STOP TURN, GO!
Motorcycle racing is very simple – all you’re trying to do is get down the straights as quick as possible and around the corners as fast as possible – but also incredibly complex. And MotoGP has never been more complicated than it is now. In the old days it was engine, chassis, suspension and tyres. Now it’s engines, chassis, suspension, electronics, downforce aero, holeshot devices, shapeshifters and tyres.
Nor has it ever been closer. At one race last year, the top 10 was covered by 5.4 seconds, which averages out at a difference of one hundredth of a second at each corner between the winner and whoever finished 10th. It’s insanely close – if your bike and rider aren’t 99.9 percent as good as the best, you’re nowhere.
The winning difference in 2022 will be through stopping and turning. Getting the bike turned mid-corner as quickly as possible is MotoGP’s current holy grail, because the sooner the rider can get off Michelin’s not-so-good front slick and onto its much-better rear slick, the sooner he can use full throttle.
Also expect more top speed, following a two-year freeze on engine development, due to the pandemic. Thus MotoGP’s all-time record of 362.4kmh, set by Johann Zarco’s Ducati Desmosedici in Qatar last year, will most likely be broken.
YAMAHA YZR-M1
TEAMS AND RIDERS
Monster Energy Yamaha
> Fabio Quartararo
> Franky Morbidelli
WITHU Yamaha RNF
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