As we systematically do in winter, we took advantage of this long, very long, summer break to ask a certain number of speakers from the MotoGP paddock to take stock of this first half-season of 2021.
To all lord all honor, it is Hervé Poncharal, both president of IRTA and co-owner of the Tech3 team, which inaugurates this summer series.
Hervé, can you give us an assessment of this first half-season, both in general but also with regard to the Tech3 team in particular?
Hervé Poncharal : " I think that following a 2020 season which was incredibly competitive, with many twists and turns and a multitude of winners, whether riders or motorcycles, we continue more or less on the same momentum. I think this year is exciting, with an extremely homogeneous grid in terms of technique. We see that the Ducati are much better than last year and have somewhat made up for the handicap they suffered, that the Yamaha, especially when they are in the hands of a certain Fabio Quartararo, are outperforming, that the Suzuki have made a few podiums even if they have not won a race, that the KTM have already won two races after a somewhat mixed start to the season and Miguel Oliveira is one of the strong men at the end of the first part of the season, that the Hondas, with Marc Márquez who has regained a certain semblance of physical form, have already won a race, and that the Aprilias are making sparks and even a front row.
Perhaps even more than last year, so again this year we have a really interesting technical homogeneity, and we also find this at the level of the drivers, with (Maverick) Viñales, Fabio (Quartararo), Miguel (Oliveira) and ( Jack) Miller who have already won a race. But in terms of drivers, even if it is very close and very homogeneous, there is still one who stands out as being the boss, really, whether it is in the way he dominates the tests and in particular the qualifying, where the view he has in the race: He is fast but he is also intelligent, composed, thoughtful, he has strategy, he builds his weekend like a boss, and I think that today we can say that it He's the boss. What Fabio is doing is magnificent! In addition, he must have been disturbed but that did not destabilize him when he had his arm problem in Jerez even though he had won the race: He gritted his teeth to finish thirteenth and did not make any progress. error. Then there was this famous combination story in Barcelona where he was certainly in a position to get on the podium and score big points. Each time, that's when you see that he is really in good spirits and that he has confidence in himself: He reacted like a great champion, without panicking and without the pressure disturbing him excessively. And then, congratulations also to his performance at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, because, until now, the Yamaha has never been the best in the rain and Fabio had ridden little in these conditions so it was a small a little more unknown for him than for the other drivers, but he had a magnificent French Grand Prix in the rain! So I think that we have the championship which is very open but despite everything there is one who is stronger than the others, who manages and who dominates, and we are very very proud of it because, obviously everyone I love the French even more, and for a French person to see what Fabio does is magnificent.
There is also Johann (Zarco) who is number two behind Fabio in the rankings. He is better Ducati and he also races superbly with few mistakes. He's always there on Sunday!
So yes, generally speaking it's a very good start to the season for MotoGP with a competitive grid and machines today very close to each other. The Aprilias have taken a big step forward, and obviously I am very, very happy to see that even if the start of the season was a little complicated, the KTMs have largely made up for it. When you look at Miguel, 2 at Mugello, 1 at Barcelona, 2 at Sachsenring and 5 at Assen, I wouldn't want to say anything stupid but he is perhaps the one who has scored the most points in the last four races! »
And for Tech3?
« Hard ! Honestly, hard! We knew that by losing Miguel we would lose a lot, but in the end we lost even more than we could imagine. At the moment it's not easy even if Danilo (Petrucci) and Iker (Lecuona) are charming boys. But we are all here to perform, we are all there to be in the top 5 or even make podiums, and today that is almost unattainable. At best, we had a good fifth place at Le Mans in weather conditions that suited Danilo well, but it's complicated, even if we saw that since Germany we got a little closer with the new chassis. But without his fall, Iker would have done at best 10 or 11 in Assen, and Danilo did 13. So even if we are closer, it is still far. We hope that our pilots will recharge their batteries a little during this summer break and that they will come back with a knife between their teeth, because their future is currently far from being mapped out. »
We still seemed to see that the officialization of Remy Gardner had given them a boost, even if Danilo Petrucci was unlucky by being pushed around several times...
« Yes, moreover when we were talking about the championship in general, I told you that the grid was excessively homogeneous, so our drivers are not left behind, but they are missing a little something to be able to be at the level of what Oliveira or even Binder. I think that the boost, that is to say the evolution and the reduction of the gap with the lead since Germany, and more due to the new chassis and some new engine tuning that we have received than being under pressure.
Because the drivers are always under pressure anyway! As long as they have not been confirmed, whether there are two places for two, or one for two, it's the same. Yes, they are under pressure, that's obvious, but it's funny because as much as the media and the paddock talk a lot about the few places that are free, with us the drivers don't talk about it too much: They work and they try to progress to perform, and we do not ask where we are regarding next year. Never ! Eventually, from time to time, their respective managers, but not the drivers at all. Yes, it's sure there's pressure, yes it's difficult to perform while telling yourself that you might be out next year, but then there are so many people who would like to being MotoGP riders that when you get to that level you know very well that there will be pressure.
You know very well that there are only 22 or 24 drivers on the grid and that these are the 24 best drivers in the world: The places are contested, the places are expensive, and that even today people say absolute icon of the Grands Prix that it no longer has its place there. I'm obviously thinking of Valentino even if for him it's different because he already has nine titles, but what I mean is that nothing is ever acquired, and the higher you go in the pyramid, whatever the environment. in which you evolve, MotoGP, dance, football or cinema, it is difficult to get to the top and once you are there, you know very well that you have to perform to stay. There are a whole bunch of starving young pilots who want to be the caliph instead of the caliph. Somehow, it is the lot of every driver to have to perform! »
