2022 MotoGP Discussion (No Links - Contains Spoilers!)
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Acosta won't be old enough for motogp next year. Unless he flops next year, he is destined for motogp in 2024.
I suspect it will be Agusto Fernandez at KTM (tech3 gasgas) and Oliveira at Aprilia. If by happenstance you see Oliviera at KTM, I would bet you see Celestino Vietti at Aprilia.
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BigEvilDoer
Well-known member
Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliviera to Aprilia. It’s official.
Priller
Well-known member
Probably true, but GPOne hasn't always been 100% accurate. Fernandez is a given, but I'll only be sure about Oliveira when either David Emmett or Simon Patterson reports it, or when it's announced.
Priller
Well-known member
Speedweek is reporting it, too. They're pretty reliable for KTM stuff. Seems pretty locked in.
If so, it's a heck of a coup for RNF and Aprilia. Going from a series of has-beens (yup, including Rossi) and having to give up their prized rider to the factory team and run a kid this year who just wasn't ready, they now have a multi race winner and one of the most impressive youngsters aboard. It'll be interesting to see if Aprilia can make the leap to supporting a satellite team, considering they weren't officially a factory team until this year. I hope to see them fighting at the front by mid-season next year...
If so, it's a heck of a coup for RNF and Aprilia. Going from a series of has-beens (yup, including Rossi) and having to give up their prized rider to the factory team and run a kid this year who just wasn't ready, they now have a multi race winner and one of the most impressive youngsters aboard. It'll be interesting to see if Aprilia can make the leap to supporting a satellite team, considering they weren't officially a factory team until this year. I hope to see them fighting at the front by mid-season next year...
It's official now,
Aprilia RNF confirm Oliveira and Fernandez for 2023
Razlan Razali - Founder and Team Principal WithU RNF MotoGP Team: “We are extremely excited to welcome Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernandez to the WithU RNF MotoGP Team from 2023. It has not been a simple process, but together with Aprilia we were very clear on the riders that we wanted. They are both young riders with a good combination of experience, coming from Miguel, and Raúl who I’m personally a fan of since he shocked the Moto2 category last year to become Vice Champion. To finally secure him, is fantastic. Both Aprilia and we believe in the talent of both riders, so we can’t wait for them to ride for us next season!”
Massimo Rivola - Aprilia Racing CEO: “Our satellite project with Team RNF is taking shape in the way we conceived it from the very beginning. We have succeeded in securing two extraordinary talents, two riders whom I greatly respect both from a human point of view and for their technical skills. Miguel has shown his talent in all categories, although he is still very young he has already accumulated a lot of experience, winning four races in MotoGP, sometimes with dominant performances. At his side will be Raul, a rider I make no secret of having sought out several times. I think he is one of the most crystal clear promises of recent years, what he did in Moto2 on his debut speaks volumes about his speed. We’ll have to be good at offering them both a technical package that will allow them to perform at their full potential. I would like to take this opportunity to thank KTM who, showing their great sportsmanship, have allowed Miguel and Raul to ride on our bikes immediately after the end of the 2022 Championship.”
Aprilia RNF confirm Oliveira and Fernandez for 2023
Razlan Razali - Founder and Team Principal WithU RNF MotoGP Team: “We are extremely excited to welcome Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernandez to the WithU RNF MotoGP Team from 2023. It has not been a simple process, but together with Aprilia we were very clear on the riders that we wanted. They are both young riders with a good combination of experience, coming from Miguel, and Raúl who I’m personally a fan of since he shocked the Moto2 category last year to become Vice Champion. To finally secure him, is fantastic. Both Aprilia and we believe in the talent of both riders, so we can’t wait for them to ride for us next season!”
Massimo Rivola - Aprilia Racing CEO: “Our satellite project with Team RNF is taking shape in the way we conceived it from the very beginning. We have succeeded in securing two extraordinary talents, two riders whom I greatly respect both from a human point of view and for their technical skills. Miguel has shown his talent in all categories, although he is still very young he has already accumulated a lot of experience, winning four races in MotoGP, sometimes with dominant performances. At his side will be Raul, a rider I make no secret of having sought out several times. I think he is one of the most crystal clear promises of recent years, what he did in Moto2 on his debut speaks volumes about his speed. We’ll have to be good at offering them both a technical package that will allow them to perform at their full potential. I would like to take this opportunity to thank KTM who, showing their great sportsmanship, have allowed Miguel and Raul to ride on our bikes immediately after the end of the 2022 Championship.”
Priller
Well-known member
And Mir finally announced at Repsol Honda. All the worst kept secrets in the paddock finally made official.
Only two seats left, and it's supposedly a lock for Augusto Fernandez to join the Tech3/GasGas squad now. Only mystery left is whether Ai Ogura will move to LCR/Idemitsu despite apparently not being too keen on making the jump in 2023...
