Michael Scott | November 12, 2016
The new KTM was a focus of attention at Valencia. (Gold & Goose Photo)
The Numbers Game
Has the “retiring” of racing numbers gone out of control? This was a common view at Valencia, after news on the eve of the meeting that Loris Capirossi’s erstwhile “65” was henceforth to be retired from all three classes.
This was a surprise to Moto3 rider Philipp Oettl, who raced with 65 all season and at Valencia; and apparently also to other sections of officialdom, who on the same day released next year’s entry lists, with Oettl again entered under that number.
It turned out to be something of a storm in a teacup, or at least a slip of the tongue, but Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta. The retirement was only from the premier class; and (confusingly) the number had already been retired, forcing Stefan Bradl to go from “65” to “6” when he moved up from Moto2.
Capirossi became the youngest-ever World Champion when he won the 125 title in his debut title at the age of 17 in 1990. He added one more 125 crown, and a controversial 250 title, after a collision with team-mate and points leader Tetsuya Harada put the Japanese Aprilia rider out of the final race in Argentina. He went on to win nine premier-class races between 1996 and 2007, riding for Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and Suzuki; with his best championship position fourth in 2003, with Ducati.
After retirement he became Dorna’s safety officer, a position he still holds.
This is the second number to be retired this year, after Marco Simoncelli’s “58” was removed from the MotoGP class at the Misano round.
The practice began in 1995, when Kevin Schwantz quit mid-season, and number “34” was frozen on the spot.
New Powerplants in Moto2?
A new engine for Moto2 could be revealed in a matter of weeks, according to Dorna chief Carmelo Ezpeleta, “and I think it will be a good surprise”.
Negotiations were almost complete, he said. “Unless there are any problems, you will have news quite soon.”
The brief for the replacement engine has been open since the search began last year – with not even two-strokes ruled out; but until now there has been no hint of a solution.
Honda has supplied mildly modified CBR600 engines from the inception of Moto2 in 2010, with actual maintenance and delivery handled from within Dorna’s empire for the last few years – but the contract runs its course at the end of 2018.
To critics, the use of a production engine, and more especially a road gearbox with fixed ratios, has been the biggest weakness of the orphan Moto2 class. To fans, however, the potential for close racing is a plus (not always realised); while team managers enjoy the lower costs of the humble engineering.
Racing insiders would prefer a logical mid-point between the full race engines of Moto3 and MotoGP, both operating within a maximum bore of 81 mm, and the 250cc single cylinders of Moto3 effectively a quarter of a four-cylinder MotoGP motor.
Ideally Moto2 would field 500cc twins, but unless a manufacturer steps forward with an offer to build such a racing motor, the class is more likely to be condemned again to production power.
At the start of the class, KTM offered to supply engines but were declined. This time round, sources close to the Austrian factory repudiated suggestions that they might be the new supplier.
Biaggi Back
Max Biaggi was back in the paddock at Valencia, to announce his return as a team manager, hand in hand with Indian constructor Mahindra.
The new role will not, however, be at GP level … yet. “We plan to develop the riders and team to World Championship level in 2018,” said Biaggi.
The former four-times 250 and double World Superbike champion has invested his own money in the project, he told journalists, with the same aim as his old rival Rossi, “to develop Italian talent”, but at a much smaller scale.
Max and Mahindra Racing are starting in the Italian CIV Moto3 championship, with teenage riders Alessandro Del Bianco and Davide Baldini, with occasional entries also in the Spanish CEV series, the so-called “Junior World Championship”.
Said Biaggi: “This is not a competition with the VR46 Academy. We are not focused on big things, but two riders, two chances, two possibilities.”
Hopes for the national title were boosted by plans for regular tests, not normally within the budget of national teams.
Mahindra Racing’s technical base is outside Varese in Italy, with several staff members from Aprilia, for whom Biaggi won both 250 and Superbike titles. “They are people I know, and we talk the same language,” he said.
New Honda Anticipated this Week
The paddock was awaiting tests on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the final GP of the year, to hear the 2017 Honda engine.
