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2023 MotoGP Discussion (No Links - Contains Spoilers!)
- Thread starter Chaos
- Start date
Was that Bagnaia's best race? I think it has to be up there. He had to pass the KTMs that were fast, and he had to stay on the bike. For the **** he's taken since the last race, that was an impressive showing.
The Quartararo, Morbidelli and Bagnaia penalties were all overly harsh
Much-too-early-in-the-season thoughts:
1. KTM appears to be the 2nd best bike on the grid (or they're 3rd behind Aprilia but with better riders?). Testing and last year dictated it would have been Aprilia, but i think Aprilia is not as strong out of the gate as everyone expected. Binder will be a championship contender.
2. the GP23 is already better than the GP22. No doubt the GP22 is a potent bike, but i think the GP22 riders will have a more difficult time trying to get wins. It took almost 1/2 the season to sort out the GP22 vs the GP21.
3. Joan Mir is lost. Rins is overachieving.
4. Raul Fernandez should be better. The 22 Aprilia is a solid bike and he should be at the level of Oliveira.
5. Oliveira is having the worst luck in such a short period of time. He's lost 3 races out of 4 due to others' mistakes. 2 nasty injuries to boot.
6. Yamaha is lost. It will be interesting to see what they do with their 2nd seat. Morbidelli might keep it because no one else will want it. I am highly dubious that Martin will opt out of Ducati to go to Yamaha at this point. Toprak is probably not going to take the seat if it's that far down the grid. Is anyone in Moto2 that would be available (this removes Acosta from the mix) better than Morbidelli? Alonso Lopez has shown a lot of potential but it would be a gamble.
I have to admit I am silently laughing to myself at Lin Jarvis' tough talk on Morbidelli about having to show something, but now their ace rider is performing poorly. No more Morbidelli-is-the-scapegoat talk.
The Quartararo, Morbidelli and Bagnaia penalties were all overly harsh
Much-too-early-in-the-season thoughts:
1. KTM appears to be the 2nd best bike on the grid (or they're 3rd behind Aprilia but with better riders?). Testing and last year dictated it would have been Aprilia, but i think Aprilia is not as strong out of the gate as everyone expected. Binder will be a championship contender.
2. the GP23 is already better than the GP22. No doubt the GP22 is a potent bike, but i think the GP22 riders will have a more difficult time trying to get wins. It took almost 1/2 the season to sort out the GP22 vs the GP21.
3. Joan Mir is lost. Rins is overachieving.
4. Raul Fernandez should be better. The 22 Aprilia is a solid bike and he should be at the level of Oliveira.
5. Oliveira is having the worst luck in such a short period of time. He's lost 3 races out of 4 due to others' mistakes. 2 nasty injuries to boot.
6. Yamaha is lost. It will be interesting to see what they do with their 2nd seat. Morbidelli might keep it because no one else will want it. I am highly dubious that Martin will opt out of Ducati to go to Yamaha at this point. Toprak is probably not going to take the seat if it's that far down the grid. Is anyone in Moto2 that would be available (this removes Acosta from the mix) better than Morbidelli? Alonso Lopez has shown a lot of potential but it would be a gamble.
I have to admit I am silently laughing to myself at Lin Jarvis' tough talk on Morbidelli about having to show something, but now their ace rider is performing poorly. No more Morbidelli-is-the-scapegoat talk.
herikadavidson
Well-known member
I haven't "monitored" this forum more or less since John Cruiser left us. The last time I "observed" this forum when Marc Marquez (Honda) dominated the race. Now the Ducati are still dominating the race. What an improvement for Ducati!!
Bagnaia's best race for me is still the one where he lead the race from start to end, despite having Marc Marquez overtake him SEVEN TIMES, and having to answer back every single time. I think it was 2021 so he would have been maybe 24 years old at the time and only in his third (?) year in MotoGP. Kid held his own against Marc like an absolute champ.
For the record, I tweeted Fabio not to resign with Yamaha, but he didn't listen to me.
