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So back to this gnarly crash…
I think you know which crash we’re talking about – Catalan GP, four factory riders, first lap of the race…
The race started out tight, with riders literally on top of each other. Mix that with new tires on a steaming circuit and you’re due for some excitement. We all know what happened from there, Lorenzo lost his front and took out three of the top factory riders… ouch. While Dovizioso and Rossi kept their cool and later came to peace with the inccident, Maverick Vinales, who desperately needed these championship points was not so calm or cool or collected.
So what does this mean going forward?
The championship points just got very interesting… As we mentioned earlier, Marc Marquez now holds a 37 point lead over Dovi. And although the Ducati rider (who by the way is a contendor for the World Champion title) recieved 0 points in Catalunya, he still holds a 2 point lead over Alex Rins who is barely holding onto third.
Danilo Petrucci has been taking the last few races by storm and is dangerously close to overtaking both Rins and Dovizioso. Looks like Petrucci’s factory seat isn’t so questionable going forward… Rounding out the top 5, Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi is sitting pretty with a 19+ gap above and below him.
Let’s jump over to Rossi’s teammate, Maverick Vinales, who hasn’t had the most consistent start to the season. The Spanish rider did not have the home race he had intended. Starting from P6 on the grid and immediately jumping into 2nd place, everyone had an optimistic outlook for him. Fast forward to the crash, some yelling and angry gestures, Vinales recived 0 points and now sits in 11th place in the World Championship ranking. I know, 11th sounds rough. But it gets better from here! Vinales has a slim 13 point gap between himself and P6 in the rankings. The pressure is on for the Yamaha rider as he heads to TT Assen where he earned a podium position just last year.
Want to see how all the riders are currently ranked? Check out our “current performance” page by clicking here. There you will find the championship rankings and a recap of each GP with all the need-to-know facts.
Onward to the Dutch Grand Prix. Have a great week, never stop learning and ride on!
Written by Julia Robinson
24 Laps, 11 DNFs and 3 Manufacturers on the Podium
Almost every single race this season has been dubbed the most thrilling one yet, well that is until the next GP rolls around. The Catalan Grand Prix was no exception and brought some of the fiercest riding yet. After 24 laps on the hottest circuit of the season thus far, Repsol Honda rider, Marc Marquez has landed on the top of the podium yet again. Leaving his home circuit with a 37 point lead over Ducati rider, Andrea Dovizioso, Marquez has increased his momentum in the race for the World Champion title.
Seeing Marquez on the podium has become a regular occurance. We’re not too surprised anymore but our excitement for him never dies. His riding ability and technique has and will continue to push the sport and drive compeitition. What’s not so common? Seeing Danilo Petrucci on the podium three times in a row AND seeing the French rookie, Fabio Quartararo earn his first podium in the premier class.
Not only did Fabio land on the podium, but he was also the only Yamaha rider to finish the race… Way to go kid! Yes, the two factory riders got taken out but we’ll get back to that. Quartararo now has a 29 point lead over the next highest ranked rookie, Joan Mir. What we saw from the Petronas Yamaha rider was fast, I mean FAST, sector 2 and 4 times. This allowed him to stay ahead of his most competitive opponents regardless of his weaker consistency index across all sectors. He was able to utilize his strengths where Petrucci and Rins faced more challenges.
Congratulations to these three riders as they managed to lead the pack in one of the most drama – filled races yet.
Onward to TT Assen!
Written by Julia Robinson
Stay Up To Date
Want the post-race quick facts? Check out our 2019 season page where we recap each race with top grid positions, top finishers, who DNF and race weather conditions. Additionally, we provide the current World Championship rankings.
Gentleman’s Betting Results
There’s never a dull moment with these riders! After an unexpected turn of events, we saw three different manufacturers on the podium with Yamaha rider, Fabio Quartararo earning his first podium finish in the premier class.
With almost half of the riders crashing out of the race, the dream team results were as unpredictable as ever. Results are listed below! How did your team do?
Post Race Results:
1st Place: Team 2 with 42 points
2nd Place: Team 4 with 34 points
3rd Place: Team 3 with 29 points
4th Place: Team 1 with 25 points
For The Girls
Are you a female involved or looking to get involved in motorsports? Do you know a female involved or looking to get involved in motorsports?
If you answered yes to one or both of those questions, be sure to check out our “For The Girls” section which is designed by women for women. And don’t forget to subscribe to our *girls only* email list!
Gentleman’s Betting Results
Free practice has starting and the dream team betting for the Catalan GP has ended!
