Cycle News In The Paddock
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The Rookies’ Razor Edge
A rookie’s lot, to bowdlerize Gilbert and Sullivan, is not a happy one. Not as a rule, anyway, though there have been notable exceptions. Marc Marquez, for one, who romped to the title with six wins at his first attempt in 2013.
Last year was a major downer for at least one of a heralded bumper crop of Moto2 graduates—Remy Gardner lasted just one season before falling off the back of the bus, from championship winner to reject, without ever having done very much wrong.
Remy, six times a Moto2 GP winner, had a best premier-class finish of 11th at Catalunya, two seconds outside short of the top 10. And, while this was a long way short of the best of the five rookies, Marco Bezzecchi with a podium at Assen, it compared perfectly well with the other four. Fabio Di Giannantonio did manage a single top 10 to finish three places higher overall. But Remy’s Tech3 KTM teammate (and defeated Moto2 rival) Raul Fernandez was just one point ahead at the end of his own first MotoGP season, boasting only a pair of 12th places, and Yamaha-mounted Darren Binder one point behind.
Binder, an unexpected promotion direct from Moto3, was also dropped from the class, but for him it was back to Moto2. He at least remains in the paddock and on display, for a second chance to prove his worth.
Remy, son of the redoubtable 1987 500cc Champion Wayne, was forced to seek employment on a non-factory World Superbike team. Which is uncomfortably far from the status a former Moto2 Champion might expect, and unpleasantly out of the grand prix loop into the bargain.
Unfair? Well, obviously yes. But who said it had to be fair? More to the point, it’s another example of narrow margins in racing. On track, a matter of mere 10ths can make all the difference, in crucial qualifying and even race positions. In bike engineering likewise. There wasn’t an awful lot wrong, for example, with last year’s factory Honda, but an accumulation of relatively minor weaknesses meant that it didn’t win a single race.
The same razor’s edge can apply to a career.
Bezzecchi was retained by the Rossi-owned Ducati team for another attempt. Much is expected of the maestro’s young protégé, one of a select group led by defending champion Bagnaia. Di Giannantonio stays on too, at the Gresini Ducati team, alongside younger brother Alex Marquez. Both, if they don’t deliver strong results, find themselves on somewhat shaky ground.
The same applies to Raul, also dropped by KTM but picked up by Aprilia for their new satellite squad.
Applying the same harsh rule that left Gardner out in the cold, it might be thought that Bezzecchi is the only one of the five who truly merited a second chance. His debut season included a pole position and four top-five finishes, and he easily won the unofficial Rookie of the Year title.
For 2023, that prize is already allocated.
Even if he doesn’t score a single point, Augusto Fernandez will be the best rookie, for he is the only one. And since he is following directly in Gardner’s footsteps—Moto2 Champion taken into the KTM (now GasGas) Tech3 satellite squad—he would be well advised to feel some trepidation. It is not necessarily a very secure position.
So far, the second Fernandez in the class (no relation, if you need reminding) has performed creditably enough, setting respectable if not blazingly fast times at the Sepang shakedown test that kicked action off for 2023, up among the faster test riders (full-timers other than rookies aren’t allowed at these pre-test tests). As importantly, he didn’t fall off, even in tricky conditions at the long and complex Sepang circuit.
The real acid test, for him and everybody else, run at the same circuit from February 10-12, with a full complement of full-time riders, all with plenty to prove. Final results of this first trial will be available elsewhere. From the first day, the times (with Bezzecchi fastest) were suggestive but left many questions.
Will the Yamaha have gained enough speed to give Quartararo what he needs? Unofficial speed-trap times from the shake-down tests were promising, first-day times (11th-fastest) less so.
Will Honda’s new (ex-Suzuki) technical boss Ken Kawauchi have had enough time to iron out the balance and traction problems that have bedeviled its riders for three seasons?
Will Ducati’s aerodynamic tickles be enough to preserve its superiority? Or will there be a rare misstep from engineering genius Gigi Dall’Igna?
Will Aprilia be able to sustain 2022’s great leap forward? With Vinales second, years’ experience could prove valuable.
Will KTM have found the key to consistency?
And will the season’s only rookie get the shock of his life? CN
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