Almost half of MotoGP didn’t race at Motegi with a big bike

It has been two years since the MotoGP World Championship did not return to the Motegi circuit due to the coronavirus pandemic and recently, on September 7, Japan lifted severe restrictions on entry into the country for foreign visitors, increasing the number of ticket. in the country. There is no need to separate the two weeks and PCR before and after for those with a complete vaccination schedule with vaccines recognized by the local Ministry of Health, although the entire paddock will have to use masks again in closed spaces and back to take social distance.

First contact this Friday with the only FP1 session at Motegi will be key, has not run since 2019, for 44% of them it will be his first time with big bikes at the Japanese GP, but this is the first for everyone with the rear holeshot, the new Michelin casing and all the aerodynamic news which has since been adopted.

Names as important as Enea Bastianini, Jorge Martín or Brad Binder, winners of MotoGP races, Bezzecchi and Alex Márquez, with podium finishes on their record, or Marini, Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, Raúl Fernández, Gardner or the wild card Nagashima (Honda) and Tsuda (Suzuki) his first time in Motegi with a MotoGP.

Enea Bastianini assured at a press conference that “I don’t know if it is an advantage to have raced in MotoGP here, but from 2019 to now the bikes are also different, there are more aerodynamics, there are rear height adjustment devices (holeshot) and they have things have changed for everyone. I can’t even remember in moto2 because it was my first year, but I feel ready to start”.

Regarding the first time with a rear ‘holeshot’, which could be key at Motegi because it will be used at least 5 or 6 times per lap in the race and it means more attention to the bike, the three favorites for the title are from in the opinion that changes things quite a bit.

According to the leader Fabio Quartararo, “it’s a big change because here we will use it more than once, if it is dry the lap times will be faster than in 2019 because we have all improved in terms of riding and motorcycle and in this circuit shows a lot if you use it, but in the wet it doesn’t show much”. In fact, the forecast is for rains for the weekend because the passage of super typhoon Nanmadol is recent and a tropical storm is coming from the southeast that will bring heavy rains.

“We are testing it after Thailand in the 2019 tests and we have developed it, like in Austria, Austin makes the difference and it will be another weekend that marks it, we will see because sometimes it can give you of problems at the level of braking. ” explained Pecco Bagnaia

“In 2019 we were far from the maximum performance of the engine because of the wheelie we had, but now we got more transfer and it will be very demanding because it can be used 5-6 times per lap.”