How Rain Shakes Things Up in Racing

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Heavy rains at Motegi brought out the red flag. An attempted restart was aborted and the race was called after 12 laps. (MotoGP/)

Jorge Martín set a track record in qualifying on pole, won the Saturday sprint, and then won Sunday’s rain-shortened MotoGP. Rain was falling on the start grid with bikes still on slicks as the race began. Soon, pit lane was opened to riders coming in to trade wet bikes with slicks for dry bikes with wets. Action between Martín and Aleix Espargaró (fifth, Aprilia factory) ran Martín wide, dropping him to ninth place. Never mind that—Martín efficiently made rain and decreasing visibility look irrelevant, negotiating dense honk-honk, beep-beep traffic to recover the lead on lap 6 from series leader Francesco Bagnaia and Espargaró. Meanwhile Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) sliced his way into third, looking like Bagnaia would be next to be passed. Then came the red flag. Everyone (including Márquez himself) wants to know if he can return to dominance in 2024 or not.

Most riders swapped bikes on lap 1, some gambled on a wait-and-see strategy. It did not work out for them. (MotoGP/)

His two wins this weekend now move him within three points of Bagnaia.

Bagnaia said, “Martín pushed a lot on the tire in the first laps, especially in acceleration, while Marc and I were more careful.

“When the rain became more intense he started to struggle.

“At the beginning, with the rain on the wet asphalt, it was very difficult. The front would lock. The red flag came at the right time. There was too much aquaplaning on the straight and turns two and ten were dangerous.”

He reckoned officialdom had “made all the right decisions.” (To red-flag the race, and to declare the event complete with full points awarded.)

Jorge Martín scored his first wet race win. (MotoGP/)

Márquez agreed: “The red flags were at the correct time.

“Even before the red flag I put my hand up because it was too dangerous.”

He complimented the men ahead of him; “Great race by Martín and Bagnaia. When you’re fighting for the title it’s not easy to take risks like that.”

Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR 46 Ducati) was fourth, saying, “I started well but at the first corner, to avoid Pecco I crashed with two other riders. Then at turn three I felt another bump and found myself at the back of the group.

“…in the end I started to have problems with the visibility. It was difficult to see.

“So I lost some time and Marc passed me.”

Marco Bezzecchi’s start involved some bumping around. (MotoGP/)

Aleix Espargaró (fifth) said: “…visibility was really low…”

Joan Mir (12th, Repsol Honda): “I couldn’t see so I was missing my reference points on track.”

Miguel Oliveira (18th, Cryptodata RNF KTM): “I couldn’t see anything.”

In the first laps, as the rain was increasing, some riders (Fabio Quartararo was one) expected the rain to remain moderate or stop, but were soon shown otherwise. The trickiest wet condition is part wet, part dry or just moist, requiring the rider to keep detailed track of where the grip is. Once everyone had changed bikes, the rain was heavy enough to avoid the classic wet-tire trap of a drying track that overheats the tire. Wet tires do best when water-cooled!

The performance of wet tires has become quite amazing, permitting high lean angles that would have looked good in the dry not too many years ago. Martín’s new (dry) lap record of 1:43.198 is impressive but it’s interesting also to see that early lap times of over two minutes (on slicks) became steady 1:57s and 1:58s for the remainder of the very wet 12 laps completed.

Marc Márquez said the red flags came out at the right time. (MotoGP/)

Rain turns an event into an improvisation for everyone because the information gathered through practice, qualifying and Sprint Race is meaningless. Bike setup is switched to best-guess wet settings (generally softer spring and damping rates) and riders make do with that. Because the normally-used carbon brakes need to reach a certain surface temperature to work properly, steel discs and “wet” calipers with quick disconnects are laid out in the work area whenever rain threatens.

Martin’s description of the first lap: “It was complicated, difficult to maintain the calm.

“It was risky, the first lap, because we were on the slicks. I was in first position and normally this is the first to crash.”

Later he would say, “The bike is what it is. I haven’t changed the setup but I know it well and it gives me a lot of confidence…”

Bagnaia has made similar remarks more than once, to the effect that instead of constantly fiddling to adapt the bike to himself, he’s found it quicker and easier to keep the bike close to the same and adapt himself.

Francesco Bagnaia kept his point loss to a minimum, finishing second behind Martín. (Ducati/)

Inevitably, when championship points are close like this (319 to 316) journalists ask the Big Question: How will you handle the pressure? The question is as predictable as “How’s it feel to hit the longest home run in Ebbets Field history?”

Bagnaia said, “I think it’ll be interesting. It could become a good fight, even if everything will become more intense and difficult. I’ve already been in this situation and I know how to handle it. I like this pressure and it doesn’t bother me much.”

Martín: “I’m having a great moment. I got on the podium in the last four races, of which I won two. It is proof that we are working well, and that the key to everything is to have fun doing it. I don’t want to create too many illusions, though it’s true that Pecco and I are close in the standings.”

Much is being made of Johann Zarco’s loss of 10 points (DNF, Pramac Ducati) by failing to carry out some prescribed procedure in order to be scored. It has always been this way—rules are written in offices, racing occurs on the track. No surprise that the two cultures may clash.

Occasionally racing in rain has been hailed as “the true leveler,” but note well who was up front at Motegi. They are not rain specialists or back men otherwise crushed by factory bike horsepower. They are just the top riders. Top in the dry, top in the wet.

The Indonesian Grand Prix is in two weeks. Six Grands Prix to go.

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[RideWithStyles]

Should this be in the racing column???

[Bender]

2 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

Should this be in the racing column???

Nope