and scythed underneath Bagnaia at Turn 3, which then allowed Binder to overtake the Italian for third at Turn 4.

Fernandez then threw his 2023-spec Aprilia up the inside of Acosta at Turn 5, an aggressive move that opened the door for Binder to come through into second.

The Trackhouse rider proceeded to dart away from the pack, swelling his lead to eight tenths over Acosta come the end of lap four.

But Fernandez crashed at Turn 10 on the next tour, releasing Acosta into the lead before Binder jumped the Tech3 rider at Turn 1 on lap six.

Binder was breaking away on lap seven when he crashed at Turn 5 while leading, releasing Bagnaia to head the pack after the Ducati rider came out on top in a battle with Acosta on lap six and earlier on the seventh tour.

Bagnaia looked set to hold onto the lead as Espargaro, who moved ahead of Acosta for second on lap eight at Turn 1, couldn’t make any inroads into the Ducati rider.

But, on the final lap, Bagnaia slid off his GP24 at Turn 5, gifting Espargaro a lead of almost nine tenths to ensure victory.

Marquez’s march towards the front having gotten to eighth at the start continued on lap seven when he passed Martin for what was fifth at the time, before outbraking Acosta for third at Turn 1 on the final tour.

That became second when Bagnaia crashed, extending his strong run of Saturday rostrums to four for 2024 so far.

He held Acosta at bay by 0.277s, while Enea Bastianini came from 11th to fifth on the second factory team Ducati.

Fabio Di Giannantonio was seventh on the VR46 Ducati, with Miller, Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) rounding out the top nine to take the last points.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo came just 0.598s from a point in 10th, while Trackhouse Racing’s Miguel Oliveira and LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco crashed out.

MotoGP Catalan GP — Sprint race results:



Source link

Espargaro snatches pole; Martin crashes and Marquez 14th

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


On Saturday ahead of this weekend’s sixth round of the 2024 season, Espargaro grabbed a first pole of the season with a new lap record of 1m38.190s at the end of a dramatic Q2.

For much of the session, it looked like reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia would take pole on the factory Ducati having set the best pace at the end of the first runs of Q2.

But a blistering final lap from Espargaro saw him snatch the position away by 0.031 seconds from Bagnaia, while Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez was third.

Championship leader Jorge Martin crashed his Pramac Ducati late on at Turn 2 and was left in seventh.

Failing to get out Q1 for the second round in a row, Gresini’s Marc Marquez will have to start from 14th for this weekend’s sprint and grand prix.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Ducati’s Enea Bastianini set the reference lap at the start of the 15-minute Q2 at 1m40.335s, though the lap record had already been bested in the preceding Q1 session by Fabio Di Giannantonio with the 1m38.208s that knocked Marquez out.

On his first flying lap, Martin put in a 1m38.401s to go 0.374s clear of the field, before Pedro Acosta bettered this with a 1m38.369s on his Tech3 GasGas.

Seconds later, Bagnaia put in a 1m38.221s with around nine minutes remaining to assume control of the session.

After a brief lull on track as the riders took on fresh rubber, Bagnaia’s pole was given a degree of comfort when Martin crashed at Turn 2 with just over two minutes to go.

The Pramac rider lost the front as he changed direction into the Turn 2 right-hander, while team-mate Franco Morbidelli slid off behind him – albeit later into the corner.

Bagnaia was unable to improve on his second run laps, while Espargaro leaped up to second on his penultimate tour before setting the best first sector of the session on his final lap.

Espargaro kept his sector split times up and came through to post a 1m39.190s to beat Bagnaia and Binder, who crashed twice on Friday.

However, Fernandez – who came through Q1 – had a lap good enough for third reinstated after it was initially cancelled for being set under yellow flags, giving both rider and Trackhouse Racing its first front row in MotoGP.

Binder now heads row two in fourth from Acosta and Q1 pacesetter Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), while Jorge Martin is seventh.

Martin will start ahead of Yamaha’s Alex Rins and KTM’s Jack Miller.

The top 12 was completed by Morbidelli, Bastianini and the second factory team Aprilia of Maverick Vinales.

Alex Marquez put in a lap at the end of Q1 that put him ahead of his brother and Gresini team-mate Marc Marquez in 13th.

Fabio Quartararo struggled to 17th on his Yamaha, with Johann Zarco top Honda on his LCR-run bike despite a crash at the end of Q1.

Q2 results:

Q1 results:



Source link

How a chain change led to a Barcelona MotoGP practice “mess” for Quartararo

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Barcelona has typically been a strong venue for Yamaha over the years, though the low-grip nature of the circuit has worked against the M1 lately with its traction issues.

Despite this, at one point in second practice it looked like both factory Yamaha riders could secure a direct place in Q2 for Saturday’s qualifying. However, in the end, only Alex Rins was able to break into the top 10 come the conclusion of the second practice in ninth.

Quartararo will face Q1 after being left with no time for a proper time attack at the end of the session, “a mess” he has blamed on a chain change by his Yamaha team taking too long.

Read Also:

“A bit better,” Quartararo, who also suffered a crash early in second practice, said of his feeling on the Yamaha at Barcelona on Friday. “The aero is doing what we expected. It’s a shame it was a mess for the time attack.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“We took so much time to change one thing on the bike and I could do only one lap in the second run with yellow flags, so I could not make the lap.

“But I mean if you check the pace, the pace was pretty good. But missing the Q2 for this reason is not the best, but I think overall the base was a lot better than before.

“[It] was the chain. The length of the chain because we tried a longer swingarm. But the other bike was crashed, but the problem was we stopped way too late because if it was good, it was perfect.

“We stop, change the tyre and go. But it was not great. So, we had to change and we lost 10 minutes there. Unfortunately, it was the worst 10 minutes of the weekend.”

The 2021 world champion also noted that Barcelona is one of several tracks where he is unable this year to gain much on a fresh soft tyre in time attack trim and has no idea why this is the case.

“So, there are a few tracks where I am struggling a lot and we have no idea why,” he said. “I make 1m39.6s on the pace. Why can I not do [more] than 1m39.3s on the time attack?

“This is something I don’t understand because on the pace we were super fast – for us; compared to the others it’s different.

“But I think our pace was really good, but when we put on new tyres we cannot understand, because Alex if you check his pace over one lap, there’s a big difference. But for us no. So, this is something that I try to understand and the team also wants to try to understand.”

New Yamaha aero worth 0.2s per lap, but Barcelona not showing it

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

A major bike set-up shift for Rins allowed him to make a step forward in form on Friday at Barcelona.

Yamaha also debuted for both riders its newly-homologated aero package that was first tested at Jerez after the Spanish GP, and then refined at a private test at Mugello last week.

Quartararo noted that the new aero was an improvement under braking, while Rins noticed a slight benefit in cornering.

However, Barcelona’s low grip means the benefits of the new aero package are being lessened – according to Rins – and its potential at the Mugello test was at least 0.2s per lap.

“In this track, I don’t think it helps a lot because with the lack of grip the problem is more on the rear than more on the front or the corner speed,” Rins explained.

“For sure it helps, with this fairing I felt I could do a bit more corner speed, the bike held the line. But we had more problems on the rear.

“It was much better in Mugello, maybe 0.2s faster. So, in the end as a rider you want more than 0.2s, but 0.2s per lap is seconds [over a race].”



Source link