Since the beginning of the 2020 MotoGP season, one of the changes that has really caught some riders out is the lack of an audience. Fans have been unable to line the grandstands of the vast majority of tracks we’ve raced at over the past 12 months, creating a completely different atmosphere to the one the riders are used to. There were no flags waving in Jerez, no cheers and shouts in Portimao, no umbrellas lining the horizon in Le Mans. Even Mugello, a track infamous for the pandemonium caused by the local Rossi fans, was without its usual flares, vuvuzelas and track invasions.
So it is with great joy that the MotoGP paddock rolls into Catalunya for the seventh round of the 2021 season. Here, the grandstands will be filled to 20% capacity for the entirety of the weekend, with the various fan walls spread out to allow for social distancing. It’s not going to be the same as it once was, but it marks the beginning of the return to normal, and that is cause enough for celebration in my mind. Every session, every race, every big moment that comes this weekend will be accompanied by the sight and sound of people who love motorcycle racing.
They’ve arrived at a good time in the championship. Quartararo heads into this round as the man to beat, the championship leader by a hefty 24-point margin. The Frenchman has three wins and a fourth podium to his name so far this season and has looked in relatively imperious form throughout. Not only is he fast, arguably as fast as the Ducati riders currently hunting him in the standings, but he has shown the ability to win in a variety of circumstances, both battling his way through the pack and disappearing off into the sunset. Whatever issues he had in 2020, they seem to have faded somewhat for this season.
His challengers come in a few shapes and sizes, but for now his main concerns rest with said Ducatis. Zarco, Bagnaia and Miller are all within a reasonable distance in the points standings, and all three have shown themselves capable of standing on the podium multiple times so far this season. The Ducati package this year is a monster, able to attack and defend at breakneck speeds, but they will have concerns heading into Catalunya. It’s not a track that has historically favoured the Italian factory, and they will be banking heavily on the forecasted rain on Sunday helping them keep the other manufacturers in check.
Another potential challenger is Joan Mir. The reigning MotoGP champion hasn’t had the most blistering start to his title defense, but he’s got two podiums to his name and has looked to be roughly on par with the competition at most circuits. Catalunya was the site of Suzuki’s first double podium of many last year, and Mir will be hoping to go one better this time and take his first win of the season. It’s going to be difficult to claw back the advantage Quartararo has already gained, but Mir had a much worse start to the 2020 season, and went on to dominate the second half of the championship and take the title. He just needs to start that turnaround sooner rather than later.
His teammate will not be repeating his 2020 heroics. Alex Rins suffered a cycling accident and has ruled himself out of the Catalunya GP, his home race. This will mark 5 races on the trot where the Spaniard has failed to score a single point, and at this point it feels safe to say that he will not play a role in the outcome of the 2021 championship. His career should survive this slump in form – his contract with Suzuki doesn’t run out until the end of 2022, much like Mir’s – but when he returns to action in Germany he will need to hit the ground running, or he will face some serious scrutiny from within the Suzuki garage.
Quartararo’s teammate is another rider with plenty to prove here. Vinales starts this weekend from sixth in the championship, five places down from his incredible win in the first race at Qatar, and desperate to bounce back into some more consistent, confident form. The Yamaha rider has had a change of crew chief after his middling results of late, a move that was decided by the manufacturer itself rather than by Vinales, and the hope will be that this change within the box will help him refocus and start producing strong results again. It’s clear Vinales has the talent necessary – he’s the only rider in the grid currently to have won at least one race every season since 2016 – but without the consistency that his teammate has found of late, he seems unlikely to fight for the title later this year.
KTM had a thoroughly impressive week last time out, and they roll into Catalunya with big aspirations. The step they made in Mugello was phenomenal, launching both of their factory riders back into the fight for podium positions, and the expectation will be that the Tech3 riders will have access to the same parts for this weekend. For Binder and Oliveira, now is the time to start punishing the other manufacturers and clawing back some points in the overall standings. For Petrucci and Lecuona, time is running out to prove their worth to the manufacturer, especially now that Remy Gardner has been confirmed as part of the Tech3 lineup for 2022. If the new chassis and fuel load are the real deal, then the KTM riders should have no trouble replicating their results from last time out.
There’s reason to believe this weekend will also mark a major turning point in the contract season for next year. Ducati have made it clear that they are interested in fielding between six and eight bikes for 2022, and are close to reaching an agreement with both VR46 and Gresini, the two new satellite squads that will join the grid starting next season. While there were hopes from within Aprilia that they would hang onto Gresini as the next step in their development program, Ducati seem certain they will have four fully-fledged teams for the next few seasons at least. If Ducati can come to an agreement with both teams, then it solves a number of issues they were facing regarding rider contracts, as it would allow them to retain both Marini and Bastianini while also promoting Rossi’s protege Marco Bezzechi from the Moto2 class. Couple that with the almost assured signing of Fabio Di Giannantonio with the future Gresini team, and Ducati finds themselves with four highly talented Italian riders within their satellite outfits.
It would be nice for Ducati to have this sorted by the end of the weekend in Catalunya. Their contract talks in 2020 fizzled out much later than the other manufacturers, and left them without as many options as they likely would have preferred when it came time to select the riders for their factory and Pramac teams, so sorting this out before the midway point in 2021 would be a nice change of pace. The proposed lineup also tracks well with their current interest in young talents rather than experienced campaigners, and will offer a number of options for future promotions to their primary teams. Leaving it too much later runs the risk of having both the Moto2 riders and the teams themselves being poached by other manufacturers, so hopefully Ducati can resolve all of this soon.
Aleix Espargaro, current factory Aprilia rider, has voiced his disappointment in this turn of events. The Spaniard, who has been racing for Aprilia since 2017, was clearly hoping for the Gresini team to choose the Noale factory as their manufacturer of choice given his relationship with the late Fausto Gresini and the amount of dedication he put into the Aprilia project. It’s no secret that having more bikes on the grid leads to more development options, and for the likes of Aprilia and Suzuki having just two riders on the grid means more pressure in testing, not to mention in the manufacturer’s championship. Aleix remains confident that there will be a satellite Aprilia team in the future, but for now it appears they will remain a singular squad.
All this talk, and free practice hasn’t even started yet. For some riders, this weekend will be a deciding factor in their future within the MotoGP paddock; for others, it will be crucial to their championship aspirations. Let’s just hope we get a satisfying conclusion to both stories.
Solomon Talks Bikes 