grip despite bringing a myriad of
new parts. Honda, meanwhile,
appears completely lost. Only
the genius of Brad Binder and
Marquez can save their respec-
tive factories from here.
MOTOGP
SPRINT–
HOW DOES IT
WORK?
The biggest shake-up of the Mo-
toGP format in history sees rid-
ers line up for the MotoGP Sprint,
held over half-race distance, on
Saturday afternoon, before the
feature race will be held over full
distance the following day.
The schedule has been
revised accordingly. MotoGP
now has two practice sessions
on Friday (P1 and P2) the first
45 minutes long, the second an
hour. The combined standings
at the end of both sessions will
determine who automatically
qualifies for Saturday's Q2 ses-
sion, with the top 10 making the
cut. A 30-minute Free Practice
will precede qualifying. Q1 and
Q2 will determine the grid for
both Saturday and Sunday's
outings.
VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P91
great subplots promises to be
relations in the factory garage
now that smiling assassin Enea
Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo) has
been installed as teammate.
After a settled offseason, Jorge
Martin (Pramac Ducati) also has
everything in place to make a
championship bid.
Not that Ducati will have all
its own way. Some of the major
technical flaws that plagued 2021
champ Fabio Quartararo (Mon
-
ster Energy Yamaha) last year
have been rectified. And that's
before we get to Marc Marquez
(Repsol Honda), who, in his own
words, is "fully recovered" from
the injury woes that plagued his
previous three seasons. The
Bagnaia-Bastianini dynamic plus
Marquez's full return should add
a touch of needle to competitive
proceedings that were, at times,
overly cordial last year. There's
no reason to discount any of the
aforementioned names as title
contenders over the nine months
to come.
With practice shortened over
a race weekend, it's more impor
-
tant than ever to arrive to the first
round with a sorted packaged.
This should complement Ducati's
winter approach. Aprilia has
worked diligently, making enough
small gains with its evolved
RS-GP to suggest 2022 was no
flash in the pan. And it adds two
satellite machines in RNF Racing
to further bolster its ranks.
Yamaha's enterprise couldn't
be faulted over the winter. It has
rectified the issues that plagued
Quartararo last term—mainly a
lack of horsepower in its engine.
But only a late switch back to
last year's aero and chassis
settings remedied the French
-
man's numerous issues prior
to then. With teammate Franco
Morbidelli still languishing, he
appears set to go it alone for
Yamaha once again.
And what to say of KTM
and Honda? Both were lagging
behind during testing, with the
Austrians struggling to find rear
(Left) The new season also sees
the introduction of a unified tire-
pressure monitoring system
for all bikes. (Right) Ducati
and Aprilia have hired several
engineers formerly of Ferrari to
focus on aerodynamics. Others
have followed suit, including
KTM, which is seeking help
from Red Bull's F1 team.