Only two seats left, and it's supposedly a lock for Augusto Fernandez to join the Tech3/GasGas squad now. Only mystery left is whether Ai Ogura will move to LCR/Idemitsu despite apparently not being too keen on making the jump in 2023...
Priller
Well-known member
I think for Oliveira, it came down to a few things. First, the KTM has been a dog this year and most of last year, and they have shown little sign of improvement. Second, he saw it as a slap in the face that they went with Miller over him for the factory seat. Third, year-old bikes have all the bugs worked out, hence Bastianini's early season success. Fourth, the current Tech3 bikes are supposedly 2022 models, but apparently there's been a long delay between the factory team getting parts and then Tech3 getting them (if at all). Not sure what calling it a GasGas 'factory' team does to change that.
Apparently Gardner's agent had a huge falling out with the KTM brass. Meanwhile, Gardner dared say in public what was obvious to everyone: that the Tech3 bikes are mostly garbage this year, which supposedly upset the same KTM brass.
In both cases, KTM looks like a bit of a disaster. Raul Fernandez wanted out because they forced him into MotoGP against his wishes, and announced it in the middle of a session (and is apparently riding the rest of this season essentially for free to pay his way out of his contract). Oliveira wanted out because he felt unwanted and underappreciated. Gardner wins a world title and then is given essentially a half season to prove himself and is then unceremoniously dumped for petty and personal reasons. The Ajo team is now so successful in Moto2 that winning the title there is considered minimum success, so good luck getting credit for it. Not sure why a young rider would sign their life away to be treated like crap for not winning on a bike that's just not very good by team management that has shown itself to be capricious and overly sensitive. If the KTM was a bike that was winning races, then the math might be different...
Yeah, I had forgotten about that. Clearly didn't help Gardner.
Winales_2017
Well-known member
Consider that Aliex and MAV are both doing well on this year's bike, and how often the Satellite Ducati bikes perform better than the work's bikes and it's not so hard to accept; furthermore, KTM has been no where this year, and with so many leaving the project (starting with Zarco) it makes sense if you're not on a championship contender level and can dictate terms.
Olivera seems like a solid rider when things work for him, but I never saw him as anything else than another Dovi to be honest; maybe he perfoms well next year, but I don't see him on the grid much longer and will likely be in Moto-E or WSBK or a test/development riderbefore he is a title contender.
In other news:
Marc Marquez intending to ride at the Misano Test
Repsol Honda have confirmed the eight-time World Champion is satisfied with the condition of his arm and is travelling to Misano on Friday
www.motogp.com
He was testing in Spain on a 600RR this week:
Marc Marquez closer to MotoGP return after riding Honda CBR 600RR
Marc Marquez and Honda can't wait for the spanish star to return...
www.motorcyclesports.net
Winales_2017
Well-known member
Ok, so what went wrong with the project?
Pedrosa was seen as the savior of the project, and with Binder and Miguel getting wins you'd these last last two seasons where it's mainly been on Europe, with multiple races in the RB Ring, they'd be entirely optimized for this part of the season but they're no where. I agree that KTM is incredibly fickle; I actually respected Zarco more when he left when he realized it was a career ender and left for a satellite ride at Pramac. Even the way the handled the situation with Petrux was pathetic they kind of just tossed him to the side, and gave him some consolation prize at the Dakar.
They have the money, resources, they have home court advantage, they have a factory in Austria. Where they only abe to perform when they still had concessions?
Priller
Well-known member
Petrucci and Lecuona were both treated incredibly badly last year, basically told at the last minute that it was over. It's interesting to read all the sympathetic journalist's take on the recent Remi Gardner scrum, where he revealed that they told him they weren't renewing because he wasn't 'professional' enough. Aside from trying to puzzle that out, his biggest (and truly legit) complaint was they led him on to think he would have a ride next year, but then pulled the rug out only last race weekend in Austria when it is now almost impossible to get a good ride next year in any major class, whether it's MotoGP, Moto2 or WSBK. In some ways, they've basically destroyed his career, as a year away these days is basically it for a rider without serious financial backing elsewhere.
As for what's wrong with the bike, my take is they basically used the Honda as a template early days, and then doubled down on that by bringing Pedrosa and Mike Leitner on board to lead the process. As the Honda has started to really struggle, the KTM has similarly struggled. Neither bike works well with the current Michelins, and dumping Leitner (also unceremoniously) for Francesco Guidotti in an attempt to capture some Ducati mojo has not only not helped, it seems to have gotten worse.