Fan Results:
1st Place: Team 2 with 55% of the votes
2nd Place: Team 1 with 27% of the votes
3rd Place: Team 3 with 9% of the votes
4th Place: Team 4 with 9% of the votes
Three Factory Teams Go Head to Head in Catalunya
With all the hype centered around the individual World Championship rankings, it can be easy to overlook the team rankings throughout the season. Today we are going to dive into the top three ranked teams which by no surprise are:
- Mission Winnow Ducati – 185 points
- Repsol Honda – 134 points
- Monster Energy Yamaha – 112 points
The Catalan Grand Prix is a home race for three out of the six riders that are included in the top ranked teams. While some may believe in a home court advantage, the 2019 season has been filled with unpredictable twists and turns making each GP more exciting than the last.
Let’s start with tracking each team’s cumulative combined index for the first six races. The graph’s below display the rate of improvement for each team (not individual rider) as they progress through the 2019 season. If one or both teammates received a DNF, that race is an automatic 0.
*Spoiler alert: The Ducati team is the only one whose riders have finished all six races.*
As you can see, the Factory Ducati team is on a fairly steep rate of improvement with the exception of Qatar to Argentina. This graph suggests that BOTH Dovizioso and Petrucci are improving their performances each race and not relying on one to carry the other.
An almost horizontal line AKA little to no improvement from one race to another… All I have to say is, Marquez, you must be tired of carrying the team on your back! Lorenzo and Marquez are ultimately cancelling out each other’s points due to their almost opposite performances. With five podiums out of the first six races, Marquez is not only saving the Honda team, but also leading the World Championship. Could a home race change Lorenzo’s trajectory?
Inconsistency has engulfed the Factory Yamaha team this season. We’ve seen crashes, jump starts and poor qualifying from Rossi and Vinales and are desperately waiting for a change in pace. The team’s performance shows a positive trend line which reflects a weakening team performance as the season progresses. While both Ducati riders are improving in parallel, #46 and #12 are out of sync with each other and themselves.
We expect each rider to be heading into race weekend with a fire under their seats. Why?
- A poor home race in Mugello left Rossi hungry for redemption.
- Could the taste for a Spanish podium in Jerez fuel Vinales to once again show his fans why he’s here?
- A first win for Petrucci in Mugello, well, he’s on a high.
- The possible World Champion contender, Andrea Dovizioso, must overtake Rins in the ranking and close the gap between himself and Marquez.
- Speaking of Marquez… he’s simply unstoppable.
Free practice tomorrow, qualifying Saturday and race day on Sunday. It’s time for the Catalan Grand Prix!
Written by Julia Robinson
Place your bet!
Which team do you think will bring home the most cumulative points at the Catalan GP this weekend? Place your bet before it’s too late by clicking here!
Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya
It’s race week and we are exploring all things Catalunya! Earlier this week we published weather analysis for this region, now let’s dive into the circuit itself.
Our circuit profile pages have been redesigned with a fresh new look that that gives you ample analysis on each circuit on a sector level. What’s our goal with providing you race fans with this info?
To allow comparison between circuits, sectors and riders across all 19 locations traveled to in the series.
Click here to learn more about the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya.
A Window To The Past
This year has been one adrenaline pumping race after another and we don’t expect these guys to slow down now. With only 2 Spanish riders ranked within the top 7 world standings, we hope to see a significant push as many head to their home circuit.
Interested to learn more about how each rider has performed here in the past? Well you’re in luck! Below we have provided the historical combined indexes for each rider currently racing. The combined index reflects a rider’s speed index handicapped by their consistency index on the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya. The data being studied ranges from the 2015 season – the 2018 season.
A smaller index = faster, more consistent times
*Note: You may (or may not have) noticed that only half the riders are ranked by a combined index. Riders listed without an index have either crashed or not participated in the Grand Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya within the past four years.
As you can see, many riders are going in with little to no experience racing on this circuit in the MotoGP series.
Catalunya Weather Profile
The Catalunya Circuit experiences dry, warm conditions during June as the region transitions into the summer months. Rain is very unlikely on race weekend. In fact, there hasn’t been a wet race in 15+ years at Catalunya. With stable, warmer temperatures, the air is able to hold any present moisture as humidity and retain it without condensing. While cloud coverage can trap heat and help maintain comfortable air temperatures, it plays a significant role in ground temperature.
The forecast for the GP weekend calls for cloudier conditions Friday and Saturday, with clear skies on race day. The air temperature is said to remain around 75 degrees F throughout the weekend. Many people assume that warm air temperature = hot circuit temperature. It’s a bit more complicated than that… Cloud coverage dictates how much energy transfers to and from the Earth, so when clouds form, the incoming radiation traveling from the sun is faced with an obstacle. The circuit temperature is directly affected by the amount of radiation being aborbed and released – not by the air temperature.
