Michael Scott | June 1, 2018
2018 MotoGP News Friday from Mugello
Fast Crash for Pirro
Marquez has a rival for the “fastest-ever” MotoGP crash, after Ducati test rider Michele Pirro (31) had a terrifying up-and-over at the same place, the end of Mugello’s notoriously rapid straight.
The fastest spot of the season is not actually quite straight, and more dauntingly runs over a blind brow at its end, where the front wheel lifts. As it lands, riders have to hit the brakes to drop from around 350 km/h to around 90 for the first corner.
Wild card Pirro, vastly experienced at Ducati’s test circuit, had led much of the morning session, ending up a close second. In the afternoon, running fast on his sixth timed lap, Pirro wobbled on landing, grabbed the brake, and locked the front at close to top speed.
The bike nose-dived and he was flung high, far and fast over the handlebars. He was knocked out by the impact, but had regained consciousness by the time he was taken away by ambulance. Later the 31-year-old was taken to hospital for a precautionary CT scan because of being knocked out, but he had escaped any injury worse than a dislocated shoulder, that was immediately relocated.
Marquez crashed in the same place in 2013, measured at 337 km/h, and for a similar reason – though he bailed off the bike rather than getting thrown, and was back to race on Sunday.
Mir to Suzuki MotoGP?
The rumour mill was revving to the red line at Mugello – but while official confirmation was not forthcoming, it was common cause that the main one was true … that Moto3 World Champion Joan Mir will move straight to MotoGP next year.
Mir, who claimed a first Moto2 podium at Le Mans last year, is expected to join the Ecstar Suzuki team alongside Alex Rins. If so, he will be following the trail set by a third Spaniard, Maverick Vinales, who won the Moto3 crown, spent a race-winning 2014 in Moto2, then moved to Suzuki.
Both rider and Suzuki team chief Davide Brivio declined to confirm the move, but without naming the rider the latter came close, telling media: “We are working on finalising an agreement. We need a little bit more time.” An announcement would probably follow at the next race, in two weeks, in Catalunya.
Current Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone meantime did announce on race eve that he would not be with Suzuki next year.
Lorenzo and Yamaha May Reunite
Less certainty attends the other major rumour: that Jorge Lorenzo is set to rejoin Yamaha.
It has become increasingly obvious that his big-bucks switch to Ducati has foundered in its second year, with neither team nor rider satisfied with progress.
Now Lorenzo told pressmen that “I will not retire, and I will have a competitive bike for the next two years.”
With the Suzuki seat gone to Mir, neither KTM nor Aprilia would be suitable candidates for the triple MotoGP champion; while after losing Zarco Yamaha would surely be glad to have him back.
Sepang CEO Dato Razlan Razali May Run Yamaha’s Satellite Squad
Lorenzo’s chances with Yamaha face one difficulty. There is currently no place on the factory, and no confirmed satellite team either.
Plans to replace Tech3 (going to KTM) ran into problems with the ongoing implosion of the Marc VDS squad.
But at Mugello a new candidate has emerged … with a possible Petronas-backed bid by the Sepang International Circuit, who already run SIC teams in Motos 2 and 3. Sepang CEO Dato Razlan Razali was at the Italian circuit, and while he was tight-lipped on Friday, the omens were good.
Yamaha and Suzuki had both been in talks with the Marc VDS team before the Belgian squad ran into major financial scandal, with manager Michael Bartolemy leaving midway through the last race weekend amid escalating accusations of fraud and embezzlement that have yet to be resolved.
Team owner Marc van der Straten has pledged to see out the contract until 2021; and the Belgian brewing billionaire has recruited former JiR team chief Luca Montiron to take the reins. Rookies Franco Morbidelli and Tom Luthi are racing on in MotoGP; and Alex Marquez and Joan Mir in Moto2.
Yamaha Racing chief Lin Jarvis told Dorna’s TV interviewer: “We are still waiting to have resolution of the VDS team to understand what is going on.”
While they had “every intention of continuing, we are still waiting to hear their plan, or whether there is another alternative.”
Who Will Race Factory Ducati in 2019?
Other who-goes-where speculation centred on the two Alma Pramac Ducati riders Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller – one of whom is in line to take over the factory bike vacated next year by Lorenzo.
Most expect Petrucci to get the hot seat, given his general run of strong results – and that it will not make much difference to Miller, who has been promised the latest factory GP19 whichever team he joins.
It affects the colour of his leathers and the size of his fee, with Miller saying: “Two years ago I never thought I’d be in this position.”
He had matured from his crash-happy past, he thought – a notion backed by strong results. Currently he lies sixth overall, one place behind Petrucci, after claiming top ten finishes in the last eight races, topped by fourth at Le Mans a fortnight ago, his best ever in the dry.
“I don’t think I’ve every finished eight races in a row before,” he said.
“There’s a lot more stress in a factory team, but it would be a dream come true,” he said. His management was in talks with Ducati, but “we are playing the waiting game.”
New Ergonomics for Lorenzo’s Ducati
New bits in pit lane included a slippery slim-line seat unit on the factory Repsol Hondas, and a grippy fuel tank extender on Lorenzo’s Ducati.
The latter, made of foam and covered in little nubbins, is meant to address his complaints of poor ergonomics on the 2018 Desmosedici, and a lack of support under braking that causes debilitating fatigue.