Following the most intense title showdown in recent memory, MotoGP is gearing up for a season amid two important technical changes that is already affecting the pecking order.
Can you recall a championship showdown as intense as the one that transpired last year? Whether you have followed MotoGP only within your lifetime or are an avid buff, it was next to impossible to imagine a riders’ championship decided amid such acrimony as the duel between defending champion Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi.
Particularly as the source for that acrimony was Rossi’s sudden shift in his relationship with his heir apparent, Marc Marquez of Honda. With both Marquez and Dani Pedrosa out of the title equation well before the season ended, their resurgence – after trouble with the 2015 chassis – caused some difficulties for Rossi who felt like he did not get a clear shot at Lorenzo.
EARLY SIGNS
Well, if early pre-season testing is anything to go by, Rossi will have a clear shot at Lorenzo this time around. Although having won more races than any rider in 2015, the Spaniard may not be ready to just let his legendary teammate run roughshod over him.
Lorenzo’s machine like consistency while leading a race has been the bane of many a Rossi fan, many of whom are hopeful of that trend coming to an end with the introduction of a new, standard electronics package and Bridgestone being replaced by Michelin as the championship’s official tyre supplier.
Rossi himself has been vocal in expressing his encouragement over these changes. Going so far as to claim that rider input will become far more important with everyone on a level playing field and electronic aids not as aggressive as they have been recently. There has even been an anti-wheelie rider aid that many depend on while going full twist out of corners.
The standard Magneti Marelli electronics package, has however, not treated everyone equally based on feedback from pre-season testing in Sepang.
Honda are especially concerned about the amount of work they are having to put in to make sure their bike will work to its optimum capacity with the new electronics as compared to factory rivals Ducati, who have had a working relationship with Magneti Marelli ever since they entered MotoGP.
Electronics aren’t the only thing that have Honda sweating though. Michelin has, so far, provided tyres for testing that do not lend themselves well to a rider carrying a lot of speed into a corner, squeezing the brakes and hoping to hold the bike without falling.
Dancing on that edge of adhesion has been a specialty of Marquez who has been able to tame the raw power delivery of the Honda and take corners at lean angles that make one wonder if he is resting the bike on his knee while riding. So far, it seems as if Michelin’s tyres won’t allow the young Spaniard to get away with that kind of riding on account of a front tyre compound that does not support heavy braking as much the outgoing Japanese rubber. Post season tests in Valencia last year supported that claim as well as this year’s Sepang test.
Teams will be testing in Philip Island too, which should be far more revealing as to who gets the best out of the new tyres on account of the circuit’s heavy, downhill braking zones. Yamaha’s traditionally more forgiving power delivery paired with a good handling chassis has reigning champion Lorenzo pretty confident about his chances this year.
UPHILL TASK
If not Honda, it is hard to see who can challenge either him or Rossi. Ducati’s head start with Magneti Marelli’s electronics is something they have going for them but unlike last year, they won’t start with the concessions given to a struggling manufacturer.
Suzuki is still trying to recover from not being in the thick of MotoGP action for years. Maverick Vinales had an encouraging enough debut season last year and the team is placing a lot of faith in his abilities to develop the bike into a podium finisher, maybe even a winner.
The biggest obstacle for Suzuki, and Ducati too for that matter, will be the sheer discrepancy in the resources available to them as compared to Yamaha and Honda.
The latter two Japanese giants dwarf these companies in terms of global sales, which translates to an enormous R&D budget and support aplenty to the MotoGP operations. As much as fans want MotoGP to be a contest among the riders, there is no denying that money makes a difference. In the case of Yamaha and Honda, it is money and experience. The experience of having consistently participated in the top motorcycle racing championship in the world for decades and having been able to afford the input of some of the greatest riders to have ever graced the sport.
It is that kind of momentum that Suzuki hopes to reclaim in order to get back to the days of Kenny Roberts and Kevin Schwantz. The latter was in India last year, promoting Suzuki’s Gixxer Cup and lamenting his company having lost a lot of ground to MotoGP’s big two.
Expecting those tables to be turned this season is a bit unrealistic though and fans are more likely to be focusing on the contest that had them at the edge of their seats – as well as their sanity at times – last season.
Lorenzo vs Rossi vs Marquez. Can the three duke it out on equal terms or will it be the two Yamaha riders with a clear track ahead of them? If last season taught us anything, don’t even try to place any bets. Just sit back and watch it all unfold.
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