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Where were we? Ah, yes: Marquez was running away ahead of the Yamaha pair who, between mistakes and dark moments, had left the road wide open. All at exactly mid-season, with 9 races left and 225 points up for grabs.
The time has come to put the sunscreen and beach umbrellas aside and to dive back into the sea of MotoGP riders in the cool Austrian forests. The next round, on Sunday, will be hosted by the Red Bull Ring new entry circuit, a track that is new, but not too new, considering the fact that, before the holidays most of the teams had a two-day testing session there.
ILLUSTRIOUS ABSENCES - We said “most” because Marquez and Pedrosa were missing, in other words, the factory HRC team (as well as team Tech3). Officially, the riders had said that they preferred saving the remaining two days of testing to develop the new bike, but the tests were organized by Ducati and, after the forbidden winglets affair, Borgo Panigale did not exactly put the welcome mat out for the Japanese.
The fact remains that Marc and Dani are among the only ones who will be riding their MotoGP bikes on the Austrian circuit for the first time, although they are not entirely unfamiliar with it. A few weeks ago, thanks to a promotional event, the two were able to take a few laps with the RC213V-S (Honda’s ‘street’ MotoGP bike), which was useful for getting to know the track.
In the July tests, the satellite Hondas were close to their rivals, so we’ll need to see what the official bikes are able to do.
AUSTRIAN RED - When we write ‘close to their rivals’, we mean Yamaha and Suzuki, because Ducati was playing in a whole different game. The Zeltweg circuit seemed to be designed for the Desmosedici.
Especially Iannone, but Dovizioso also lapped at times that the others could not touch. The Reds have been chasing their first win for years now and Austria looks like the golden opportunity. The results of the tests, everyone knows, should be read with caution, but the Ducatis definitely have a place among the favourites as the weekend approaches.
Both Andreas are keen for redemption after the first half of the season where not everything went the right way and they will have a chance for it here. For Iannone, a win would be revenge on those who no longer want him in red leathers and for Dovi it would be confirmation that he was indeed the best choice.
YAMAHA IN HOT PURSUIT - We have not forgotten about the award winning Rossi-Lorenzo duo that found what they were expecting at the Red Bull Ring: a track that does not get along too well with the characteristics of the M1. This is a fine dilemma with 48 (for Jorge) and 59 (for Valentino) points to make up.
In all honesty, if you take the Ducatis out of the picture, in the tests the Yamahas were at the level of their competitors, although, as we said, the main rival to measure up against was missing. The two men in blue will, in any case, need to straighten out the weekend and perhaps “cheer” for the two Andreas, who could take important points away from their common enemy.
Neither Rossi nor Lorenzo can certainly afford mistakes or substandard performance unless they want to prematurely abandon their championship dreams. They will need to attack when the opportunity presents itself and contain the damage in other cases, Marquez teaches.
