A wild MotoGP race in Austria earlier today saw the riders confront heavy rain during the last few laps. During the dry portion of the race, Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati), Marc Marquez (Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) diced at the front of the pack.
With just a few laps remaining, the riders had a choice … stay on slicks in the wet, or switch to a bike with rain tires and lose significant time in the pits. There were several riders making each of these choices.
Brad Binder (KTM) chose to remain on his slicks and gain a significant gap over the riders emerging from pit lane on rain tires with just three laps remaining. Binder kept it upright and won the race, while Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin (Ducati) charged through the pack on their rain tires to capture the remaining podium positions. Marquez was very fast in the dry, but crashed on his rain tires with two laps remaining and finished in 15th position.
Quartararo finished in 7th position and leaves the Red Bull Ring with a 47 point lead in the championship. The next race is at Silverston in two weeks. For full results of today’s race, take a look here. You can find additional details on the MotoGP site.
It was a good race. Some good judgement calls, some bad ones, and a healthy amount of luck all played into the final outcome. When the rains came, I was disappointed, but was mostly just hoping that nobody would get injured. The last few laps were riveting, and I’d guess most MotoGP fans had a variety of emotions run through them. I prefer dry races, but the wet ones do get our attention.
Again a wet track is the wild card and great equalizer. I have lost count of the times that a previously unrecognized name ends up on the top podium spot during a rain event.
I think that it is more accurate to say that rain is the great dumb-downer, not the great equalizer. Those who have a lot to lose ride conservatively, and those who have nothing to lose go for broke. Most of the manoeuvres that make the greats rise to the top aren’t feasible in the rain, so they have to ride like the plebes. Rain is like the “no child left behind” philosophy, but for racers.
For those that haven’t ridden on slicks (no silca in compound) in wet conditions imagine coating your tires with Armor All, Oil and riding on diesel spill. It’s hard to believe how hard it is to stay up. The fact that they weren’t going down like bowling pins is really a testament to their skill. Binder then brought up the fact that his cold tires on wet weren’t the only concern as the carbon brakes stopped working! A tip of the hat to him.
Rossi was running in 3rd place for a moment with a few laps to go. We all were hoping he could hang on. It wasn’t to be but it was entertaining to see him post race slapping backs of those that survived the antics. Crazy fest!
I never even tried to race in the wet in all of the 15 years I was in the CMRA in Texas. It was costly enough to get to the races and put tires on the bike that I didn’t need the added expense of certain crash damage. So, I never even bought a set of wet tires. Strangely, I’ve probably ridden just as aggressively in the rain on any of my long distance trips as I would be expected to during a race. I’ll chalk that up to having logged probably 10,000X the miles on my street bikes than on my race bike and am that much more comfortable taking chances on my road bikes.
What a crazy finish. The last 4 laps was nuts lol. Binder was lucky the group didn’t pull in one lap sooner to switch to rain bikes. Bagnia’s last lap on rain tires was 15 seconds faster than Binders on the slicks. Gutsy move on Binders part to stay out.
Jack miller *did* pull in 1 lap sooner. Didn’t work for him. Even Binder said on the lap they all pulled it he could still push a little, it was really just the last 2 laps when he had no brakes and 0 lean angle. Was a crazy finish. I think Mark may have hit the nail on the head. He didn’t go in because he missed the apex on the turn before pitlane. From his position on the track it was unlikely he could have gone in if he wanted. I am glad is worked out and it definitely made those last few laps super exciting!
If Rossi is so washed up, how did he finish 8th?
That’s my issue with all the calls for his retirement in the Last couple of years. He’s not always in last place and he doesn’t have the least points. He’s fogging the mirror. Leave him alone.
Off the track, a lot of riders train at his facility. What more do you want from the guy?
“he’s fogging the mirror” 😂 Love it.
Yes, he knows he’s no longer in contention for the top of the podium so he is retiring. He has had a spectacular life so far.
By gambling on the rain conditions. He had been in 14-15th most of the race.
Because has won multi GP titles and considered the GOAT by many. A rider of this stature Is typically not cool with being 19th in the standings. Because he his 42 in a sport where most are lucky to make to 35. Because he probably retired this year cause he knows it too.
Because the race track was washed up.
binder had ’em covered. he was 5.9 seconds down on lap 21, but continued to do 0ne25’s and was only 1.1 s down on lap 24. the fact that he DIDN’T pull in shows he felt he could outride ’em. if ya can’t win by 10 s the race becomes a contest of judgement. mir’s judgement was superior last year, binder’s was superior today, and marquez has been guessing wrong for over a year now…