If we can of course only deplore the presence of the coronavirus and the absence of Marc Márquez, this atypical 2020 MotoGP season nevertheless presents interesting characteristics, starting for example with a championship that is more open than ever.
During the Teruel Grand Prix, our traditional study of curves didn't teach us much other than what the race had already shown, so we took the opportunity to focus on another particularity of this championship, namely the consecutive races on the same route.
This year, four circuits have hosted them, Jerez, Red Bull Ring, Misano and Motorland Aragón, before Valencia does the same in a week.
To what extent do drivers take advantage of this opportunity to improve their performance from one week to the next? This is what we wanted to know during the last Grand Prix, and the results are not uninteresting…
But first, let’s put things in context. The Aragón Grand Prix took place with temperatures of 21° in the air and 31° on the ground, for a total duration of 41 minutes and 54 seconds. The Teruel Grand Prix took place with temperatures of 20° in the air and 27° on the ground, for a total duration of 41 minutes and 47 seconds.
The conditions were therefore similar and seven seconds were gained over 23 laps, which represents an average of 3 tenths per lap. And this is probably not a coincidence, since it is also roughly the average of the improvements in the best laps in the race achieved by the drivers represented on our graph.
However, on this one, we see that the results can be quite disparate, between Bradley Smith et Miguel Oliveira which turned out to be 8 tenths faster at “Aragón-2” than at “Aragón-1”, and the duo Fabio Quartararo–Francesco Bagnaia who, on the contrary, drove quite significantly slower during the Teruel Grand Prix than during the Aragón Grand Prix!
Obviously, each particular case has its explanation, both in one direction or the other. So, Fabio Quartararo had admitted to having benefited from three perfect first laps during the Aragón Grand Prix, and his best lap was achieved on the third pass before his bike became undriveable.
The following week, the Yamaha rider worked more towards race pace, which may explain his poorer best lap but a better final position on the finish line. However, the situation hardly appears satisfactory, compared to the improvements of all his opponents and to the great displeasure of the Frenchman!
To Francis Bagnaia, we will recall that he only did two laps during the Aragón Grand Prix and five during the Teruel Grand Prix…
Conversely, and even if starting from afar progress is necessarily easier, it seems that we have worked particularly well at ApriliaAmong KTM, at the house of Johann zarco… But also at Franco Morbidelli. A mystery that the technicians from Iwata and Borgo Panigale will have to elucidate as quickly as possible...
