A completely normal Saturday day in Mugello: good weather and a certain local icon, Valentino Rossi, took pole position, the 63rd of his career. We had to go back to 2008 to find Rossi in pole position on the Mugello track.
A fake coalition
However, the way in which he obtained this pole position is not to the taste of his rivals, starting with Jorge Lorenzo who sees this as more than just a coincidence, “My strategy during qualifying is always to ride alone as quickly as possible,” explains the Majorcan. “Others are more inventive. Between Viñales and Rossi, it’s hard to believe in a coincidence when it happens five or six times.”
The Mugello straight is over a kilometer long, 1.141m to be precise. If aspiration is an important phenomenon in Moto3, contributing up to half a second per lap, in MotoGP it is the same, particularly whena machine suffers at top speed and this is precisely the case with the Yamaha YZR-M1. In Q2, Rossi (340.3 km/h) and Lorenzo (340.4 km/h) conceded almost 10 km/h on the Ducati GP15 of Danilo Petrucci (349.4) and almost 12 km/h on the D16 GP of Iannone in FP4 .
“We decided to change the settings in FP4 to look for more stability, because the bike was quite nervous,” confides Lorenzo. “We will try to find something during the warm-up because I brake too early.” A problem which his teammate Red was suffering yesterday afternoon, “We're not there yet on the balance of the bike,” he explained.
Lorenzo thinks Rossi “copied” from Viñales. For Rossi, the answer is clear, “In the end, it’s true that he helped me. Anyway, I think today that Maverick must not be very happy that I was behind, because if I hadn't done that lap he would have gotten pole position.” (read the full conference)
For its part, Casa Particular in Viñales does not see a strategy prepared in advance, “I'm used to leaving the pitlane late during a session. Usually Valentino also comes out very late,” explains Viñales. “We finally dated. If I had anything to say it would be that I don’t want to have traffic in front and it usually works.” (read the full conference)
Was Rossi really in Viñales' aspiration? More at the end than at the start, showing that the Italian just needed to follow a “hare” to take pole, particularly in the last sector, “I lost a lot of time in the last two sections, which we have to work on on Saturday,” he confided on Friday. Certain images from Q2 tend to prove Lorenzo right…
Still, the two future teammates will meet on the front row tomorrow at Mugello. Maverick Viñales will be looking to get on the podium again and become the first Suzuki rider to do so at Mugello after Daryl Beattie in 1995.
Honda is still struggling
It is also the first time since the 2015 Catalan Grand Prix that there is neither Honda, nor Marc Marquez on the first row, “I would have liked to be on the front row, but the Ducati is way too fast on the stretches,” explains Marquez. “In the morning I felt pretty good, then the track temperature increased and our settings didn't work as well. Our bike is very sensitive to changes in track temperature.”
“However, we reacted by changing the settings and it worked quite well. It's a shame I made a small mistake on my last fast lap. I will try to have a good race tomorrow and get a podium. But it won’t be easy.”
To Dani Pedrosa also the race promises to be delicate, “We're still not perfect in our electronics settings yet,” explains Pedrosa, “We lose acceleration, we can't use all our torque otherwise we lose stability. The Ducati is more stable when accelerating and we also lose to the Yamaha and the Suzuki. It's less obvious than at Le Mans, but it's a fact. We still have to look for the best compromise.”
Zarco must shine
In the rhythm from the first session on Friday, Johann Zarco showed that he had to be counted on this Sunday in the race. Author of the sixth time, he aims for victory, “Tonight I need to rest,” explains Zarco. “I want to be strong tomorrow when it’s important to start well.”
In this period of MotoGP negotiations, the reigning Champion needs to find the podium to return to the forefront of the market. Our information collected in the paddock this weekend sees Alex Rins joins the Suzuki team in place of Aleix Espargaro with a 4 year contract (?). Likewise, Pol Espargaro will remain at Tech3. Factory handlebars are rare: KTM (1 place) or Aprilia. On the LCR side, Lucio Cecchinello does not rule out a move to Suzuki, even if his priority remains Honda. Aspar also allegedly made Suzuki's request. Zarco's options are not yet hopeless, but the Frenchman must bounce back.
The French in mixed tone
In MotoGP, Loris Baz still suffers from dribbling problems. For the French, “it is simply impossible to drive calmly.”
“I'm tense on the bike and I have to catch the bike with my elbow to avoid falling. We need to find a solution, but I’m starting to despair, we’ve tried almost everything.”
Sunday morning, Baz will try to lower his GP14.2 to try to put himself on the same basis as his teammate who is much less handicapped by this problem.
In Moto3, the first French representative will occupy 18th place tomorrow. Fabio Quartararo sets the 18th time, “I didn’t want to take a vacuum,” he explains to us. “I feel good and there are no particular problems. I preferred to ride alone, first to avoid a penalty and then to work on my race pace.”
Alexis Masbou suffered from the same problem, “I found myself alone on my last fast lap. When you know that the aspiration brings half a second or more per lap... I feel good on the bike and everything is possible at Mugello. We will have to get off to a good start and hook the right group.”
Jules Danilo will start from 25th position: “Not a good day, but we’ll be back tomorrow.”
Tradition obliges, the races promise to be thrilling once again at Mugello.
Remember that the MotoGP pole sitter has won the last eight Grands Prix…
