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Misano 2021: Wet Track, Dry Track


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Mixed weather made tire choices critical at Misano.
Mixed weather made tire choices critical at Misano. (MotoGP/)

This race came down to a gamble on tire choice: Pole-sitter Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) chose hard/soft (front/rear), reckoning to gap the opposition at the start, while Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) chose hard/medium. Yamaha team manager Massimo Meregalli said, “[Quartararo] lost some meters at the start, but our calculations showed that the soft rear, which our rivals used, would drop with ten laps to go.”

Yamaha planners were aware that Quartararo knows this circuit: in 2019 he had led 24 of the 27 laps here in the dry before being passed on the last lap by Marc Márquez. They also understood Quartararo’s fear that if it rained on Sunday he could end up with zero points (so easy to get it wrong in the wet). By mid-race Quartararo had passed fast-starting Jack Miller for second, but by then Bagnaia had pulled a three-second gap—one second of which came on the first lap!

Tenth by tenth, as Quartararo’s rear tire’s condition gradually rose above Bagnaia’s, he ate into that gap. Quartararo had advantages in sectors one and four, but Bagnaia was, in his own words, “perfect” in sector three. Having closed within 0.135 second on lap 26, Quartararo was just unable to make the leap. Bagnaia won this tense pursuit by 0.364 second. In third was Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama Ducati), four seconds further back.

Dragstrips and Compromised Grip

When you look at the Misano circuit map it jumps out at you that this must be a Ducati track. On paper you see six short dragstrips, mostly connected by squiggly little corners, plus the one 160-mph “Curvone” right-hander. It looks like the track was made to showcase Ducati’s acceleration and braking, or perhaps Honda’s once-upon-a-time special ability in the squiggles.

That’s clearly not the whole story, as strong performances by Yamaha last weekend and in recent years prove. In 2019 Andrea Dovizioso (lately signed by Yamaha’s satellite team for the remainder of this season plus 2022) had interesting things to say about the Misano balance of power. While the track looks like a pack of dragstrips, grip is limited:

“…you can’t use the traction as you don’t have a lot of grip in any area, but for everybody it is like this. The only way to be fast is get the speed in the corners and arrive in the traction area with more speed because nobody is able to really accelerate in the traction area.”

Commenting on the Yamaha he rode at this race, Dovi said, “You have a lot of positive things on braking and entry and in the middle of the corners. But you have to be so fast in the middle of the corners and arrive to the traction area with a lot of speed.”

It will take time for Dovi to learn to ride in Yamaha style (he was 21st today), but his remarks suggest that the Yamaha makes time by finding grip in different places and in a different manner from the Ducatis.

As the end of the race neared, Francesco Bagnaia’s tire began to suffer, but not enough for Fabio Quartararo to reel him in.
As the end of the race neared, Francesco Bagnaia’s tire began to suffer, but not enough for Fabio Quartararo to reel him in. (MotoGP/)

The normal four free-practice sessions were effectively cut to two by Friday’s rain, which started with 12 minutes of FP1 remaining. It’s always important not to put too much store by what happens on Friday, as Saturday’s times are normally so different. (Maverick Viñales/Aprilia topped the time sheets Friday but finished 13th in the race.) On Saturday, the disciplined use of time normally shown by the top riders eclipsed the one-lap specialists. It is in FP3 and FP4 that we can hope to see samples of the kind of consistency the leaders will demonstrate on Sunday.

Bagnaia showed his confidence by again setting a new qualifying lap record (as he did last weekend at Aragón):

“Again this weekend we had to make only a few adjustments to the bike since I have felt comfortable on it right from the start. I wasn’t sure I could take pole…because Quartararo was going so fast.”

Training on Production Bikes and Endurance Tires

Ducati riders have lately been training on production V-4 Panigales shod with Michelin endurance tires (which are said to behave similarly to tires in MotoGP). MotoGP rules prohibit riders from practicing on their racebikes at any other than the official Dorna practice days (of which there will be one this coming Tuesday at Misano). But practicing on other kinds of bikes is permitted.

