Marco Bezzecchi Gets First VR46 Win in Argentinian Rain

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Marco Bezzecch gave Mooney VR46 it’s first-ever MotoGP victory, along with his first premier class win. (MotoGP/)

Yes, there were more crashes, but not enough to say it’s a trend created by the new “less practice/more racing/more pressure” of the new 2023 Sprint Race weekend format. At Portimão, four went to the hospital. But in Argentina it rained, crimping qualifying, lowering visibility, and leading to some crashing. But not enough to convict the new format.

Lots of novelties appeared. Suddenly Franco Morbidelli was fast on his Yamaha, qualifying fourth on Saturday and finishing fourth on Sunday, while teammate Fabio Quartararo remained puzzled in the middle of nowhere. Again the Aprilias were promising—Maverick Viñales was second to then-series-leader Francesco Bagnaia in Saturday’s sprint race—only to come 12th on Sunday as highest-finishing Aprilia. Álex Márquez, now on Gresini Ducati after undistinguished seasons on Honda, is revealed as having real power, qualifying on pole and finishing third.

Álex Márquez finished on the podium in Argentina with a third place. (MotoGP/)

Oh yes, as is now normal, a Ducati won the race, but this time it was that of Marco Bezzecchi and the Mooney/VR46 team. We expect this because, with eight bikes on the grid and talented riders young enough to bring fewer bad habits with them, Ducati can respond more quickly to change by trying different solutions, then picking the one that works best.

Contrast with Quartararo’s experience: “FP1, we try the bike. FP2, we wanted to try something else but it was still difficult. In the sprint race, I started with another setting. If the Sunday race had been dry, I would have tried another setting, because we are still not ready.”

It takes time to work through such tests, and now with the sprint race taking the place of FP4, there is less time. However, Quartararo’s problem has not arisen from the new format, but from the Yamaha’s need for many more test steps than would be available even in the old race format.

Rain always upsets some applecarts, especially if much of practice has been dry. Teams have their wet setups standing by, ready to be rapidly clicked into place.  Because the presence of liquid on the track not only reduces grip (not that much anymore! Look at the photos—riders have knees and elbows very close to the track, while their tires throw water everywhere) but in case of puddles may make hydroplaning a possibility.

To regain mechanical grip, spring and damping rates are somewhat reduced (softer springs and damping deliver less “kick” to the tire footprints when bumps or roughness are present). Reduced grip also interferes with weight transfer in braking and acceleration, possibly allowing the rear tire to spin or the front to lock because too little weight transfer is present to load the tires quickly enough to prevent it. One response is to shorten the wheelbase.

Jack Miller (who finished sixth) had this to say about his KTM: “We’ve made the bike quite a bit shorter. Our wheelbase is a bit longer than it was the last couple of years. But we’ve made it quite a bit shorter this morning; we probably could have gone another step in that direction. Just with the [weight] transfer you get, it’s so much better, a lot better drive.”

This happens in dirt track all the time, because as afternoon cools into evening, bikes pour horsepower into the surface and the water truck and track grooming make their rounds, the track constantly changes and bike setup and rider technique must change with it. Or you won’t hook up. You’ll spin helplessly.

Jack Miller finished sixth in Sunday’s soggy GP. (MotoGP/)

Aleix Espargaró (on Aprilia, finished 15th, 36 seconds down) reported this: “It’s difficult to understand, really. I thought I had a flat tire. It was crazy; I couldn’t open the throttle even in the straight. I mean, even in the straight the tire was spinning. I had to change gear at 10,000 rpm…because the bike doesn’t go forward.

“The bike doesn’t really pitch, so it’s like super rigid.”

Another point to ponder is the likely fact that the normal spread of human intelligence is present in the paddock. There are some very clever crew chiefs who remember everything that has ever happened, and there are others who are competent, and perhaps others who lock up when faced with too many choices. This is one reason why a rider like Álex Márquez might suddenly flower under new circumstances—possibly a bike that better suits him, possibly a crew chief who communicates well and is sympathetic.

Visibility was often nil. Here’s Miller’s tale: “The visibility was shocking the first couple of laps. …the windscreen was filthy (sand from the track, which European riders called ‘dust’)…so you’re sort of sticking your head up down the straight, trying to see.