New speculation that Pedro Acosta is coming to MotoGP in 2024 with KTM (inc. GasGas). That does not surprise me - but someone is going to have to go. It has to be either PEspargaro or Agusto Fernandez - I doubt Binder or Miller would be replaced.
The wild rumour now is that KTM is going to try to get 2 more bikes on the grid using Husqvarna as the brand. I really don't see this happening, but money talks so if KTM throw enough money at someone, it will happen.
The wild rumour now is that KTM is going to try to get 2 more bikes on the grid using Husqvarna as the brand. I really don't see this happening, but money talks so if KTM throw enough money at someone, it will happen.
BigEvilDoer
Well-known member
Can’t deny.. They are currently in third (Binder) and fourth (Miller) places.
I can’t see Miller making up the 40ish points or so by end of season unless Bagnaia has some real brain cramps. But still - both bikes are being ridden well by talented riders.
Winales_2017
Well-known member
They said the same thing about 2020, but it only revealed how inconsistent the rest of the field of riders were and while it did provide good entertainment I think had it just been a normal GP weekend it would not be as good. Luckily the Sprint race adds that extra bit of spiciness to the weekend and championship overall.
Even with all the injuries it still hard not to say that while he is missed, things have been exciting.
Though, I fully admit I no longer watch live anymore.
As for KTM 3rd team, while its possible, I doubt Honda will let him go. Even if it's on a trash bike his cache sells too many bikes in the only important growing markets: South East Asia.
The guy is a total rock star there and KTM aren't going to be seeing the same financial returns Honda has over the last decade from Marc.
For sure. They scored massive points this weekend. They had the best weekend of any manufacturer... but who did they have to compete with?
Quartararo (2021 world champion) penalized.
Mir (2020 world champion) crashed out.
Marquez (2019 world champion) not competing.
Bezzecchi (championship leader pre-jerez) DNF.
See where I'm going with this?
Bastiannini (2023 championship hopeful) not competing.
Rins (last race winner) DNF.
KTM had an amazing weekend. They do really well when competing against Brandl, Fernandez, Lecuona, and Folger (who??)
That bike has come so far. Binder, Miller, and Pedrosa really shined... but I'm waiting to see how they do against real competition before I jump on the bandwagon. The champ got more points out of Jerez than anyone else did.
That's one way of looking at it, but if you look at qualifying times (yes, not entirely indicative of racecraft or race pace), the KTMs did accurately perform as well in the race as they did in qualifying, even against all the crashers and those given penalties.
Miller, Binder and Pedrosa qualified 2, 4 and 6. In the race, the results were 3, 2 and 7, respectively.
Quataro, Rins and Mir did not even make it out of the basement in Q1. Even if they hadn't been penalized or crashed out during the race, their pace for the weekend was well off the KTMs.
The KTMs did well that weekend. The trick is to do that well consistently *every* race weekend.
The commentators were gracious with KTM's performance, but consistently mentioned how much Pedrosa tested there.
Yup. Especially with the sprint format, if Honda or Yamaha get that working better, they'll gain a lot of spots by that alone.
Once they're up front, everyone else will cook their tires before they can find their way passed the KTMs.
Apparently the FIM just didn't rule on it in time?
Either way, given that last weekend they made Pecco drop a place for lightly bumping Miller and gave Fabio a long-lap penalty for the Oliveira incident, I really want to see what Race Direction will do next weekend. Especially if MM93 does something similar. Neither of those incidents would have even raised an eyebrow before. Were last weekend's penalties an aberration, or an indication of a new enforcement severity? Will it matter who the offending rider is? Will the penalty be the same if it happens fighting for 1st or for 15th?
Seems that they have in fact ruled:
www.motogp.com
Tags MotoGP, 2023, Marc Marquez
The MotoGP™ Court of Appeal have issued its final decision on the Application of the Sanction in Marc Marquez’s (Repsol Honda Team) case. Here is what the FIM have published:
Following the provisional decision of the MotoGP™ Court of Appeal pronounced on 12 April 2023 granting the stay of execution of the Application of the Sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, the Court still had to decide on the merits of the case considering inter alia the brief of appeal submitted by Marc Marquez and Team HRC – Repsol Honda Team on 17 April 2023.
