MotoGP Blog

A confluence of events made Le Mans the most unusual race in a while. A rainstorm before the start of the race to wet the tarmac; the heat of northern France to evaporate that rain at an uneven pace; a lack of an intermediate tyre or cut slicks thanks to the single tyre supplier; the flag-to-flag racing regulations, and a champion who called it wrong.

Back to that rain and the tyre choice. The conditions were screaming “intermediate” - no standing water, little spray, but a greasy, slippy, not-quite-wet, not-quite-dry situation that ruled slicks out of the equation. Rain tyres were the only choice.

Since the introduction of flag-to-flag I can’t recall a race which started wet and dried to the extent it did on Sunday - please drop me a comment if you can pick one out. Previously, dry races that got wet have been the norm, and picking the time to move from slicks to intermediates or wets has been the key. The other way around is a different call, with more variables - are your wets done? It is dry enough for a slick tyre to retain it’s temperature? What is the set-up on the other bike like for the dry? What is the dry line like, wide or narrow? Continuous? It is very different decision process.

In terms of those comfortable from the off, Pedrosa, Rossi and Lorenzo looked well set. Stoner, despite contesting the front positions in the initial laps, soon dropped off unhappy with the performance of his bike. Late in the race, he would (according to Suppo) miss a gear out of the final corner and concede a place to Vermeulen. At the time he was staring at his pit crew and almost seemed to be protesting to them that he could not work with his machine. He would pass Vermeulen again, but later and still unhappy, Stoner would skip the post-race interviews.

Back in the initial laps, Lorenzo and Rossi lead the Repsol Hondas and the dry line starts to appear in the areas where the tyres are most stressed, and the lines most limited - through the corners. Crucially, there are still patches around the circuit which are far from drying. Also proving happy in the wet is Melandri, up to 5th place, passing Pedrosa and Vermeulen in the changeable conditions.

The race, however, would turn on the timing of the team’s choice to pit for slick tyres. In dry-to-wet switches, the first rider to change is often the one who benefits most, able to put in the really fast laps and use areas of the track which are not available to the riders still on slicks. In wet-to-dry, the slick riders have only the narrow, dry line to run on. When Rossi came in to change bikes and tyres, the dry line was not even complete around the circuit, let alone wide enough to offer line choice.

Rossi wasn’t the only one to come in - Pedrosa and Capirossi followed him. Dorna’s coverage seemed to validate Rossi. Pictures from Lorenzo’s bike of his rear tyre showed it chunking up, rubber flying off. Seconds later, Rossi was off, a slow-speed low-side. This was only the start of the nightmare. Back to the pits, he would switch back to his #1 bike with wets for a couple of laps while the #2 bike was repaired. Speeding in the pits would cost him a drive-through, and another switch back to the #2 bike on slicks would put an effective end to his race. He would be 2 laps down, hoping to pick up a point or two through other rider’s misfortune. Only Kallio would oblige. Rossi would finish 16th with no points.

Lorenzo’s team must have monitored the Rossi and Pedrosa lap times and have seen that he was still much faster than the slick-shod riders. Why come in? The Lorenzo-Yamaha and Hayate teams deserve credit for having the courage of their convictions to stick to the faster tyres.

Once Lorenzo and Melandri did come in, they were able to get the best out of their tyres and hold the other slick runners at bay. Pedrosa stuffed Dovizioso (who had changed to slicks later than Dani) on the last lap to take third. A cynic would say that, due to the speed with which Pedrosa caught and took Dovi, that this was team orders to maintain Pedrosa’s challenge for the championship. Certainly Dovi looked very unhappy after the race - whether this was losing a podium in the last lap, or being told to, we’ll probably never know.

It was a rare form of a MotoGP race. A race won as much by the team as by the rider. Credit to Lorenzo and Melandri for handling their bikes with severely degraded tyres, but credit too for their teams for making the win possible for them.

MotoGPBlog Man of the Weekend: Marco Melandri for the podium nobody thought he would get this season.