Hervé Poncharal, what lessons do you draw from these last off-season tests this winter?
Hervé Poncharal: “We were in a position where, given the quality of our riders and perhaps also, and above all, the quality of our motorcycles, we were systematically among the first behind the factories. Today, we will be in a group where now there are the Suzukis who are as fast, or even significantly faster than us, which was not the case last year. There are also the Pramacs, who have never really been regular opponents, and who are now. And even the Avintia are in on the action. We will therefore find ourselves in a group of around ten, or even around fifteen motorbikes. We can therefore find ourselves having a very good race and finishing 6 or 7th, but also having a race almost as good and finishing 12th. It’s going to happen to us…”
And how do you take it?
Hervé Poncharal: “It will certainly be difficult to swallow for the ego of my riders, because they often fought behind the Fantastic 4 with the official Ducatis. You remember; sometimes they beat us, sometimes we beat them, and we ended up in the championship between Iannone and Dovizioso, and quite far ahead of Suzuki and company. This year, they will have to review their pretensions a little bit and, obviously, at the level of our sponsors who have been used to our results, I will have to explain the situation to them and make them understand that we are not may not be in the Top 10 in the first race. »
That said, I think that for the spectators who follow the races, as well as for the media, it will be great! We will end up with races like Moto2 or Moto3!
And I even think that the established values, like the two official Hondas and the two Yamahas, will not always be respected. Attention; you saw where Dani Pedrosa finished and that Cal (Crutchlow) was for the moment the second Honda… We even see that it is not always easy for Marc (Marquez) and that Scott Redding had a better performance than Valentino. So everything is open!
It will be extremely exciting for the spectators to follow, but for the actors, we will surely see a redistribution of the cards that we have not seen for a long time. So you shouldn't get carried away following winter tests either; It's clear that drivers like Lorenzo, Rossi and Marquez have both the potential we know they have and the experience of managing all that. So everything will not be completely turned upside down, but we will have much more open races and see new faces that we are not used to seeing at the front. I'm sure of that!
A guy like Redding can pull off a mega-surprise in Qatar! Petrucci will undoubtedly be diminished by his injury but he will also be a formidable customer, and even Barbera seems to be riding well. »
The Suzukis represent a question mark, since they have the right to more engine freedoms than you. Will they confirm in the race and also become a solid challenger?
Hervé Poncharal: “Personally, I think Vinales will explode this year. The Vinales/Suzuki package will do some crazy things and, sometimes, may end up in battle with the Magic 3!
For us, it's not going to be easy and we're going to have to fight, but I love racing, so I appreciate this new challenge. And then, what is good is that our riders are arriving at the end of the learning period in the MotoGP category; we will therefore see if they have the nerves as well as the physical, technical and mental capacities to be able to climb an additional step. »
Speaking of nerves, don't you think that if there is one who can benefit from this tightening of values, it is Valentino Rossi?
Hervé Poncharal: “It’s not false. He will always be there because, even if he knows very well that in pure speed, in a qualifying session, he will perhaps not be as efficient as a Lorenzo or a Marquez who finds his feet, but we know that in racing he is incredibly formidable. It's clear that if anyone can rely on his knowledge, his experience and his intelligence, more than anyone, it's him. »
Can we do a little technical debriefing of these tests in Qatar? For example, in terms of tires?
Hervé Poncharal: “As I told you during the first 2016 test session, in Valencia, we thought it was going to be more complicated in terms of the feeling of the front tire. Since Sepang, and this was confirmed in Qatar, we now have a front tire which gives a lot of confidence, which allows you to drive hard, and to attack without a second thought and without restraint. That’s very, very good!
Michelin will, however, make some adjustments to take into account the track conditions during the race schedule, which sometimes brings that little dew that we get from time to time. So it was very good to have done this session before the GP because, with the drivers, they redefined the quality of the tires they were going to bring because they were perhaps a little too hard. We will therefore have suitable tires for the Grand Prix and, overall, everyone is happy with the tires after these tests. The only small thing is that since almost everyone wanted to ride with the same tires, there weren't a lot of them, but the ones we had at our disposal worked very, very well. And Pol was even able to do his best lap at the end of his race simulation, which had never happened to him. This is a new Michelin deal and it suits us very, very well. »
A quick word on the fins?
Hervé Poncharal: “It was brought by Yamaha even though we hadn't asked for it. We did few runs with it, and only with Bradley. That's good, that's good. It penalizes very slightly in top speed, of the order of 2 km/h in Qatar, but it is obvious that it puts pressure on the front. It makes the bike a little bit heavier from the front end, but the overall feeling was very positive. At least in Qatar and with Bradley. But yes, it's better, and we're waiting for definitive validation from Yamaha to know if we can have them at least throughout the weekend in Qatar. »