The Court decided to annul the Application of the Sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, which was issued by the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel in connection with the Original Sanction.
The Court considered that the Double Long Lap Penalty imposed on Marc Marquez by the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel during the MotoGP™ Race of Portugal held on 26 March 2023 has been served by the non-participation of the Rider in the 2023 MotoGP™ Race of Argentina.
Marc Marquez is hence allowed to compete in the next race in which he will be able to participate, without any further sanction.
Read the full decision of the MotoGP™ Court of Appeal in the attached file.
Court of Appeal: Marc Marquez wins!
Read the statement from the FIM as it’s confirmed Marquez WON’T have to serve his penalty upon return
www.motogp.com
Court of Appeal: Marc Marquez wins!
Read the statement from the FIM as it’s confirmed Marquez WON’T have to serve his penalty upon return
Tags MotoGP, 2023, Marc Marquez
The MotoGP™ Court of Appeal have issued its final decision on the Application of the Sanction in Marc Marquez’s (Repsol Honda Team) case. Here is what the FIM have published:
Following the provisional decision of the MotoGP™ Court of Appeal pronounced on 12 April 2023 granting the stay of execution of the Application of the Sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, the Court still had to decide on the merits of the case considering inter alia the brief of appeal submitted by Marc Marquez and Team HRC – Repsol Honda Team on 17 April 2023.
The Court decided to annul the Application of the Sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, which was issued by the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel in connection with the Original Sanction.
The Court considered that the Double Long Lap Penalty imposed on Marc Marquez by the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel during the MotoGP™ Race of Portugal held on 26 March 2023 has been served by the non-participation of the Rider in the 2023 MotoGP™ Race of Argentina.
Marc Marquez is hence allowed to compete in the next race in which he will be able to participate, without any further sanction.
Read the full decision of the MotoGP™ Court of Appeal in the attached file.
Entertaining race!
Bezzecchi rode a fantastic race. Deserved position drop penalty, slotted in nicely when serving it, and flawless from there.
Good clean battle between Martin and Marquez. Seemed like it would go down to the wire. I was expecting Martin to make the error and end up in the gravel, but he rode in a patient and mature way today. Marquez clearly on the ragged edge of the Honda as he needs to be to challenge for the podium. Great weekend overall for Martin.
Happy to see Zarco on the podium at home. Would love to see him win a race this season!
Shame that three riders had their race affected by Alex Marquez's mistake early on. Binder could have been right up there and did well to recover valuable championship points.
Marini's incident was scary with the riders so exposed on track... Thankfully they did not get hit while on the deck. Not sure of Marini's medical condition.
The Pecco / Vinales incident was unfortunate. Seemed like Pecco rode the line as if Vinales wasn't there and Vinales was adjusting after his pass - it's a quick transition there... Vinales looked like he had great pace and I would have liked to see if he'd challenge for the podium...
Championship race is looking interesting now (certainly more so than WSBK). With the break, hoping Oliveira and Bastianini can return and spice things up some more.
Bezzecchi rode a fantastic race. Deserved position drop penalty, slotted in nicely when serving it, and flawless from there.
Good clean battle between Martin and Marquez. Seemed like it would go down to the wire. I was expecting Martin to make the error and end up in the gravel, but he rode in a patient and mature way today. Marquez clearly on the ragged edge of the Honda as he needs to be to challenge for the podium. Great weekend overall for Martin.
Happy to see Zarco on the podium at home. Would love to see him win a race this season!
Shame that three riders had their race affected by Alex Marquez's mistake early on. Binder could have been right up there and did well to recover valuable championship points.
Marini's incident was scary with the riders so exposed on track... Thankfully they did not get hit while on the deck. Not sure of Marini's medical condition.
The Pecco / Vinales incident was unfortunate. Seemed like Pecco rode the line as if Vinales wasn't there and Vinales was adjusting after his pass - it's a quick transition there... Vinales looked like he had great pace and I would have liked to see if he'd challenge for the podium...
Championship race is looking interesting now (certainly more so than WSBK). With the break, hoping Oliveira and Bastianini can return and spice things up some more.
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