MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

On Sunday we found out just what it takes to bring overtaking back to MotoGP. A light sprinkling of rain on the grid, a mad rush to swap bikes at the end of the first lap, and then rain increasing in intensity as the race goes on. Ideally the rain would have eased off after a while, so the race could have gone full distance, rather than being red flagged. But the 12 laps of Motegi which settled the final result showed just how good MotoGP can be when the racing is in the riders' hands, rather than in the hands of engineers.

After Saturday, rain was thought to be the only thing that could prevent another demonstration by Jorge Martin. The wildcard of a wet track would surely shake things up, and stymie his relentless march. But as Johann Zarco said on Saturday, "He's like in a bubble now. Everything he is doing is working well." That includes racing in the wet. Martin simply outclassed everyone else over half race distance on a soaking track.

Pecco Bagnaia put up resistance, and the outcome could perhaps have been different had the race gone on. But it didn't, and no one had an answer for Martin's superior drive.

Smarts plus talent

When the 2023 MotoGP season is over, the Motegi round is likely to be seen as one of the turning points. Either because this is the place where Pecco Bagnaia and his team fixed their problems with the Ducati GP23 and stopped Jorge Martin's momentum in its tracks, or because he couldn't, and Martin would go on to sweep the title.

It is still too early to say which of those two versions of events will transpire, and the sprint race at Motegi did little to clarify the picture. Jorge Martin was unstoppable, shattering the pole record, beating the race lap record by over a second (though the sprint races don't count toward setting race lap records), and leading from start to finish, after shaking off a brief challenge from Brad Binder. But Pecco Bagnaia looked a lot better than he has done in recent races, finishing third and limiting the damage to Martin.

When Michelin entered MotoGP, their official objectives were to use premier class motorcycle racing as a laboratory to be able to do R&D at the very highest level, to learn lessons about designing and building tires that simply can't be learned on the street.

Unofficially, of course, they also wanted to show up Bridgestone – or as Michelin refer to them, the previous supplier – by smashing the lap records set on the Japanese rubber as quickly as possible. They did that pretty quickly, and within a couple of years most of the lap records were gone.

But a few hung on stubbornly, year after year. The outright (Marc Marquez, 2014) and race lap (Valentino Rossi, 2015) records at Argentina are still from the Bridgestone era, as is the record at Phillip Island, which is in the hands of Marc Marquez from the bizarre 2013 race where the brand new track surface was generating so much heat in the tires that the race was shortened and compulsory pit stops to swap bikes were introduced.

Chapter 2 of MotoGP's Eastern Tour sees the paddock alight at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, a couple of hours north of Tokyo. After the excitement of tension of a brand new venue, the Buddh International Circuit just outside of New Delhi, Motegi is almost the polar opposite. Everything about Motegi is known: owned by Honda, and raced at since Daijiro Kato's untimely death just over 20 years ago made it impossible for MotoGP to return to Suzuka.

Honda and Yamaha test here – Cal Crutchlow was here in August, testing the latest iteration of the Yamaha M1 – and the riders, teams, and bikes all have thousands of laps around the track. MotoGP is back into its familiar routine, driving from the same hotel they have been staying in for the last decade at Mito up the hill to the Motegi Twin Ring circuit, then after the race to the same bar for Karaoke and strong drink.

Motegi is very much a known quantity. So much so that it gets its own mention in the MotoGP technical regulations: as the circuit where the brakes are tested the hardest, Motegi was the first track to be added to the list where the use of 340mm brake discs are compulsory, to prevent the brakes from overheating and fading. Spielberg in Austria and Buriram in Thailand were added to that illustrious list a little later.

Burning brakes

As the most populous nation in the world, and one that is absolutely mad for motorcycles, India deserved a motorcycling grand prix. And as a successful economy, it had the capacity to organize one. On Sunday, it got a proper MotoGP spectacle. The racing for the win in all three categories wasn't particularly exciting – three races, three runaway victories – but there was spectacle and sensation up and down the field. Surprises, and championships blown wide open. What more could you want?

Initial fears of disaster proved to be overblown. The track was as safe as most European tracks, with some room for improvement. The asphalt could do with being repaved, but the same is true for half a dozen circuits on the calendar. The facilities were generally outstanding, the crowds were decent for a first race with little promotion (making it happen mattered more than packing the grandstands to the rafters) and incredibly passionate. The standard of marshalling left something to be desired, though it was not outright dangerous, just not up to world championship standard.

The proof of any pudding is in the eating. And the proof of any MotoGP event is when the rubber hits the road for real: when the racing starts. The Grand Prix of India has been through a real rollercoaster in the past few months, from doubts that the circuit would be ready a few months ago, to worries that the track wasn't safe enough a couple of weeks ago, to the circuit being embraced by the riders yesterday after they finally got a taste of the Buddh International Circuit on a MotoGP bike.

But practice is practice, and only racing is for real, and the first ever grand prix motorcycle race to be held at BIC exposed a few weaknesses in the circuit's preparation. And it once again exposed the rather worrying state of MotoGP in 2023. There was a long delay due to the rain, the sprint race starting at 5pm, 90 minutes after the originally scheduled start. And there was yet another first-corner pile up, with another rider forced to miss Sunday's race due to injuries sustained in the crash.

What was the verdict on the first day of a historic Indian GP? "So fun," Jorge Martin said, speaking for pretty much everyone on the grid. "I really enjoy riding here. It was so, so fun." That fun translated into outright speed as well. "Straight away in the morning I felt good. then in the evening I was super competitive trying to improve some problems I had. The pace is good. the lap time was great also. So I’m very happy."

The Pramac Ducati rider wasn't the only rider to be impressed. "Really good," Marc Marquez agreed. "Better than everybody expected." The fears about safety had been allayed, which allowed the riders to get on with figuring out how to go as fast as possible without worrying about the consequences. "I think they did a very good job the last two months, and it’s true that we can improve a few things for next year but as riders we can give thanks because we can be in a normal way and just think about riding."

After all the worries, concerns, fears that the Indian MotoGP round would not happen, because of missing visas or missing riders, inadequate facilities, or an unsafe track, things are looking pretty bright for the first ever motorcycle racing grand prix to be held in India. There were plenty of bumps along the way (and there may yet be a few more bumps ahead), but the stage is set for what promises to be a remarkable event.

Was the panic over visas unwarranted? Not entirely. The fact that Marc Marquez only arrived first thing on Thursday morning is far from ideal preparation for a grand prix weekend in the intense heat and humidity of northern India. Lessons will have to be learned when MotoGP comes back next year, about planning to tackle the various bureaucratic challenges posed by racing in India well in advance. It is normal for the first race at a new track to face bumps in the road, but these bumps were nearly large enough to qualify as a whoops section.