Confidential Box Portimao: Enough!

IT’S RIGHT!: Pilots scream against Portimao Circuit.

In tests two weeks ago, the pilots presented the material with which the exhaust holes of Portimao are filled. A controversial issue since the first GP held here in the pandemic, when the pilots found rocks in those areas on the run instead of the obligatory gravel. A year later, the pilots demanded the replacement of the material that not only laminated the motorcycles as soon as they entered the exhaust, but also destroyed the pilots’ overalls. Maverick Viñales, for example, this afternoon recalled how in a fall his suit split from foot to waist as if cut by a razor. Marc Márquez, Joan Mir or Aleix Espargaró were not as critical, especially affected by the heavy fall suffered by his brother Pol. In an area without an ‘air fence’ -an air cushion that absorbs the energy of the impact- Pol hit directly against the wall of the tires, suffering very serious injuries that forced his evacuation by helicopter to a hospital in Faro. This afternoon, pilots will hold their safety commission – a meeting where they discuss safety issues – which promises to be very heated. “We have spent many years warning about what is happening and the circuit is doing nothing … and we keep getting closer to the race,” commented Joan Mir, indicating that at some point they must put their feet on the wall.

THE surprise: Not Ducati or Aprilia but KTM

Jack Miller appeared out of nowhere. The Australian pilot made the cliché “pre-season training is one thing and a GP weekend is another”. To the surprise of the whole world – literally – Jack Miller closed the first day of the 2023 season as the fastest in Portimao. The surprise was not so much to see the Australian so effective in a lap -he was in the past as a Ducati rider-, but to be effective on a KTM where he managed to drop 1.2 seconds! his best record from two weeks ago… These things don’t happen in races! Even Jack himself could not explain what happened. It is true that every time he rides his new bike he is making progress, it is true that the engineers are working on the new engine configuration that was introduced two weeks ago, it is true that using Enea Bastianini and his fast Ducati as a hare . also helped , and it’s true that he used a soft tire in the front of the compound, but with everything Miller did today it was like seeing a white blackbird. Tomorrow is another day and Jack has already admitted that he won’t be able to use that tire in the race, but tonight, having kicked the KTM until a few hours ago, his engineers will sleep easier.

GOLDEN GENERATION: Super Moto3, the show yet to come.

With the new format introduced this season, MotoGP gets all the attention, making what we see this season in Moto3 go unnoticed. We’re used to the “crazy squad” starring youngsters arriving at the World Championship with the logical and healthy belief that they’ve been called upon to take over MotoGP numbers, which translates into races that elicit a steady ‘oh, oh, oh! ‘ or ‘oops, ooops, ooops!’ Well, get ready for what’s to come this season with the arrival in Moto3 of what is possibly the best batch of Spanish riders in years; and I know that affirming it is big words. But I maintain that the talent of Daniel Holgado, David Muñoz, José Antonio Rueda, David Alonso and Diogo Moreira, the last two with Colombian and Brazilian passports respectively, but trained as pilots in Spain, have never been combined in the same category. The five were very fast and reached the World Cup after marking the territory in the championships they contested. Among them, Moreira and Muñoz are pure dynamite, explosive, pure talent, while the profile of Holgado, Rueda and Alonso is more in line with drivers who can be said to be ‘meticulous’, by those who want to understand why they are going. fast. These kids will give us epic races; And, if not, at that time.