As we committed to our welcome message, and as our name suggests, we try as much as possible to bring you closer to the Grand Prix paddock.
But this one is full of anecdotes and information at the start of the season... Today we bring you a little “triplet”.
1/ Aerodynamic appendages and engine speeds in Moto3.
Some time ago, we met a member of the FIM who told us that the International Motorcycling Federation was following the arrival of wings in Grands Prix with the greatest attention. His remarks were summarized as follows: “As long as MotoGP factories are working on the subject, it remains acceptable, but the problem will arise when we see the wings designed and used by small Moto3 teams”. Common-sense attitude towards the danger that these elements can represent from a pilot safety point of view.
Yesterday, Dominique Aegerter's bike did not have its famous "anti-aspiration" paddles, and the official Mahindras of the Aspar team did not display their sophisticated aerodynamic appendages in both planes either, just being content with double horizontal profiling. The reason is simple; a technical meeting will take place today to decide on the subject.
To the great dismay of the engineers, but in the name of safety, we can imagine that all this will not be prohibited in the short term...
Following the Honda/Ktm affair, this meeting will also address the problem of ignition cut-off at 13 rpm for Moto500s in order to clarify the situation, or even the regulation.
2/ The performance of Francesco Bagnaia’s Mahindra in FP2.
We had barely published an article indicating that the Mahindras were having some power problems that Francesco Bagnaia apparently gave us a cover-up by obtaining the 5th time in FP2. “Look at Polo, they’re talking nonsense on Paddock-GP! »
Not so sure! Let’s take a look back at our “Spy Attitude” series…
In FP1, Francesco Bagnaia drives a “full 2016” Mahindra. He got the 12th time, 1,4 seconds behind the best.
In FP2, the young Italian rider rides his 2016 motorcycle equipped with the 2015 fairing-airbox assembly.. He gets the 5th time and improves his time by no less than a second and six tenths.
In fact, it turns out that the 2016 Mahindra's engine suffers from a lack of pressure in the airbox. A problem apparently solved by fitting the 2015 fairing-airbox assembly. The Aspar team was apparently aware since they brought these elements to Qatar. The others should not take long to follow, at least from the next Grand Prix…
3/ The future of Johann Zarco.
Several French sites had already relayed the rumor of the French driver signing with Suzuki for 2017. Deliberately cautious, we had just revealed exclusively that an announcement would be made to Losail on this subject.
And it did take place, from the very mouth of Laurent Fellon at the microphone of Eurosport.
Johann Zarco's coach was very clear; tests with Suzuki this year, yes, the rest, nothing is done.
Davide Drivio also confirmed this to crash.net: “”We are thinking of maybe giving him the opportunity to test our MotoGP and then see what happens. His job is to race Moto2 and try to win the championship [so] it would probably be during the summer break. »
For 2017, two possibilities therefore remain current; a place on a Suzuki, factory or satellite, and an Ajo/Ktm project still in the pipeline….
Either way, the reigning Moto2 World Champion should be in MotoGP next year... and that's really good news.
