Box Confidential: Red Bull Ring, the circuit of guardian angels

Red Bull Ring, the Guardian Angels circuit.

I don’t know if Guardian Angels exist or not, but if they do, their home is undoubtedly the Red Bull Ring. Just as in 2020 they avoided the tragedy of tragedies by preventing two out-of-control motorcycles from crashing into Maverick Viñales and Valentino, and in the same year Maverick Viñales was uninjured after jumping into motion when he lost it of the brakes, now they appeared so that The biggest crash of the season, caused by Pedro Acosta at turn 4, ended with a few seconds of agony for the driver and for us who saw it live. This is one of those falls that reminds us that motorcycle racing is a high-risk sport. Pedro fell at around 300 km/h and he and his motorcycle slid down the hill for what seemed like a ‘kilometre’, luckily nobody was hit. If it’s not, now we’re going to talk about… Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it… Good thing the Red Bull Ring Guardian Angels are working now.

Stefan Pierer, the ruthless president of KTM.

The Red Bull Ring is considered by KTM to be the backyard of its house and that is why the sui generis president of the Austrian brand, Stefan Pierer, does not understand that, despite almost giving a blank check for the MotoGP project Of the 11 races held there, only two won their motorcycles. Determined to change this dynamic, ahead of this weekend’s GP, Pierer gave the green light for the biggest deployment ever made by his ‘orange army’ – orange being KTM’s signature colour. But in return Pierer demands results, and when I write ‘requests’ I know exactly what I’m talking about. The fact that he is now in the pits since the first practice session evaluating his investment is a huge pressure for the KTM/GasGas riders and team. And I thought that what he saw – a ‘miserable’ fifth place – he didn’t like…Notice to sailors: You have two days left to change the situation.

Message to fans: first things first, sport comes later.

After months of rumours, back and forth, the MotoGP 2025 grid was finally set up this weekend A grid that can usually be summed up in a couple of new additions, the Spanish Fermín Aldeguer and the Japanese Ai Ogura, and a huge one. exchanges between drivers and teams. One of those changes, the departure of Jack Miller from KTM to join the future new Yamaha satellite team, upset part of the fans, endorsing yesterday’s statements by Aleix Espargaró when, in one in his classics ‘where there is a puddle I get into’, it was deemed inappropriate to continue in MotoGP by some riders who, without getting merit for it, blocked the arrival of young riders with a hunger that was not theirs . But Espargaró knows very well that the World Cup as we know it today is a business first, and a sport second. And if Australia whispers in the ear of the championship organizer that it would be better to have an Australian driver in the category… Well, first things first.