Michael Scott | October 5, 2018
2018 Thailand MotoGP Friday News
Lorenzo and Marquez Still at Odds
Future team-mates Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez remained at odds over the former’s crash at Aragon, with Lorenzo still blaming his younger compatriot, and Marquez still denying responsibility.
Lorenzo made the accusation directly after the race, citing an overly aggressive block-pass by Marquez for forcing him wide and onto the dirty part of the track, so that when he opened the throttle the bike sent sideways and high-sided him. He landed heavily, suffering a dislocated big toe and a fractured second metatarsal.
Marc, he said, had caused the crash, ruined his race, and left him injured.
It emerged in Thailand that Marquez had telephoned Lorenzo on the next day, but what Lorenzo described as “a private conversation” went no way towards changing his mind.
As for Marquez: “I telephoned because I care about my future team-mate. But he has his opinion, and I have mine.” He declined to elucidate.
Torres Stays
Jordi Torres is to stay with the Reale Avintia Ducati team at least for the four flyaway rounds, and possibly to the end of the season, after Silverstone injury victim Tito Rabat’s hopes of an early return were perforce put on hold.
Rabat suffered a triple broken leg in a multiple pile-up before the doomed British GP in free practice.
The Spanish team’s first replacement rider, French GP novice Christophe Ponsson, caused great controversy and eventually a change of the rules when he was put on the bike as a MotoGP beginner at the San Marino GP at Misano. In response to the outcry, the team put former Moto2 race winner Jordi Torres on the bike at Aragon, where he finished 20th and last … but at least was not lapped.
The rule change decreed that replacement riders must be passed by the same Selection Committee that approves of regular riders, and regular World Superbike competitor Torres clearly made the cut.
Not only was he back at Buriram, but he had terminated his Superbike contract with MV Agusta, because the upcoming Australian GP will clash with Superbike’s Qatar round.
Torres did bring something special to the team … he is the only rider in MotoGP with actual racing experience on the Chang circuit, having taken part in four Superbike meetings there.
Pol Back
Pol Espargaro was back in the saddle in Thailand, less than two weeks after breaking his collarbone in free practice at Aragon. This was a repeat of the injury sustained on race morning in Brno, where he decided upon natural healing for the fracture, largely because he was already suffering major complications from a painful spinal injury.
This time, he elected to have the fracture plated and pinned, and he hoped to be strong enough to complete the Thai GP weekend.
His return was particularly welcomed by his Red Bull KTM team, currently testing solutions for next year’s bike. Current team-mate Bradley Smith will by then be working for Aprilia as a test rider; while new factory KTM teamster Johann Zarco will not be able to try the bike until tests after the year-ending Valencia GP.
Yamaha’s Non-Wing Wing
Yamaha debuted a late-season aero-body update at Buriram, with a “not-wing” front biplane loop that exploits the lax interpretation of the “no-wing” rules in a way to rival even Ducati.
The attachment was fitted at first only to Rossi’s bike, with the same bodywork available to Vinales should it prove advantageous.
The Chang circuit puts a premium on anti-wheelie techniques in the same way as the Austrian Red Bull Ring, with three long straights preceded by low-gear corners, and a fourth straight with a similar approach.
Special Tires for Chang Circuit
The track’s kinship with the Austrian GP venue was such that Michelin pulled out the Red Bull Ring rear tyre design for the Thai race as well.
Tyre chief Piero Taramasso explained that after experiencing very high tyre temperatures at the pre-season test, the French company had produced a special Thai tyre.
“It uses the same harder-construction carcase as in Austria, and the compounds are slightly different also from the test,” he said.
Because of the difficult conditions, the usual allocation of three different types of rear tyre had been expanded to four, complicating the task of riders and engineers to assess all the possible rubber combinations in the limited time available in practice and qualifying.
Suzuki Reaches a Goal
When Ecstar Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone finished on the podium at Aragon – his third of the year – it spelled a welcome end to the Japanese factory’s special status as a concession team.
Added to team-mate Alex Rins’s two podium finishes this year, it means that the same restrictions – a freeze on engine development, restricted engine numbers (from nine to seven) and a ban on extra-curricular testing – will apply to Suzuki as to the other main factory teams: Honda, Yamaha and Ducati.
Team boss Davide Brivio welcomed the new situation.
“It was our target,” he said. “We were hoping we could get back to good competitiveness. We want to fight with the same conditions as everybody else.”
It meant they had to be sure to get their engine design right before the start of the season, he continued; but added that the loss of the right to unrestricted testing with factory riders was less of a burden, since “with the current schedule there is very little time to test anyway.”
Suzuki had already lost the concessions after Maverick Vinales’s successes in 2016; but a mis-step in engine design led to dire results in 2017, and the other manufacturers voted to return their concessions for 2018.
For 2019, only KTM and Aprilia will be classed as Concession Teams.
Contract News
Czech Republic GP winner Fabio Di Giannantonio has solved his difficulties with the Gresini team, with whom he was signed up for another year in Moto3. The Italian wanted to move to Moto2, and though team owner Fausto Gresini said he had offered him such a berth, they could not reach agreement, and lawyers had been called in.
Now the situation has been amicably resolved, and Di Giannantonio is off to join the Speed Up team for 2019.
The same team has dispensed with the services of 2015 Moto3 champion Danny Kent, after a dismal season with eight race crashes and just two points-scoring finishes for the Briton, while team-mate Fabio Quartararo counted one win and one second place among 11 finishes in the points.
He has been replaced for the rest of the season by Spaniard Edgar Pons.
Canet Out
Aron Canet was out of the Thai GP after a post-race medical scan at Aragon found that the EG-Galicia Honda Moto3 star was suffering from a double fracture in his left scapula.
This was sustained in the multi-bike pile-up early in the Misano GP; and while it had been thought that Canet had escaped serious injury, worsening pain at Aragon caused him to pull out of the race, and triggered further investigation.
Carrasco Reaction
MotoGP riders welcomed the historic achievement of Ana Carrasco, who became the first woman to win an FIM solo World Championship at the World Superbike round in France last weekend.
The former Moto3 points scorer won the World Supersport 300 championship, riding a Kawasaki.
Marquez pronounced himself pleased because it proved that “women can be very fast on a bike because it is not only physical, it is about skill. And because she is Spanish.”
Rossi described it as “a great achievement, because it is not just one race. I hope it is good for her career, so she can get good opportunities, and push other girls to race.”
But he concurred with other riders when asked if it suggested she might have a future as the first female MotoGP rider.
“MotoGP is a long way from a 300 … for a woman, or for a man.”
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