The sharp end of the MotoGP grid is going to look very different next year, but before that happens Lorenzo has business to attend to.
Well…who saw that coming? Come the 2017 MotoGP season, the grid will have a noticeably different look to it. It all started with talk of Jorge Lorenzo being offered a ‘super deal’ to ride Ducati’s ever improving machine. The talk then became reality as it was announced that the defending champion would follow in Valentino Rossi’s footsteps by attempting to bring success to the Italian outfit. Rossi found the task to be too much and Ducati were unable to match their Japanese rivals in terms of development budgets. That situation started to improve in Rossi’s last year with the team as Audi acquired Ducati for over a billion dollars and committed not insignificant resources to improve the MotoGP squad’s performance.
Slowly it came to the point that Ducati started grabbing poles and podiums, which were unfortunately punctuated with incidents of their riders not being able to capitalise on good track position. The most recent of these incidents was that of a very ambitious Andrea Iannone taking out teammate Andrea Dovizioso on the penultimate corner of the final lap in Argentina. The blunder cost Ducati a second and third place finish and most likely swayed the team management in deciding who would make way for Lorenzo.
Iannone will now head off to Suzuki after the second blockbuster announcement was made following Lorenzo’s decision. After initially struggling against Yamaha and Honda following a long absence from MotoGP, Suzuki had started to make noticeable strides in performance and had the services of Maverick Vinales to lead them on the track. After Marc Marquez, Vinales is believed to be the most coveted rider in MotoGP by team bosses and with Lorenzo gone, Yamaha wanted that level of talent along with keeping an eye on the future.
The 21-year-old scored Suzuki’s first MotoGP podium since 2008 at the French GP when he took a somewhat fortuitous third place after Marquez and Dovizioso went off at the same corner at almost exactly the same time after Rossi had managed to pass them both. Aside from handing Suzuki a podium, the crash pretty much brought home the struggle Honda and Ducati are having to endure as Yamaha’s compromise of power and handling are allowing them to get the most out of the new Michelin tyres.
They were not the only riders who went down at the same corner of the Bugatti Le Mans circuit. A corner that had been resurfaced and was offering less grip than before. Seemingly the only riders that didn’t struggle were the ones riding what are currently the most coveted bikes in MotoGP; the factory Yamahas.
Lorenzo rode off into the distance from pole position to finish the race almost 11 seconds ahead of Rossi, getting his own back on the Italian who won at Jerez from pole position. A solid, but lonely second place at Le Mans has helped Rossi close the gap on Marquez, who is now only seven points ahead of the Italian. The Spaniard’s crash allowed Lorenzo to take the lead of the championship race.
But as last season showed, it’s not a lead he can take for granted. By the time you read this, the Mugello round of the championship would be over as well and the complexion of the title race could well change once more. Especially if Ducati can deliver on race pace along with their promising single lap pace. But don’t count on it as yet. Rossi will pull out every trick in the book to gain an advantage over his rivals. And if he can manage enough qualifying sessions where he is ahead of Lorenzo he can put enough pressure that he needs to on the Spaniard who is normally adept at riding off into the distance. Rossi would certainly not want any more repeats of Le Mans where that was exactly what happened. It’s going to be a long and fun summer in the MotoGP world, that’s for sure.
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