The MotoGP series visited the iconic Assen circuit this weekend, and defending champ Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) achieved perfection with pole position (setting a new lap record) and wins in both the Sprint and the full GP race.
Following Bagnaia home in second place for both the Sprint and the full GP was championship points leader Jorge Martin (Ducati). Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) finished third in Saturday’s Sprint, and Enea Bastianini (Ducati) finished third on Sunday.
Martin still has the championship lead with ten points over Bagnaia heading into next week’s German GP. For full results and points for Saturday’s Sprint race, visit the MotoGP site here. For full results and points for Sunday’s MotoGP race, visit the MotoGP site here.
Another snoozer Ducatifest
Have to say Bagnaia is a machine if he gets the holeshot. Such consistency in lap times is hard to fathom.
In the generation of aliens before Marquez, Lorenzo used to do the same thing… if he got the hole-shot, he was gone into the distance… then tires, rules, tech changed and either he no longer had the magic sauce, or the others caught up. Further back in history when Honda had a massive power advantage, the other racers joked there was a “Honda Lane” on every straight.
The current Ducati tech advantages will disappear for 2027, 850cc, no shapeshifter/launch suspension, clipped aero, etc. After listening to Kevin Cameron explain the rationale, its not going to make a perceptible trackside or TV difference. Ya, the lap and top speed numbers will be lower, but something had to be done as the bikes were steadily outgrowing all but the most modern tracks with literal acres of runoff.
Track owners were saying “enough” after $millions spent in safety upgrades and the same issues persisting. They literally can’t back the fences and stands up anymore.
“After listening to Kevin Cameron explain the rationale”
And I can’t find this with anything I can think of searching…got a link? This sounds very interesting.
“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll sit in a boat drinking beer all day.”
Youtube, search “cycle world cameron”
The particular video you seek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCCvlGpnChk
Thanks but the snark is unnecessary. I searched search engines, not YouTube’s site search. Good grief, dude.
ALSO – this hardly brings one to the subject video. But I’m glad you feel superior, fig newton.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cycle+world+cameron
All our hopes on Honda and Yamaha.
Good race great results. I was amazed to hear the entire race time was 30 seconds quicker than last year and the awards show with Pecco on his bike being elevated up to the winners platform was kind of flashy. Hopefully the championship points race continues to tighten, it certainly makes for a interesting season.
I’ve seen that figure at other tracks this year (30 seconds faster). Since that advance has happened across the board I have to believe that’s resulted from tire improvement.
Ducati ran Martin and Bastianini off for some guy who received no mention. I guess the series overall will be less of a Ducati show for a while. Maybe it will be interesting to see how those guys do on their new teams. Oddly enough, I bought a Ducati from a guy who lives near the Assen racetrack about a dozen years ago. He was selling a Spartan too. Cool car.
Unfortunately, Ducati will probably be fine. While it will be more interesting with two fewer of them on the grid, they’re being replaced by bikes that are mid-field at best right now and not showing signs of meaningful improvement. The “next best” bike (Aprilia) is also too far off the mark and I fear Jorge will be relegated to 4th and back after the change. KTM = same. Nobody seems to be able to improve at a rate that lessens the gap, even with the current concession level.
Ducati is in such control that I think they can offset the two bike loss by supplying one of the satellite teams with better material.
We’ll see. Maybe Ducati has some secret aero package sauce that has their bikes a a couple of years ahead of the other guys. Clearly the Japanese aren’t doing well at something. They have near had a problem making fast bikes in the past. All this aero stuff on motorcycles is the youngest technology the brands are playing with. A look at Honda seems to indicate that they are struggling to make an aero package that is consistent enough. Their riders were crashing a lot last year.
Or maybe the fastest young riders just happen to be riding Ducati. Rossi is the new Roberts in that the fast guys happen to be training at the Rossi ranch just like the Roberts ranch in the past.
We’ll see. Martin is fast and consistent. If he struggles next year then Ducati does have a secret sauce. That’s the problem with new technologies. The people with the smartest nerds get an unfair advantage until the technology becomes significantly developed.
Agree with all in your post Mick. I would add that the difference between first and last is small and any advantage, even if minor, may be a secret sauce.