Thailand MotoGP Report

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A one-word summary of the Thai MotoGP event: rain. Conditions were so wet for Moto2 that the race was stopped at the halfway point. (MotoGP/)

A rain race is a gift for some riders (the regenmeisters—rain specialists) and a disaster for others. With the rain comes chaotic conditions: reduced grip, poor or nonexistent visibility, and maybe the special risk of mixed wet and dry.

Buriram, Thailand, was a gift to MotoGP’s recognized rain men—Miguel Oliveira (KTM) won by 0.730 second over Jack Miller (Ducati), with Johann Zarco (also on Ducati) fourth. In third was Francesco Bagnaia (yet another Ducati), working hard to regain the points he lost by falling in Japan last week. Fifth was Honda’s Marc Márquez, pursuing his gradual return to MotoGP. “I had a solid race,” he said. “I started calmly, step by step, letting the tires warm up.”

Because there had been no wet practice, this race was especially a shambles for many riders, winner Oliveira saying, “I’ll take a win on the wet any day.” He also noted that There was no mystery in his ability in rain—just thoughtful application of the same principles that work in the dry.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), now with 219 points to Bagnaia’s 217 and Aleix Espargaró's 199, had good reason for optimism in a dry race, having qualified fourth behind the surprise first and second men, Marco Bezzecchi on pole and Jorge Martín; Bagnaia qualified third.

Moto2 Stopped

That optimism was hosed away by the Moto2 race, when such water crashed down that organizers stopped the race with half points awarded for half distance. A long hold ensued before the MotoGP race could start.

KTM to the front! Miguel Oliveira was one of the three <i>regenmeisters</i> at Thailand, and it showed. Starting from back in <i>11th</i> place (!) the Portuguese pilot rode to his fifth career MotoGP win. (KTM/)

Oliveira admitted, “The start of the race was tough for all of us; you couldn’t see anything in front [of you] on the straight. There was aquaplaning. But it was a good victory, my second in the wet.

“Already last year we found a wet setup that works very well for my riding style.

“Maybe this allows me to have an advantage when we do the various sessions in the dry and then we race in the wet, because I can be very fast right away.

“At Motegi we spent a lot of [practice] time in the wet and everyone…was able to find the right setup…”

The Regenmeisters

Jack Miller said of the three regenmeisters, “I know I’ll be pretty quick, I know Miguel will be really quick, I know Zarco will be really quick—we’re kind of the three that can sort of adapt.”

This emphasizes Bagnaia’s third-place finish. While he is not one of those three named above, he stayed with them. At the start Bezzecchi and Martín stormed away, but Bagnaia was second on laps 1 and 2 (he’d qualified third). Then Miller came through to lead from lap 4 to lap 13, when Oliveira (who started back in 11th!) was able to reach and pass him.

Miller said, “Miguel [Oliveira] was definitely a lot faster through those last two sectors. Every lap I was losing a fair bit of time there.

“He was on rails through there, and I had a bit of movement on the wetter part of the track and that’s all she wrote.”

Marco Bezzecchi qualified on the pole and took off at the start. By the end of the race, though, he’d moved considerably back, finishing out of the points in 16th. (KTM/)

Bagnaia said, “Today the anger after Japan helped me stay close to Miller and Oliveira who are, with Zarco, the best riders in the wet. I was sure that following them would be a good idea. I struggled only in the last part of the race with the front tire…

“I was trying to follow Jack and Miguel but they were too fast. Márquez caught me and tried to pass, but I saw he was struggling under braking and I concentrated on that point. I think that’s why Zarco didn’t attack me—I was strong in braking and it would have been too risky.”

Márquez said, “When there were ten laps left I started to push hard, but when I got behind Pecco I couldn’t see anywhere to overtake him—he accelerated too hard. Then Zarco arrived and I had nothing more to give.”

Team Orders?

Did Zarco deliberately refrain from passing Bagnaia? Was he obeying a team order? We have only opinions and Zarco’s words to consider:

“I hesitated in the end.

