Michael Scott | March 16, 2022
Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
The Wrong Honda—And Other Tales of the Desert Night
Everything was wrong at the opening round in Qatar. Or if not actually wrong, somehow inverted.
Yes, a Ducati won, as expected. But it was the wrong Ducati.
Yes, the all-new Honda came out of the crate fighting fit. But it was the wrong Honda.
Yes, KTM arrived down in the mouth, at a track where they have always struggled and came close to victory.
And yes, the Suzukis showed themselves massively improved, topping the speed charts and first free practice. But come the race and they, once again, left their riders needing superhuman efforts for relatively down-beat results.
What was the biggest surprise?
Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaro on the Qatar podium. A sign of things to come?
Not that sophomore Enea Bastianini won, for he had already shown a depth of talent in his rookie 2021 season—in particular an ability to save tires and go fast in the closing laps, when it matters most. Both his podiums were achieved in this way. The difference this time was that he had qualified on the front row, thanks to a newer Ducati. But still second-hand. He, like rookie Bezzecchi, is on last year’s Desmosedici, the well-developed masterpiece which won seven of 18 races in the hands of Bagnaia, Miller and Martin.
The surprise was the new model, the GP22. It seems Ducati, the paragons of progress, have taken a rare misstep, and the results showed it. Miller’s bike broke down from the start, while Bagnaia and Martin crashed into each other while struggling at the wrong end of the top ten. Already the riders had been describing throttle-response problems and a search for engine revisions, while the usual top-speed superiority just wasn’t there.
Over at Honda, big smiles that the new bike, engine revised for sweeter responses, chassis reworked for a rider-friendly rear-biased weight distribution, was successful out of the crate. This had already become clear at pre-season tests. The big H had got its mojo back after some bad years. (MojoGP?)
But in making the RC213V easier to ride, had they undermined their greatest asset?
It wasn’t Marc Marquez up front but Pol Espargaro, who led much of the race. He was still a strong third at the flag after his softer tire choice had left him struggling. Marc was off the boil, revealed (as he said himself) because he had only fallen off once in practice, well below his usual tally. He was still “getting used to” the feel of the new bike—this genius rider who in the past could win on pretty much anything. “Getting used to it?” Eh? And when he got passed repeatedly, dropping from second to fifth by the end, he didn’t even try to fight back. Most unlike him, especially considering his final assailant was Aleix Espargaro on the impressively competitive Aprilia.
The surprise was the new model, the GP22. It seems Ducati, the paragons of progress, have taken a rare misstep, and the results showed it.
This was another surprise. Not that the new bike and its seasoned rider Aleix were quick, since they had been so at tests, but that they remained quick all through to the end of the race. Again, there was a touch of the wrong-rider syndrome. Aleix, at 32 the second-oldest rider (Andrea Dovizioso is 35), doesn’t have the status of new teammate Maverick Vinales, but the new boy is still adapting his style.
Talking of new boys, the rookies had some fun with one another. Darryn Binder, up from Moto3, almost grabbed the last point, only to be denied in the last laps by Remy Gardner, by one hundredth of a second. The other two survivors Di Giannantonio and Fernandez (Bezzecchi had crashed out) were within a few feet, all four over the line in just over a second.
Maybe the least surprising aspect was the Yamaha slump, underlined by defending champ Quartararo’s resigned half-smile when he took his helmet off in the pit after the race. You can be sure the smile had disappeared when the cameras turned away.
He had to ride like a maniac from a dismal 11th on the grid (only off the front row five times last season) to finish a mere ninth, and that only after he’d been promoted when Bagnaia and Martin fell off front of him. He was still best Yamaha: new factory teammate Morbidelli was six seconds and two places behind him. Dovizioso gleaned just two points.
Tests had already shown that his hearty pleas for more speed at the end of last year have not been met. The Yamahas were at the bottom of the list at Qatar, still some six mph down. Meanwhile, the compensatory advantage of high corner speed has been eroded, with other bikes (notably Honda and the lithe Aprilia) having closed the gap.
Contract-time looms, and with engine development frozen, Yamaha, already bereft of Rossi and Vinales, has its work cut out trying to find something to keep their greatest asset on board.
Especially with Aprilia looking so tempting. CN
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