As BMW's very expensive and mostly disastrous foray into WSBK shows, just spending more than everyone else isn't a guarantee of success. My theory for Honda's current failings is that they've historically focused on building the craziest, most powerful engine they can, and then tried to build a chassis that (mostly) can handle it. Historically, that's been a winning formula. But MotoGP has reached a tipping point where the power exceeds the basic physics of the bikes (i.e. wheelies or wheelspin), and the challenge is less about adding power and more about finding ways to actually use it. Hence why things like aero and ride height have become so critical. Honda has fallen behind in those areas, and KTM is in a similar predicament. Binder and Oliveira have had some flashes of early success (2nd for Binder in Qatar and Oliveira's wet win in Indonesia), but they've mostly been anonymous since, with familiar QP struggles leading to heroic 6th place finishes after starting 15th or whatever.
One theory I heard is that they're trying to emulate the Red Bull F1 approach of developing a whole bunch of drivers/riders in hopes that one turns out to be a Marquez-like gifted wizard (or Verstappen in F1, though I don't follow that sport enough to know how legit that is). The problem with that approach is that it's so close in the top class that it's very hard to see if someone has potential.
Priller
Well-known member
NBC is broadcasting the motoGP race this Sunday afternoon (not live) for those interested.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hope it's a good race! Have been nagging my F1 obsessed colleagues about watching MotoGP, will share this with them...
Good (not great) race.
Bagnaia wins again. He has fought his way back into contention. Will still be difficult to win the championship, but it much more realistic than when he was 100 points down.
Quartararo appears to be getting that helpless feeling again, but he's a real fighter.
Bastianini is impressing me more and more - he has best figured out how to manage his race/tires and be faster at the end. He will be a more serious threat to Bagnaia than Miller. Time will tell if that is good or bad. However, I think it's going to turn into another Lorenzo/Rossi dynamic.
I kind of stopped watching Moto2 and Moto3, so can't comment on those.
Bagnaia wins again. He has fought his way back into contention. Will still be difficult to win the championship, but it much more realistic than when he was 100 points down.
Quartararo appears to be getting that helpless feeling again, but he's a real fighter.
Bastianini is impressing me more and more - he has best figured out how to manage his race/tires and be faster at the end. He will be a more serious threat to Bagnaia than Miller. Time will tell if that is good or bad. However, I think it's going to turn into another Lorenzo/Rossi dynamic.
I kind of stopped watching Moto2 and Moto3, so can't comment on those.
Priller
Well-known member
Credit to Ducati and Bagnaia, they've made a fight out of this. There's a good chance that their early struggles really were down to teething issues with the new bike, but they seem to have figured it out now. If nothing else, they've put some pressure on Fabio to beat them, and it'll be interesting to see who cracks.
I suspect if it were a different rider in front, Bastianini would have found a way past to win, but he was extra cautious under the circumstances. The fact that he set the fastest time despite the error on the last lap suggests he had the speed.
Lots saying Aleix is a contender at Aragon, considering it's one of his favourite tracks. Here's hoping so, as he's had nothing but bad luck and errors since his screw-up at Catalunya. He needs another podium, if not a win, to reinsert himself into the championship conversation. He was surprisingly upbeat in his post-race, saying Misano is not his favourite track, but it's hard to know how much that is playing things down. Aprilia has had some good speed at the test, so who knows?
I suspect if it were a different rider in front, Bastianini would have found a way past to win, but he was extra cautious under the circumstances. The fact that he set the fastest time despite the error on the last lap suggests he had the speed.
Lots saying Aleix is a contender at Aragon, considering it's one of his favourite tracks. Here's hoping so, as he's had nothing but bad luck and errors since his screw-up at Catalunya. He needs another podium, if not a win, to reinsert himself into the championship conversation. He was surprisingly upbeat in his post-race, saying Misano is not his favourite track, but it's hard to know how much that is playing things down. Aprilia has had some good speed at the test, so who knows?
Domenicali not happy with the Beast riding "too risky" around the Golden Child in the final lap:
www.visordown.com
I didn't see anything wrong during that last lap.
But then again, I'm not managing a MotoGP team, so...
“He risked too much, we don’t like it” - Ducati boss critical of Bastianini
Little more than a week after being chosen as Ducati's factory rider for 2023 MotoGP season, Enea Bastianini lands in hot water with boss Claudio Domenicali
I didn't see anything wrong during that last lap.
But then again, I'm not managing a MotoGP team, so...
Domenicali not happy with the Beast riding "too risky" around the Golden Child in the final lap:
“He risked too much, we don’t like it” - Ducati boss critical of Bastianini
Little more than a week after being chosen as Ducati's factory rider for 2023 MotoGP season, Enea Bastianini lands in hot water with boss Claudio Domenicali
I didn't see anything wrong during that last lap.
But then again, I'm not managing a MotoGP team, so...
He's (understandably) over-paranoid that any unnecessary pressure to Bagnaia is unhelpful. Bagnaia can lose 5 points (finishing 2nd), or worse, crash. I bet if team communications were allowed, he would have been yelling "dont you ******* dare get near him!!!"
