100.- Marc Márquez. Prodigious, for piloting, courage, aggressiveness, competitiveness and ambition. This world cup bears his name long ago, has enough advantage to win without risking and as it was the race had no obligation to play the whiskers, but this guy is another pasta, he played, gave chase to Pol Espargaró and it happened to him to gain the race, to the limit, on the wire, playing the fall. His hunger for victory has no limits … what do you gain from seeing him in MotoGP !!!!
90.- Valentino Rossi and Ducati. Two years have been slow to achieve, together, the goal with which the dream union of Italian motorcycling was born, and now turned into a nightmare, and total divorce from the Qatar GP, the first of this course. But finally the first podium has arrived, in the dry, of the most mediatic couple of motorcycling. Finally the Ducati with the 46 has climbed to the podium, and although the race was run at a much lower than expected, that pace was the same for everyone, and just as Rossi managed the second step of the podium, that square was open to whoever wanted to fight, but it was he who reached it. So yes, slow race, but identical merit. And once highlighted Rossi, who want to make a special mention is the work of Ducati. With what has fallen this year, with the loss of image and popularity for the divorce with Rossi, another would have waited next year, but in Borgo Panigale have continued working on the GP12, new chassis, new swing, new evolutions … “I’ve finally been able to drive the way I want to,” said Vale. He arrives late, yes, for Rossi, but not for Ducati, who has shown to know how to make motorcycles, although much slower than his rivals, Honda and Yamaha, among other things because his competition department has a hundred times less engineers and budget. Hopefully Dovizioso, Hayden, Spies and Iannone can take advantage of it. And another thing, Ducati has shown an imperial manor, by continuing to work to improve Valentino’s bike and let him continue testing when he has already signed for a rival team. Chapeau!
80.- Alvaro Bautista. He deserved it for a long time, but had not given the circumstances so far to reach a podium that resisted. On a grill where there are four official bikes that are above the rest in light years (Honda and Yamaha), two satellite that are at the level, almost, of the official (the Tech3), a Honda satellite with the same suspensions of the officers (the one of Bradl), unlike Bautista, that takes another mark, and two official Ducati, in low but official hours, to make a podium is not simple. But Alvaro not only has not surrendered, and he had reason, since almost everyone got off the bike next year, but has claimed the first podium of his career in MotoGP. Congratulations.
70.- Jorge Lorenzo. “Race given away” said Pedrosa, maybe yes, surely, but the races have to be run and won and Jorge did his job perfectly, adding 25 points that leave him in a perfect situation to win his second MotoGP World Championship. Now, in addition to Pedrosa, Jorge’s great rival is going to be the lack of concentration, if he loses it he can make a mistake that will give life to his rival again. If you keep it, the title is yours.
60.- Sandro Cortese. He played with all his rivals, he measured them, he tried them, he let them pass, he passed them, he slowed down, he modulated them to his liking and when he saw that Viñales was coming, Salom was getting a cock, Rins was sticking his head out and Fenati wanted to win at home , climbed the pace a step, pulled a few decimillas that were kept in the sleeve and won at pleasure, sentencing, if nothing unusual happens, the Moto3 title. Great season for the German and his team, whose sporting director is nothing more and nothing less than Joan Olivé, who has also developed the bike. A 10 for the Tarragona.
40.- Pol Espargaró. I read that the fact that the race was interrupted and started again with fewer laps … I do not know how you can know that, but what I do know is that Pol is an extraordinary driver, a winner, a fighter , an exceptional athlete, but who has had the bad luck to coincide in time and place with a Martian, Marc Márquez, who is a pilot of those who leave one every 20 or 30 years … Pol made an impeccable race, but in the The last lap could not with the push of Marc. Nor do I agree with those who criticize Pol for his statements after the race, only he, who is on the bike, knows how and in what way they pass each other, although I also believe that in a last round and with the victory at stake, everything is worth it.
50.- Luis Salom. It continues to consolidate race to race as a leading pilot, intelligent, with strategy and vision of the races, with the war that had for the second place and the pilots involved, to achieve it was almost a triumph. I like this driver and his progression and if things continue that way I would not be surprised if he took the runner-up to Viñales.
30.- Esteve Rabat. In a category as competitive as Moto2 it is difficult to get the head for the front posts. Tito did a great race, got to be some laps fighting with the head and ended up signing an excellent fifth place, that after four races out of the tot10 will have known to glory to the Catalan driver.
20.- Maverick Viñales. It is evident that his motorcycle, with Honda engine, does not measure up to the KTM, especially the very official one of Cortese, but for his talent he should be a little closer to the German, both in the race and in the results, since Mugello’s victory, he has three consecutive races out of the podium, so he will not be a champion, even if Cortese makes an error.
10.- Héctor Barberá. As good kid and pilot as, sometimes, something brainless. Hector has apologized for active and passive Dani Pedrosa, explained the launch and has justified from all possible angles, but we are afraid that the years will pass and still people will remember that world that lost Pedrosa (if it is who does not win it) because Barberá threw him … A situation that, put as anyone wants, has nothing to do with Lorenzo and Bautista in Holland, that was a ‘suicidal’ action, unfortunate, yes, but without justification . The ‘Barbi’ has been more of a race, of a strange race because never, never, Dani would have had to be where he was in the first round of the race. Barbera, seeing him, would have had to let him pass and ignore, it was not his war, but the fact that Dani was there was preceded by a cluster of errors and bad luck that have nothing to do with Hector.
0.- To the accumulation of misfortunes, bad luck and, also, errors that involved Pedrosa. An accumulation of cascading situations ended up ruining Dani’s best season in his seven years in MotoGP. Whose fault was it? That question has no answer and if you have it, of course, we will never know, what triggers that question is a succession of new questions: Why the best team in the world, the one with the most resources and, theoretically, the the best working for them, are they hooked on a heater? Why of all those people who surround Dani on the grid, there is not one who only knows the regulations, what can and can not be done on the grid? Why on a motorcycle so sophisticated and expensive (presume that only the change is worth 600,000 euros) is so easy to press a simple button and enter the configuration of pit lane … and not realize immediately? Why did they take the bike off the grill … so fast? Why Carrera Management did not put calm in the chaos and indicated more clearly the procedure of the second exit after aborting the first one? Why did not they apply the regulation? They let Dani back on the grid when the norm indicated that she had to leave the pit lane on the warm-up lap of the second start, and instead if they applied it to make the last one come out? In short, many unanswered questions, many guilty and few guilty, a cumulus of circumstances that led to the outcome that we all know. Maybe it’s true that Barberá threw Pedrosa, but Dani never had to be where he was in that fateful turn six of the first round of the San Marino Grand Prix.
Germán Garcia Casanova
Motocuatro
