Le Mans always throws up some unexpected surprises, and this year along with the superb weather, there were some shocks right at the front of the field, as the story of the 2022 season starts to develop. It would have been a glorious home win for a French rider, or even a podium, but hopefully the fans won’t go home disappointed.
When you have 8 riders on a bike, it is expected that every weekend some will have highs and some will have lows, but for Ducati those differences are being amplified! On a weekend where Bastiannini had written himself off going into the race, all of a sudden, he had the best race pace of everyone, and fought through to battle Bagnaia. He pressured him well and went on to take another dominant win. If he can build in some consistency, he could truly be a title contender. Miller had another solid day, doing what he needs to do to stay with the team, although his main challenger for the seat won the race. Zarco came back to 5th in front of his home crowd, but probably wants more. As for Martin and Bagnaia, their topsy turvy season continues, which both crashing out on their own. Martin was nowhere, and seriously needs a reset, but Bagnaia made two costly errors whilst battling for the win, and the first should have been a wake up call to not make the second. He didn’t listen though, and the second put him on the deck and out of the race, on a day where he could easily have gained points on Fabio.
Aleix Espargaro is becoming a star of the sport right now, as his consistency is putting him just behind the championship leader. With a few small gains, that bike could easily be contending for wins every weekend, and the paddock better watch out if that happens. Vinales has been running out of excuses for a few races now, and to be 17 seconds behind your teammate is not good enough, especially when we know how good he can be. Yes, Yamaha had some issues when he was there, but so did Maverick it seems.
To be a tenth off your home podium must be gut wrenching for Quartararo, but he lost it all at the start. The launch wasn’t bad, but the power deficit was clear to see, and from there, 4th was the best he could do. He probably had the clear air pace to be close to winning, but he had to pass bikes to do that, which is near impossible. Same old story for the rest of Yamaha, but so much worse than we have ever seen from other teams in the past.
It was a tough weekend for Honda and Marquez, so in some ways 6th isn’t bad, but when they were hoping to be in title contention, their goals are likely to be to far away right now. That bike is just not working for any of them right now. They went away from how Marc likes it, but haven’t nailed it for the others yet, and Marc still isn’t happy. Personally, I think it might be worth putting Marc back on last years bike, until they get the new one working. Nakagami did well to be close to Marc, whereas Pol needed to do better, with his seat under threat.
Binder did his usual thing, making his way through in the race, and 8th isn’t too bad for him. Olivera was with him too, but crashed in the end. Otherwise, they are just a mess right now.
Suzuki weren’t in a mess in terms of pace, but looking at the results, they might as well have been. For both riders to crash out whilst being in the top 5 must be painful for the team, especially for those still reeling from their decision to leave the sport. Both riders needed to be showing how good they are right now, to advertise for seats, especially Rins. At least they had pace, although who knows where they would have finished.
Mugello is next, where it will honestly be a disaster if Ducati don’t win. I am sure that Fabio would love to disrupt their party, but with the long front straight, I can’t see him doing it. Aleix could be a real dark horse, as the tight twisty track may play into his hands.
-M
Meaning of Motorsport 