There was little doubt about Pecco and his Ducati, the protagonists of the GP. The news of the day, among a wonderful Bezzecchi and an Aprilia that scares, is that Marc Marquez, aided by the wreck of Yamaha, he is once again a protagonist. For good, showing excellent physical shape and bringing a Honda still in trouble both in pole position and on the podium on Saturday; and for the worse, becoming the protagonist of an over the top race behavior which culminated in the accident involving the innocent Martin and Oliveira and which will cost him two long lap penalties starting from the next GP.
La Sprint Race
What a show, the first sprint race in MotoGP history! It will remain a great show, I believe, only on the condition that Dorna tightens the penalties for the riders in the next GPs. But I also believe that we can’t ask them to distort their nature too much to mitigate the real problem, which is that if they double the races, it’s natural that they also double the chances of falling, accidents and injuries. Whether it’s called the Sprint Race on Saturday or the GP on Sunday, when the green light comes, a MotoGP rider will always remain, by contract and by attitude, a beast programmed to win. And exposing him to this condition 42 times a year instead of 21 is equivalent to accepting twice as much risk in favor of the show. We must take note of it without any hypocrisy.
Four heavy accidents
Portimao leaves us orphaned, for a few GPs, of Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini, but it is not yet certain that Marc Marquez (possible hand fracture) and Miguel Oliveira (strong contusion in one leg) are also in the match at the next GP of Argentina . I have no memory of a MotoGP season start with such “heavy” forfeits and with only 14 riders finishing at the finish line… but, as mentioned, I think it’s the natural consequence of the new format that transforms Friday into official qualifying, the Saturday in a wild race and Sunday… I would even say. All of this is even more worrying to the extent that we consider that Portimao was very fresh from testing, while the next GP will start “from scratch”.