At tests in Misano earlier this year, the factory riders had exercised a bike with a much gruffer exhaust note than the current musical sound of the 90-degree V4 RCV engine.
Crankshaft rotation was reversed for this year, to spin “backwards” compared with the wheels. But any inertial or gyroscopic advantages seemed outweighed by an overly feisty throttle response, spoiling acceleration as well as corner entry.
A switch to closer firing intervals – the so-called “long bang” used by Ducati – would be aimed at improving this aspect. It would also bring Honda more into line with Yamaha and Suzuki, both turning their in-line fours into virtual V4s with a 90-degree cross-plane crankshaft design.
Michelin’s State of the Union
Michelin technical chief Nicolas Goubert pledged to continue the rate of response to their problems that had been a source of pride in the French company’s return to the premier class after seven years away.
As well as new lap and race records, said Goubert, the company had shown an ability to react quickly to problems, such as the disintegration of Redding’s rear tyre in practice in Argentina. The race was split in two with a compulsory bike-change pit stop as a result.
“We realised that our rear tyres were not robust enough but we reacted really quickly.” Within a week a new construction rear was available for the next round in Texas.
Then in Jerez, where the new-construction rear suffered major wheelspin problems, “we realised how the robust construction hurt tyre performance. From the next race on we made other steps, and throughout the summer we had positive results.
“All in all, we learned a lot,” he said.
For the first year, we knew it would be crucial to react quickly,” he said. For 2017, the resources would be the same, if any other major changes were required at short order. “You have to be prepared for the unexpected,” he said.
In spite of complaints of a rash of front-end crashes, in fact statistics compared with Bridgestone last season showed little difference: “In the first 16 races, in 2015 there were 69 race crashes and in 2016 70,” said Goubert.
Intermediate tyres made a return in 2016, at the request of Dorna, to avoid empty tracks in practice, but Goubert was not sure if they would be available next year. “We found that riders could use our medium rain tyres on a dry track, and in fact there were some times when we had riders out on track using slick, intermediate and rain tyres at the same time. “I will not say there won’t be intermediates, but maybe there is no need,” he said.
Front-End Feel
Michelin’s response to criticism of their front tyre – dubbed unforgiving and with poor feel by riders – came in the form of a new design, already tested after Brno, and available to riders as a fourth front option at Valencia.
While early response had been good, this time it was lukewarm, with riders saying there was little difference compared with the earlier tyre.
Manzi’s Future
Stefano Manzi, the Moto3 wild card sensation of the British GP, will join Pecco Bagnaia in Rossi’s new SKY VR46 Moto2 next year.
Manzi, fourth at Silverstone, was signed up on the eve of the Valencia GP.
The spot had been earmarked for Romano Fenati, before the Italian star was sacked after major fall-out with Rossi’s Moto3 team at the Austrian GP.
Fenati was meantime confirmed as returning to Moto3 next year, riding an Ongetta Rivacold Honda.
KTM’s Debut
KTM’s first full public appearance with its 2017 rivals was promising, but not sensational – with test rider Mika Kallio moving up from last place in the early sessions to qualify 20th, ahead of both Tito Rabat’s Honda and Yonny Hernandez on the Aspar Ducati.
The Finnish former full-time racer had carved almost two seconds off his lap time from the first free practice, but remained some 2.5 seconds off Lorenzo’s pole time.
“You always have your eye on the lap record,” smiled race director Pit Beirer. “But these other guys keep going faster.”
The V4 engine is currently in the same “screamer” format as the one Honda are expected to abandon, and is the only version currently available, said Beirer. “But we can make different configurations for the firing intervals. Nothing is finalised,” he said.
“But at the moment we are working more on the chassis.”
Uniquely, the KTM uses a steel tube chassis, and Kallio was complaining about a lack of rear grip into the corners, leading to wheelspin on the exit.
Laverty Could Be Back in MotoGP
Eugene Laverty’s departure from MotoGP to World Superbikes might not mean we never see the Ulsterman in MotoGP again.
