Jack Miller Takes Le Mans MotoGP in Difficult Conditions

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Jack Miller gets his second win in a row at the Shark Grand Prix of France. (MotoGP/)

Jack Miller and Johann Zarco, both on Ducatis, came first and second at Le Mans after a weekend of crashes caused by mixed wet/dry conditions, cool weather, and, more than one rider insisted, unsuitable tires. Ducati responded by extending Miller’s contract. Third and fourth were Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).

Valentino Rossi, earlier in the weekend, had said, “Usually when we speak with Michelin [they tell us] to be safe we need 20 degrees on the asphalt. [Instead we have had] 15–16 air, maybe 14. So all this weekend is too dangerous.”

The many crashes included several by Marc Márquez, doing nothing toward rebuilding his confidence, despite his leading the race on the rainy laps 5, 6, and 7.

The race began dry as a flag-to-flag, but the dark clouds soon dumped their contents, bringing riders in for the ballet of leaping from dry bike to wet bike. As we have seen so often recently, finishing decently in a field of such capable riders depends first upon getting away with the leaders. Misadventure kept many riders from achieving this basic requirement.

As the rain fell, the pits came alive preparing for the switch to bikes set up for the wet conditions. (MotoGP/)

Aleix Espargaró forthrightly said straight out that Le Mans must be scheduled later, in warmer weather:

“We can’t come to Le Mans with 12 degrees on the tarmac, because the tires that Michelin and Dunlop are bringing to us are not working. I don’t know if someone sees it as funny that we crash, but to us it is not.

“Everybody is crashing. Are we all idiots? No, we are not. I’m very angry about this. Today I’ve been fast in the wet. It’s not that I don’t want to ride in the wet. I do. It’s part of my job. It’s not a problem. But not in 12 degrees (54 degrees Fahrenheit).”

This takes some explaining, for most race fans and enthusiasts are not well-informed about the rubber in race tires. Every rubber compound has what is called its “glass transition temperature,” or Tg. This is the temperature below which the rubber assumes a glass-like rigidity that prevents it from conforming itself to pavement texture and generating a large area of true contact. For consumer tires Tg has to be a very low temperature so that the product can be used in all weathers.

But it turns out that the grip of racing tires improves as the Tg of their tread rubber is increased. Race rubber can neither be a glass nor a snappy, elastic substance. One result of this is that not only do cold race tires offer next to no grip, but that the condition of marginal grip remains influential until the tire’s planned tread operating temperature is reached. If because of low air and pavement temperatures the tread cannot fully warm up, the rubber remains sluggish enough that it cannot maximally conform to pavement texture and generate the expected area of true contact necessary for racing grip. This makes race tires tricky to ride below their intended operating temperature.

Therefore at Le Mans conditions of grip not only varied as a result of constant alternation of wet areas with sometimes an emerging dry line, but tire temperature was fluctuating—now too cold to work, or warm enough for the beginnings of decent grip, or beginning to overheat and lose that grip.

The soft rain tires on the bikes to which the riders leapt so skillfully are easily overheated if the track begins to dry here and there. Which wets to choose? Softs give quickest warm-up and best grip when water-cooled, but mediums give greater stability (tread rubber, weakened by the presence of drainage grooves, warms rapidly from flexure, so if the rain lets up, mediums may be the best choice as they will allow the use of more throttle before overheating and losing grip).

No one can know what the weather will do. Tire behavior changes constantly and there is little opportunity to ride the latest ones in mixed conditions. So all rider choices become gambles and a study in coping as best may be. Not all riders will fall, so someone will win, someone finish second, and so on. But who finishes, and where, becomes to a large extent a matter of chance.

With Quartararo on pole it looked like being another confirmation that Yamaha has solved its problems and is now ready to streak away from Ducati for the championship. But the day was unkind to him. Initially in third place behind Miller and Maverick Viñales (Yamaha), he soon took the lead (Miller had said earlier that unless it rained, Quartararo would get away). Then it poured, and after the confusion of playing musical bikes he was third. After four laps Miller came past, and then there was a long-lap penalty for initially stopping in the wrong place for the bike change. Then his soft front wet tire over-temped and on lap 21 Zarco came past (Zarco had chosen a medium rear and it had taken four laps to learn how to get it to operating temperature).

Fabio Quartararo stopped in the wrong place for his bike change and was given a long-lap penalty. Even with his front tire going away he finished third. (MotoGP/)

Quartararo finished third and his fellow racers were impressed with how quickly his understanding of wet racing deepened in the process. More to come!

Miller expressed just how fortunate he had been to stay on wheels. Once the rain hit, it became a serious problem just to get back to the pit lane. “We both sort of came close at turn 8 but then on the back straight we basically went into a wall of rain. His bike was all over the place going into the chicane and then I went into the second one and was just trying to stop the thing.

“I locked both tires and basically aimed for the gravel and went there just trying to stop it and get it turned.”

Yes, Miller is good in rain, and Ducati seem to have a good understanding of how best to limit its otherwise very powerful engines to deliver rain-compatible power. He coped.

Those who yearn inexpressibly for returned-from-injury Marc Márquez to switch on a “make my day” face and resume winning MotoGP races are having to be patient. He noted in practice that going well was easier for him in the wet:

“…in wet conditions I feel more natural and normal than in the past because it’s less demanding about physical condition.

“When everything is more on the limit and you need to push more, then it’s where you stress more the physical condition and where I struggle more.”

Marc Márquez didn’t finish at Le Mans after two crashes in the wet. The first cost him the lead, the second cost him the race. (MotoGP/)

About his recent crashes he said, “If you check, two times in Jerez I crashed on the left part. Here I crashed again in a left corner because it’s where I feel the most confident and I try to take all the lap time there.

“But sometimes all that I lose in the right corners where I’m struggling, it is impossible to recover because it’s the limit.”

He also made clear his concerns with the holeshot devices:

“When you [use it] it seems that the bike is more powerful because it accelerates better and so you get to the braking point even faster. Physically, riding becomes more demanding, moreover, braking later you compress the braking points. For the TV it is worse because there are fewer passes.”

In the race he crashed twice, putting himself out.

Márquez continued: “…the good thing is that this weekend we showed, in damp conditions, when I don’t have the limitation of the physical condition [he’d said some muscles still remain at 50 percent], the speed is there.”

Dorna MotoGP manager Carmelo Ezpeleta responded to talk that a ban on holeshot devices will soon be applied. This idea may originate from Honda’s slowness in developing the full package of front and rear lowering, suggesting it knows a ban is coming soon.

Ezpeleta said, “…there are technical rules that are accepted by all manufacturers and that can only be changed if all the manufacturers agree. The manufacturers, who are in the MSMA (Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association), have not said anything. If the riders want something, they have to communicate it to their respective factories.

“We are not about to ban the holeshot, either this season or next. The rules are what they are. Either everyone agrees or they don’t change.”

And the others? Both Suzukis were out. The KTMs? Danilo Petrucci, exceptionally skilled in wet conditions, was Orange’s highest finisher, in fifth.

Álex Rins crashed out of Le Mans dumping his Suzuki twice in the rain. (MotoGP/)

What of the mercurial Viñales? After losing places he struggled to 10th, just ahead of Rossi.

Of the Hondas Marc Márquez said, “…I don’t see riders ready to win with the Honda. Before thinking about victory the goal is to get to the podium, trying to be present on a regular basis in the top five.”

The Hondas of Álex Márquez and Takaaki Nakagami were sixth and seventh. Not so long ago those were regarded as “Ducati places” because they so often finished there. How times change.

Mugello is next, followed by Barcelona.

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