Quartararo, when asked if he might train on a Yamaha R1, said, “It wouldn’t help me because I don’t like riding the R1. It’s totally different. I feel lost when I try them both. The tires are different, the bike works differently.”

He’s not the only one to make such an observation. Back when Kenny Roberts went to Europe to contest the 500 championship he was also riding a 250. He gave that up because he found that what he learned on the 250 acted to unlearn things he needed to be doing on the 500.

Enea Bastianini scored his first MotoGP podium in Misano.
Enea Bastianini scored his first MotoGP podium in Misano. (MotoGP/)

In fourth at Misano was Marc Márquez, who had demonstrated his view of his chances Sunday morning by saving his energy for the race—not participating in warm-up. Finishing more than 10 seconds behind the winner, he and those behind him were arguably in a different race. He is manfully plugging away, trying to rediscover the strange powers that made him the dominant force in MotoGP for so long.

During the rainy Friday, riders spoke of Yamaha’s deficiencies in the wet. Quartararo, two seconds off the pace in these conditions, said, “I’m not feeling comfortable on the bike…I have zero feeling on the fast corners. So it’s tough.

“…in the wet everything is so sensitive.”

Dry Weather, and a Different Race

As it turned out, Saturday and Sunday were dry and Quartararo’s “zero feeling” evaporated like the moisture on the track. Interesting to speculate that in rain, the bikes that do well—notably and for years now the Ducatis—do so at least in part because their point-and-shoot “way of going” concentrates load mainly on one wheel at a time rather than sharing it between both as the longer, lower Yamahas must.  When I was a small boy in the back seat of my mother’s car on a slushy mountain road, I marveled that highway buses could pull out, pass us, and thunder away with never a wiggle. Their greater load per square inch of footprint just crushed the otherwise traction-destroying slush and water out of their way.

Now for the list of those receiving the misfortune cookies. Miller qualified second and at the start got away second, looking strong. There he remained for 13 laps until passed by Quartararo at half distance. His tires had dropped, adding a second to his lap times. He finished fifth.

Marquez, fourth, said, “…my target is to try to fight for the victory and I still feel far away from this.”

He sized up the competition, saying, “We need to understand the way that the Ducati riders make their lap times. I was behind Bastianini—he was braking like an animal, stopping the bike, and then going out of the corner like a rocket.

“…I believe that Ducati is more competitive than Yamaha now, however Quartararo is the fastest guy…”

The KTM Conundrum

Where were the KTMs? Brad Binder qualified highest among them (17th) with the other three 20th, 21st, and 22nd. Miguel Oliveira said simply, “We didn’t have the pace or speed to be competitive.”

No particulars were given, other than to say that no single Big Thing was being blamed. What’s odd about this is its uniformity—an entire brand sent to the back of the grid. The riders showed they were trying by crashing in practice.

Viñales continues learning to ride the Aprilia, finishing 13th. Teammate Aleix Espargaró was eighth.

And the Suzukis? Joan Mir chose medium/medium tires without enthusiasm and finished sixth, saying, “Normally with our bike we’re not able to use that hard front. Now we’re trying to change because I need something more. I can’t ride the bike with the medium.

“When we saw the temperature go down we still went with it.”

He described his race as just something to be survived, and the remaining four races as a kind of “preseason” in which new ideas can be evaluated.

Quartararo has a 48-point lead in the championship leaving Misano.
Quartararo has a 48-point lead in the championship leaving Misano. (MotoGP/)

Can it be that a bike, a riding style, and a team approach can fall into the space between tire choices? Mir did 1:33s in the first half of the race, improving to 1:32s in the second half as his tires came in.

The championship order is now Quartararo first by a still strong but reduced 48 points, Bagnaia second with 186, and the subtle current champion Mir (Suzuki) third with 167. Four races to go and the US MotoGP at Austin is October third.

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