MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

As the short summer break nears an end, contract season in MotoGP is starting to ramp up again. With the British Grand Prix at Silverstone coming into view, rider announcements are imminent. 

The first to announce will be Trackhouse Racing. In a post on social media, Trackhouse team owner Justin Marks announced that the team had "found their guy". We do not yet officially know who that 'guy' will be, but at least one of the names will be Raul Fernandez, current rider with the team, and the other is likely to be current Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jack Miller.

Who it won't be is current Trackhouse Racing rider Miguel Oliveira. According to the well-informed Italian broadcaster Sky Sports Italia, Oliveira will be riding a Yamaha next year for the Pramac Yamaha squad. Oliveira will have a contract with Yamaha directly, and use his experience to help develop the Yamaha M1.

Once upon a time, the Sachsenring was Ducati's kryptonite. The circuit had everything the Desmosedici couldn't do: turn easily and hold a tight line.

Those days are long gone. In last year's Sunday grand prix at the Sachsenring, the first five bikes across the line were all Ducatis. And the other three Ducatis followed behind Jack Miller, the lone interloper from KTM to disrupt the Ducati party.

So what happened? "The bike itself is an all round package now," Jack Miller explained, the memory of riding a Desmosedici around Sachsenring still relatively fresh in his mind. "Just watching the race back from last week in Assen you can see the bike does everything."

In a rather frosty first press conference of the day, containing the three Ducati riders currently leading the 2024 MotoGP championship, Marc Marquez concurred with the Red Bull KTM Factory rider's assessment. "The Ducati is working well in every race track, compared to other manufacturers who have more up and downs, like a rider," the Gresini Ducati rider told us. "But Ducati is working well in every race track, and the tracks where they are struggling a bit because another manufacturer is faster, we are there. So here if you have turning and you have rear grip, it's done. So they have a very good compromise."

The long slog to success

By the time you read this article, there is an 80% chance that the information contained within it will have been superseded. We are in the middle of MotoGP Silly Season, and in the run up to the series resuming in Assen after a short break, announcements are being made. As we saw with the news that Aprilia have signed Marco Bezzecchi to a "multiple-year deal", which is the latest fad in contract press releases, and is code for a two-year deal with options to extend. And usually, options to terminate early, though those are almost never invoked.

So where does the Bezzecchi announcement leave us? As I have written previously, and we have discussed on the Paddock Pass Podcast, Bezzecchi was part of a chain of rider (and team) movements expected to take effect before the next summer break ends and MotoGP reconvenes at Silverstone. There are more moves in the pipeline, and some may even come this week.

First, an overview of what is available and what isn't. The signing of Bezzecchi leaves just two factory seats (tentatively) open. Bezzecchi will partner Jorge Martin at Aprilia, Marc Marquez joins Pecco Bagnaia at the factory Ducati Lenovo squad, and Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder are KTM's new Red Bull Factory Racing superteam.

Open seats

The sprint races were added to the MotoGP schedule to give the fans something extra to look forward to on Saturday, to help circuits by filling the stands. And judging by the packed grandstands at Jerez, it's working rather well. Half distance races are intense and exciting and add an extra dimension to MotoGP.

There are downsides, of course. The additional pressure, the lack of setup time, the increased importance of grid position. But in the second year of the new schedule, the chaos of the sprint races seems to have subsided. The teams and riders have got a grip on things and are managing much better than at the start last year.

Until today, that is. The sprint race at Jerez created carnage, a wild ride which saw 15 of the 25 riders on the grid crash, five tire pressure penalties handed out, a podium spot change hands, and a classic Marc Marquez performance. In every sense of that phrase.

I'm not sure you can blame the sprint race format for the chaos at Jerez, however. Saturday's surprises were down to the weather, to the asphalt, and to keeping a level head while those around you lose theirs.

On the one hand, the first race of the 2024 MotoGP season confounded expectations. On the other, it went exactly as you might expect. In fact, where normally the first race of the season is a bit of an anomaly, the Qatar Grand Prix looked like it could be representative for the entire 2024 MotoGP season.

That is partly because there was a test here two weeks ago, and everyone has their bikes pretty much dialed in. But it is also a result of the sprint races. With half race distance on a Saturday afternoon, teams have a good idea of what needs fixing, and get a second chance at perfecting their setup. And because it is the second year of sprint races, teams have a year of data to go on.

The podium of Pecco Bagnaia, Brad Binder, and Jorge Martin feels like an approximation of what the championship might look like by the end of the season. Throw in Marc Marquez in fourth, and a lesson in tire management for Pedro Acosta, and this felt like a template for the rest of the season.

This was not a classic race by any measure. But it was very informative, if it wasn't exciting. So to start, a few observations from the Qatar Grand Prix.

Delayed Start

Who can beat Ducati in 2024? Apart from another Ducati, that is? If anyone is going to be causing Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall'Igna headaches, it will be another European factory. Both Aprilia and KTM made solid steps forward over the winter and produced more competitive machines. The next part lies in the hands of the riders.

Aprilia - all in on aero

For once, it wasn't Ducati surprising onlookers with their latest aerodynamic innovations at the Sepang test. Where Ducati were working on evolutions of a package that was already working well, the real excitement was over in the Aprilia garage.

The Noale factory had brought a completely new aero package for the 2024 RS-GP. A new front wing - slightly narrower, but with a larger surface area, wrapping back on itself - a modified side fairing, and most visibly, a 'Batman' tail section, with fins either side looking like a throwback to late 1950s Cadillacs.