After an impressively consistent season, Laverty quit the Aspar team after learning that new signing Alvaro Bautista would get the single factory Ducati next year, and he would again be stuck with a hand-me-down.
His new employers are Aprilia, and racing chief Romano Albesiano revealed at Valencia that “we agreed with him to have a (MotoGP) testing contract, and to be first choice as reserve rider.”
Satellite Team for Suzuki?
Will Suzuki join the major factories with a satellite team in the future? Possibly in 2018, said team manager Davide Brivio. “But it will be very difficult.
“Suzuki has never had any experience with satellite team, and the resources are focused on the factory team. But we hope for 2018 it will be possible.”
A Case of Good Electronics
The new rules – especially the levelling of the electronics – have been positive for the sport and the championship, all the major manufacturers agreed at a special joint conference at Valencia, where Honda, Yamaha and Ducati were joined by Suzuki and Aprilia.
“We are one of the manufacturers who took the benefit,” said Suzuki’s Davide Brivio. “Also with the change of tyres, we were at less disadvantage than before, because nobody had any experience with the Michelins.”
The rules had opened the way for there to be six manufacturers, including from 2017 also KTM. But while this was good for the sport and the spectators, said Yamaha’s Lin Jarvis, there was a disadvantage for satellite teams.
“In general, it pumps up the price of riders. There were six factory seats, and now there are 12. This makes it hard for satellite teams to capture and keep top talent.”
A Porcupine on the Track
Vintage fans were in for a treat on race day at Valencia, when 25 years of Dorna were to be celebrated with a joint lap between the first title-winning motorcycle and the most recent.
Multi-trials champion and museum owner Sammy Miller had brought an AJS Porcupine, the bike on which 1949 World Champion Les Graham won the first 500cc champion; and would ride it along with Marquez on the RC213V.
The Porcupine, so nicknamed because of the spiky design of the cooling fins on the cylinder head, was a parallel twin with a near-horizontal cylinder, originally designed to be supercharged, before blowing was banned before the 1949 season.
Qualifying News
Jorge Lorenzo seized control in his last qualifying session as a factory Movistar Yamaha rider, with a series of ever-faster laps that lowered the lap record by tenths every time.
He was one of several riders to take advantage of the short track and quick lap time, making three exits, with a fresh tyre each time.
“Everything I tried was perfect – the track was warm and the grip good. It was one of those days, and I was inspired.”
His final time of 1’29.401 was better than six tenths faster than his pole from last year; a race in which he narrowly beat Marquez.
Marquez pushed hard and was the only other rider to crash the 1’30 barrier, but came up 0.34 of a second short. He’d bounced back from a fall in FP4, where he’d jumped to his feet and given the tyre barrier a mighty kick. “I was angry because it was my better bike – there is always one that feels a little better, and I wouldn’t be able to use it for qualifying. But I will race that bike tomorrow,” the Repsol Honda rider said, adding: “The Yamahas are always fast here for one lap, but my rhythm is good.”
Rossi slotted into third in a hectic qualifying session, in bright sunshine, after lagging somewhat in practice. He was worried about Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) and Sepang winner Dovizioso (Ducati), heading row two just behind him. “I will try for the podium but it will be difficult,” he said.
Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha) finished the row; returned injury victims Andrea Iannone (Ducati) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) led the third from Alexi Espargaro (Ecstar Suzuki). Then Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati), the latter two through from Q1, and Crutchlow crashed in Q2.
New champion Johan Zarco (Ajo Kalex) hung on to pole by six thousandths of a second from a furious attack by Tom Luthi (CarXpert Kalex), with Franco Morbidelli (EG-VDS Kalex) less than five hundredths behind.
Two-tenths away, Pasini led row two from Rins and Simon.
Moto3 was a major lottery, won at the last gasp by locally born rookie Aron Canet (EG Honda), by less than two hundredths from champion Brad Binder. Hiro Ono (Honda) completed the front row.
It was a bit down to luck, with the top ten within just over just over three tenths, and 27 riders within a tenth of pole.