“After three laps into it I just hit a wall. I don’t know if I cooked the rear tire (all were on med/med wets)…on the drive part of the left-hand side. But I started having moment after moment.

“I tried to sort of scroll through my maps to understand if that was the issue.”

He tried adjusting the power up and down, adjusting the traction control.

“Then eight laps to the end it kind of came good again…was able to come back toward Jorge [Martín].”

A crash on Sunday removed Pecco Bagnaia from the championship lead. (MotoGP/)

Bagnaia led the championship until his Sunday crash while second to Bezzecchi: “I had this kind of crash that you don’t understand.

“In those 16 laps I did the same maneuver [every lap] but in this lap I crashed. …normally when you lose the front it’s because you braked too much or you released the brakes too early. Today I lost the front touching the gas.

“I was just controlling the gap with Álex [Márquez, behind him]. I was pushing at that moment. I thought it was all under control but I was probably at the limit and ended up falling.”

Johann Zarco says the rain removes any advantages the other racers may have on him. He finished second in the rain. (MotoGP/)

Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Duc) was third. “The first seven riders went away quite fast but then at around half distance I started to have a difference with the others. I saw that they had more rear grip problems and I could get a better pace.”

He mentioned that rain gives him an advantage: “Usually [in the dry] the other riders manage to have good traction and lean the bike well while I have some difficulties. When the track is very wet however their advantage vanishes and, being able to get the bike up quickly, I get out of the corners faster than my rivals.”

Bezzecchi now leads the championship. He had no master plan but just used the strengths at hand to do his best—good enough to win. “…when I saw the rain this morning I was really sad because I said, ‘No, I was so good in the dry, for sure it will be difficult in the wet.’ But when I jumped on the bike this morning (in warmup) it was amazing. I started believing again and thought I could do this.

“Everything went well. It was a long journey.”

Motorcycle roadracing continues to evolve away from a past in which achieving a strong setup was cerebral, a kind of chess game, and toward a future of broadening the appeal of the sport by playing up excitement and personalities. Some will be uncomfortable with this, but there is no right way—there are just different ways.

On his best days, Eddie Lawson and crew brought a superbly setup 500 two-stroke to the start grid and at the flag he pulled away to a safe distance and continued to the win. The others, with less-good setups, found their bikes happy to throw them off if they pushed any harder.

The MotoGP era brought the “time of the aliens,” when riders like Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa were hailed as superhuman, from a distant planet. But in fact their exceptional performance was partly personal and partly the result of rooms filled with techs at laptops, writing subroutines for every circumstance. On the track, the combination divided the grid into the aliens versus the others.

Dorna officers wanted to bring other talents forward but the kind of factory backing that created aliens was in their way. Therefore a spec ECU, running same-for-everyone spec software, was imposed. This was very successful, as was the practice of gridding only fully engineered racebikes (instead of such dismal cheapo substitutes as barn-built “CRTs” that were 6 to 10 seconds off the pace, or “production racers” that were down 30 hp to racebikes).

Now that riders incoming from Moto2 are put straight onto one- or two-year-old factory bikes by satellite teams, they can immediately show the talent that brought them forward. This has made it possible for Ducati to marshal its army of youngsters.

Is it possible there could be a next step? Yes, I think so. We know that setup improves with the number of combinations that can be tried in a weekend. Again and again we’ve seen faster lap times during a test held right after a race weekend. So another kind of “leveling” that can be tried is to shorten practice, thereby denying some of the advantage that very experienced and methodical teams and crew chiefs have.

Is an army of Ducatis at the front becoming the norm? (MotoGP/)

Management will do what it deems necessary to create the kind of random events most able to excite and engage the first-time spectator or viewer. Some will see this as “dumbing down” their cherished sport, but it’s just business, seeking new markets as it always must (remember the old adage, heard at every Kiwanis bar: “If your business isn’t growing, it’s shrinking”).

If the sprint format sidelines too many riders, it will surely be adjusted. Nobody—and that includes Dorna—wants to go back to the days of half-empty grids.

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