As if tire choice isn’t already complicated enough, we can expect the circuit temperature to fluctuate throughout the weekend, putting even more stress on the optimal tire choice.
Below we have provided the average values for the climate variables our team studies, compared to the cumulative average of all 19 circuits. The goal of this chart is not to define each value numerically but to provide a side by side comparison to put each variable into context.
Unfamiliar with the climate variables that we take into consideration? Click here to learn more about what and why we study in regard to weather and racing.
Study up, place a bet!
With the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya just around the corner, it’s time for some friendly gentleman’s betting! We create the teams, you study up (or not) and place a bet on which team you think will bring home the most cumulative championship points in Barcelona.
The teams are listed below with their team index which is derived from each individual combined index.
Click here to place your bet.
One Man’s Trash, Another Man’s Come Up
The 2019 season has had a rollercoaster of races thus far, and it’s only round seven… Four riders have claimed the first six 1st place podiums and two of those riders are sitting pretty with their first MotoGP win of their careers. Suzuki rider, Alex Rins and Ducati rider, Danilo Petrucci have each made quite the impression as they fly through the start of the season. Currently sitting in 3rd and 4th place in the World Championship rankings, these two riders sit among 2018 World Champion Marc Marquez and 2018 runner up, Andrea Dovizioso.
Now people may call this luck, given that that some of the more seasoned riders have had their ups and downs (let’s recall COTA “king” Marc Marquez and Italian “superstar” Valentino Rossi). Everyone is allowed a crappy race weekend once in a while, right? I’m going to go with no… Every single championship point collected in a season matters. If you want to land in the top 5, you can’t afford an “off” weekend. So where did Petrucci and Rins come from?
Let’s start with Petrucci… Since joining MotoGP back in 2012, Danilo has yet to earn a pole grid position. He has landed a P2 or P3 on the grid 9 times. Over the course of his career, he has landed on the podium 8 times, three 3rd places, four 2nd places and after last weekend, one 1st place. The Ducati rider ranks 5th out of the group for speed trajectory and 6th for consistency trajectory. To put this is simple terms, he has a strong improvement rate year to year and unlike many of the riders that have been riding since 2012, he is far from plateauing. Could the 1st place that he snagged in Mugello be the kick he’s needed to keep up with the big dogs? Time will tell.
Suzuki rider, Alex Rins, has a bit of a different story. Having only been in the series since 2017, we still consider him a greener rider. Does this mean we downplay his skill and technique? Quite the opposite. Although Rins has yet to earn a front row grid position, the Spanish rider always seems to find a way to utilize his predator skills and sneak his way to the front of the pack. Rins has two 3rd places, four 2nd places and after COTA this year, one 1st place under his belt. Not bad for a rider going into his 3rd year on a newer manufacturer. Alex Rins is young, he’s newer to the series and he holds the strongest trajectory rate for both speed and consistency out of all the riders. His path is promising as he begins to refine his skills and prioritize his game plans going into each race week.
We believe that Ducati and Suzuki have strong, unique riders representing them on the circuit. Both Danilo, a more seasoned rider, and Alex, a greener rider, show great potential as they race into the 2019 season. Utilizing their already developed skills, we hope to see both riders study and learn from their opponents to maintain this momentum.
Written by Julia Robinson
Study. Be aware. Protect your position.
With six podiums out of the first seven races of the 2019 season, Marc Marquez has shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, he’s just getting started! The unstoppable Spaniard has landed on the front row of the grid each race and has maintained a strong prey index, preventing his opponents from from overtaking at opportune times.
Photo Source: MotoGP.com
In addition to earning a top grid position each race, Marquez has perfected his start off the grid. The Repsol Honda rider has lead the entire pack for at least four laps without letting anyone challenge him for P1 each race, with the exception of Qatar. His ability to ride in a defensive mindset reflects his maturity as a rider as well as his knowledge and awareness of his opponents. Studying each of his competitors and their riding styles/techniques has allowed Marquez to refine his race lines and blocks. He acknowledges the fact that he only has to be better than the few riders tailing him and knowing their common strategies for overtaking, he can defend his position and the championship points.
Let’s revisit Marquez’s performance in Austin this year… Talk about a learning experience. Bottom line, he did too much. Had he reigned in it a bit, the COTA king could have kept a safe distance between himself and the pack without jeopardizing his position. A personal best is great in all, but at the end of the day you’re not trying to beat yourself, you’re trying to beat your opponents.
Study. Be aware. Protect your position.
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