Clearly, and unlike the last European round of Misano Adriatico, there is no boredom on this overseas tour: everything is experienced passionately, and often in an outrageous way. Detailed review of the latest “Thai sensations”:
First of all THE transfer of the year and its consequences.
Marc Marquez, emblematic Honda Racing driver who breaks his contract to move to a satellite team. If everything has been said concerning the ramifications of the affair, let us recognize that the outcome is not trivial: the 1er world manufacturer orphaned by the only driver capable of winning and who contributed to all of their success over the last ten years.
How to get out of the rut? How can a machine once ardently desired by every competitor no longer manage to seduce? So there remains a vacant place, Joan mir not having found a solution to escape himself…
And now the French Johann zarco, new recruit of the LCR Honda team, begins to dream of the orange Repsol suit. Sympathetic you might say since he is the only one to express it clearly. Except that he may be confusing speed with haste, forgetting that he recently signed with the satellite team.
A big mistake for some and a real lack of tact towards Lucio Cecchinello for others. This would amount to depriving the latter of a fast driver, a good driver, a source of curiosity and interest both for his future results and the dynamics of the sponsors who support him. And precisely, what about the said sponsors if Johann were to leave? The team would clearly risk suffering. And this Lucio neither understands nor accepts, who would ask for compensation from Honda in case this were to happen.
Beyond that, we can reasonably wonder about the future nature of the relationship between the two men if they ultimately worked together. Because finally, for Johann it would be “in the absence of” and for Lucio Cecchinello a second best. There was a better way to start a collaboration than a possibly damaged trust.
One person's misfortune is another's happiness, they say, the official Ducati factory has just proven it by exaggeratedly celebrating a victory by elimination during the Sunday race. Because if the fall of George Martin had not taken place, the reds would then look gloomy.
You only have to see the very Latin exaggeration that the entire staff of the brand demonstrated on Saturday against Francis Bagnaia during his failed qualifications then a Sprint race at the back of the pack. No half measures: we bury or we incense! Between Saturday and Sunday, Pecco had to review his approaches to the race (dixit Davide Tardozzi) as if he had fallen to his lowest point, when the next day he truly appears as a hero. His very explicit gesture at the end of the race was also intended to prove that he had silenced the too many criticisms of which he was the subject. Developer. The life of a world champion is not easy...
Within VR46, there was self-sacrifice in pain. The work of the 2 pilots handicapped by their respective newly strengthened clavicles was admirable. The pole position of
Luca marini was emblematic of his determination. Who knows what he could have achieved in a long race if he hadn't been speared by the troublemaker Brad Binder... His second place in the Sprint augured the best.
Marco Bezzecchi was not left out since even less at the party, his surgical operation was only a week old! And yet, podium in Sprint in third place and Top 5 on Sunday. Hats off. The joy was unfeigned within the team for the feat. Beautiful images.
Conclusion ? Yes, the racing calendar is busy, yes the Sprint races add to the danger and fatigue for the protagonists, but what a spectacle!
Carmelo Ezpeleta, while drawing inspiration from the premier discipline of Formula 1, has managed to put together a superb show full of emotion and exploits.
Roll on Phillip Island for our greatest pleasure.
