Ducati dominated MotoGP qualifying at Austin earlier today. The Italian factory locked down, quite remarkably, the top five positions on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
The front row consists of Jorge Martin on pole with Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia second and third, respectively. Marc Marquez (Honda) qualified ninth on his return from his latest injury.
For full results of today’s qualifying, take a look here. You can find additional details on the MotoGP site.
Who’s the homeless guy in the middle of the photo? I’m joking of course but seriously he look like some guy from a dark alley just stole a shirt and snuck into the paddock.
There are simply too many Ducatis in the field. Aprilia has two. Suzuki has two. KTM, Yamaha, and Honda have four.
Ducati has eight. Combine their sheer numbers on the track with their advantages in top speed and overall acceleration, it’s no wonder that we’re starting to see more top-three lockouts. In this case, since COTA is a horsepower track, it’s all Ducatis in the first two rows, except for one lone Yamaha in sixth. Six of the top ten are Ducatis.
That’s not good.
The grid was 24 of 40. How many more teams need to be priced out of DieselGP?
The grid size for MotoGP has been capped at 24 bikes since 2017. I believe unanimous agreement from all teams is required to change that.
KTM, Suzuki, and Aprilia were also expected to field satellite teams. Only KTM delivered on the promise which is largely why the other four grid spots are filled with Ducatis seeing as they were the only manufacturer willing to make bikes available.
I wouldn’t want any more bikes on the grid. It’s not a club race.
It worked out a little more evenly in the end but yeah, they’re the majority supplier. Perhaps if other teams would be willing to continue to service more of their prior year (or two) bikes to satellite teams we could see that grid fill out.
It’s more healthy now than it was before the rules were changed to bring costs down. At least there are teams that want to field those extra Ducatis. However we still see more Moto2 and 3 bikes on the grid, which shows that sponsors want to take part in GP, just not at the $$ levels required for the biggest bikes.
With all those Ducati’s in front what is the likelihood of a friendly fire incident taking many of them out?