It has been a long Summer break, longer than we were originally expecting to have. The exit of the Finnish grand prix from this year’s calendar bumped the waiting period for this season up to five weeks, which has been glorious for some and terrible for others. Riders who were nursing injuries sustained in the first half of the championship have had plenty of time to recover; meanwhile, Bagnaia has managed to rack up a drink driving offense. And throughout all of it, we only managed to notch up a couple of extra contract signings, leaving the 2023 grid half filled with nine races to go.
How fortunate, then, that we kick things off once more at the infamous Silverstone circuit in the UK. This is a track that always brings an audience – British fans are crazy for their motorsports, and they always make a brilliant event out of it. Despite not having crowned a British champ in any class since 2015, the nation has produced many record breakers since the world championship began back in 1949 and remains one of the most influential countries to ever compete. The fact that we currently have zero British riders in the MotoGP class is a very rare sight indeed.
It’s a balanced circuit, too, as shown by the list of past winners. The last seven races held at Silverstone (which actually goes back to 2013 thanks to two cancellations in 2018 and 2020) have all been won by different riders, and there’s four different manufacturers on the list as well. Yamaha and Suzuki have been the most successful of late, but Honda and Ducati have been able to flex their muscles here on the odd occasion. Aprilia nabbed their first podium in premier class history here last time out, and the 2021 race saw six manufacturers in the top six.
You would think that this would make Sunday’s result impossible to call, but the pundits have some clear leaders in mind. Fabio Quartararo won here in 2021 on his way to the world championship, and it was a truly dominant display from the Frenchman. He heads into the grand prix this year on slightly worse footing , however, with his championship cut to just 21 points last time out thanks to a DNF and some brilliant performances from his rivals. That crash has proved more costly than ever, since he will also face a long lap penalty here for his crimes in Assen some months ago.
Can Quartararo win here despite the penalty? It wouldn’t be out of the question given how well he’s been riding since we reached Europe. The Yamaha rider is drawing every drop of potential from his bike right now, proven by how dismally his M1 stablemates have been performing in comparison, and his winning form has been more than impressive this year. Given how massive his win was last time we raced in Silverstone, he could easily afford to take a trip through the long lap penalty zone, though he will need to be right at the front by that point in the race.
His competition could also be stiffer this time out, especially in the form of Aleix Espargaro. The Spaniard has been the epitome of consistent this year, with a worst result of fifth since we hit the European leg of the series, and the Aprilia package underneath him is clearly better than it has ever been before. He managed a podium here last year, the first for Aprilia since they joined the class, and will be aiming to go better this weekend as he chases down the runaway Frenchman in the championship standings.
Espargaro’s form will be buoyed right now, both by his latest result in Assen where he recovered ten places up to fourth and by Quartararo’s imminent penalty. There is no doubt in my mind that he will have spent the last week or so mentally preparing for the task of stripping the victory from his French counterpart here in Silverstone, and will come bearing a battle plan to contest for the win. Should he take a chunk of points out of Quartararo for the second race in a row, it will mark a serious shift in momentum for the championship and for both men.
His greatest ally in all this will be his teammate. Vinales has hit his stride onboard the Aprilia, with a podium in Assen capping off an impressive run of form in the last couple of races. The Spaniard has found his home in the Noale factory, and has made it clear that he has no qualms in acting as Espargaro’s rear gunner for the remainder of the season. As far as he sees it, the target now is to take the title with Aprilia, and if his speed and consistency can grow to match that of Espargaro’s then they could form a very intimidating duo indeed.
The Ducatis will be looking to bounce back with some consistency in the second half of the year. Despite racking up six wins in the opening eleven races, there isn’t a single Ducati rider that currently looks like they’re properly in the hunt for the championship. That result mainly comes down to how wildly inconsistent their top riders have been, with both Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini currently sitting behind Johann Zarco in the standings despite having three wins apiece to Zarco’s zero. Ideally, Ducati would want one or two of their riders to step up to the plate post-Summer break, as opposed to their current result of one-two riders on the podium every week but none of them managing to back their results up with consistency.
Over at Suzuki, the goal will simply be to survive until the end of the season. The sheer drop-off in results since the announcement that the Japanese manufacturer was pulling out at the end of this year has been difficult to watch given their recent successes. Both riders came out of the opening five rounds looking like serious threats for the title, and that simply hasn’t materialised thanks to a number of DNFs and a drop in pace overall. Should they wish to take more podiums or even a win before they bow out, they are running out of time to do so.
The good news is that Silverstone has historically been a happy hunting ground for them. Alex Rins took a daring win here back in 2019 by a hundredth of a second against Marc Marquez and was on the podium last year, and Vinales bagged a lights-to-finish win back when he rode for Suzuki in 2016. These results should inspire some belief for the Iwata factory, though Joan Mir will be needing a bit more of a boost after a terrible Silverstone result in 2021.
And then there’s KTM and Honda. What these two factories make of the final races of 2022 is extremely dependant on the work they were able to do over the Summer break, because neither bike has looked particularly competitive since Pol Espargaro and Brad Binder took podium finishes back in Qatar and Miguel Oliveira bagged a win in the wet in Mandalika. Sure, Binder looks to be doing well on paper in the championship, but his results have stemmed from his wicked ability to claw through the pack on a Sunday afternoon and not from the motorbike he’s competing on. As for Honda, with their leading light of Marc Marquez still absent and recovering on the sidelines, it seems unlikely that we will see a big result from them any time soon as they look to a refreshed lineup for 2023.
Regardless of what we face this weekend, it’s simply good to be back racing again – but I have a hunch we might be in for a dramatic re-start of the 2022 championship.
Solomon Talks Bikes 