“In these conditions I wanted to win [believed he could], but I preferred to remain calm behind Pecco, since Márquez was behind, ready to attack.

“To overtake him [Bagnaia] I would have had to pass onto a line that was less dry, with the risk of slipping. I took the risk with Marc but didn’t feel up to it with Pecco.

“I consider fourth place a positive result.”

The important point to make about the rain specialists is that they are among “the sometimes men,” riders who win a race now and again. It would be a great surprise were any one of them to storm to five wins out of the first 10 GPs one year and then carry on to win the championship.

Thailand was an unmitigated disaster for Fabio Quartararo. The Yamaha-mounted defending world champion saw his previously considerable lead in the series drop to just two points. (Monster Energy Yamaha/)

Which brings us to Quartararo, who finished 17th and out of the points. “The first ten laps of the race were probably the scariest experience of my life.

“…thankfully everybody was wise enough to not do any crazy moves…in the areas where visibility was zero.

“…then I could extract some pace from my package….

“But when I reached [the] other bikes, I couldn’t overtake…so I needed to step back and bring the bike home.”

His average lap time was a big 1.36 seconds off that of winner Oliveira’s.

Although he started fourth Quartararo was pushed out in the first turn by Miller. A wobble in T4 allowed others to pass him (both Márquez and Brad Binder had such “shaking”—in Binder’s case severe enough to knock his brake pads back).

“They should let the riders fix it!” Cal Crutchlow, standing in on a Yamaha, said of the race, “Nobody could see. People were shutting their throttles in fifth gear on the straight (to stop wheelspin). People hit the back of each other. It was just ridiculous.

“Fabio couldn’t turn his bike, couldn’t lean over, the front wheel was not following in the corner. I had the same feeling.

“I pushed with the rear [what you do when you can’t steer with the front!] a lot and ripped the center out of it.

“The tire pressure was just so high—already on the first lap of the race.”

Yamaha’s Special Problems

In the dry the Yamahas have had special problems with front-tire pressure rising. Their special need (lack of engine power) makes it necessary to closely draft other bikes, and the corner-speed riding style for which they are engineered requires continuous high lean angles throughout the turn. Point-and-shoot bikes, engineered and ridden to use prompt weight transfer during braking and acceleration, may be better able to deal with wet because of concentrated weight on the tire doing most of the work. In addition, some claim that downforce from winglets enables harder braking, and this also leads to elevated front-tire temperature and pressure.

Crutchlow continued, “I knew already in the warmup lap that this bike was not going to be great.”

When he was asked who decides the tire pressures, he said with characteristic and long-admired candor, “The wrong person. They should let the riders fix it!”

Many in the paddock believe Crutchlow was previously retained so long by Honda because, unlike more cautious riders, the former World Supersport champion has always blurted out his real opinions! No yes-man he.

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia finished third in Thailand, but closed a huge point gap in the process. With just three races remaining, he’s in essentially a dead heat with Yamaha’s Quartararo. (MotoGP/)

Once more I emphasize the intelligence, quickness of mind, and rationality of these riders. They are never “jist goin’ fer it” in a red fog. They cannot qualify well unless they extract from practice information that quickly leads to a workable setup. This means that in addition to “engaging the enemy more closely” to achieve the best-possible qualifying, they must also perform as test pilots, accurately observing everything the bike does and updating their knowledge regarding grip, bumps, oil, and so on in each of the many corners. They must be prepared to give their information to their crews in a form from which sense can be extracted.

Resetting the Championship

Thailand has reset the championship contest almost to zero, so it will come down not only to technical and riding strategies but also to the degree to which each rider can set aside the anxieties and doubts of the championship to focus entirely on each of the races. Surely this is why Zen insists that we cannot give our best until we no longer care.

Three GPs remain—the Australian at Phillip Island, the Malaysian at Sepang, and finally Valencia in Spain.

Aleix Espargaró didn’t have the best day in Thailand (11th), but the five points he earned there keep him in the championship hunt, third overall. (Aprilia/)

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