MotoGP | Trail hunting: a “ridiculous” show and a source of discord

In an increasingly complicated, unpredictable and competitive MotoGP, it is now customary to focus on qualifying, which is increasingly crucial in view of the race. An increasingly balanced championship, big bikes and complicated overtaking are making Saturday morning fundamental for the success (or otherwise) of the weekend after the checkered flag.

For this reason, those who are slower often look for a tow to be able to advance a few places on the starting grid and the favorite targets are, obviously, the fastest riders. The search for slipstreams or a reference is an old story in MotoGP, the issue is long-standing and thorny: we remember Héctor Barberá, pointed out as the “suckers” or the complaints of Jorge Lorenzo, who was taken as a tow.

As of today, it seems that the slipstreaming problem in qualifying has become unmanageable and there have been many occasions where we have seen drivers proceeding very, very slowly on the trajectory in search of a tow to gain those two or three extra tenths that would allow them to advance on the grid. The latest episode we experienced was at Silverstone, where in the last minutes of Q2 no one set off for their lap and we saw drivers “strolling” waiting for the fastest to tow everyone.

A situation that Pecco Bagnaia defined as “incredible”. For the reigning world champion there are no excuses: you can’t look for a slipstream with such a rush that you also put the other riders in danger. Only a few tried to find the time on their own, and according to the Ducati rider this should change. The Silverstone qualifying session is not the first time we have witnessed such spectacles, which now lead to the exasperation of some riders.

“I think we are the best riders in the world in the top category of motorsport. If we got here it is because we know how to do things alone, I don’t understand the reason for always having to attack. But then in the last four qualifying sessions, apart from a couple of riders, no one has ever managed to set a time for this reason. In my case, today, our strategy didn’t bear fruit. I entered 30 seconds after Martin, at Turn 5 I was again in front of everyone,” thundered Bagnaia on Saturday afternoon.

MotoGP riders are the strongest in two-wheeled motorsport, those from whom young people take their example and spectacles like the one seen in qualifying at Silverstone are anything but edifying: “It’s hard work and it’s not a nice show to watch. Then you set an example for the Moto3 riders, but they are excused because they say ‘look at the MotoGP riders, you don’t do anything to them!’. I hope that with Simon Crafar something changes, it would be right to pay more attention to the important things and less on the stupid ones. Also for the image of our sport, is it nice to see 12 riders going slowly in the middle of the track? In my opinion, no. Above all, it’s dangerous, it serves no purpose… I don’t understand it”.

To put an end to this phenomenon, Bagnaia proposes sanctions: “Penalties? Absolutely! And heavy ones too. Not everyone will agree, obviously. For me it is very dangerous, because sometimes you push and find a slow rider who cuts your trajectory. I think it is not dangerous when you are a little off the line. It is important to penalize those who are in the middle”.

The reigning champion is echoed by Fabio Di Giannantonio, who also found himself in the face of the less than decent show of the towing: “In my opinion, when you arrive in MotoGP, you have to make the time yourself. Playing all these games is not very professional, each of us has the potential to really make the lap. Sometimes it becomes dangerous, in the last laps I found myself with a few people in the middle that I almost hit. It is dangerous and also bad for television, in my opinion we should all just do our lap”.

So, what is the solution to this qualifying format to prevent slipstreams? Superpole has been proposed, but it doesn’t find consensus among the riders. “I like to do the lap alone, I don’t care about having someone in front. Superpole? It would be really cool, but it’s difficult to do if the track conditions change from the first to the last rider who does the lap. We just need to be MotoGP riders like we are, get on the track and step on the gas,” explained Di Giannantonio.

Bagnaia instead proposed a 107% in the sector: “Sometimes it is better to make a drastic change. We need a rule. Superpole would be beautiful, but it is not practical, if the weather conditions change it would not be the right thing. But you could put a time limit in the sectors. If you do them over 107% it is a penalty. Then if you demonstrate that you had a problem there is no penalty, but in certain cases it could be useful”.

There is also an opinion from Aleix Espargaro, always at the forefront when it comes to rules and safety. The Aprilia veteran was very tough, fully sharing Bagnaia’s thoughts: “It’s ridiculous to see five or six riders, and they are always the same ones, in the middle of the track waiting for the others while they are completely stopped. They also put their rivals in danger, because the others don’t want to push or the tires cool down and it’s dangerous. But they can do it, the rules allow them to. But I agree with Pecco, for me it’s ridiculous.”

Miguel Oliveira, Trackhouse Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marc Marquez, on the other hand, cannot understand the indignation. The Gresini team rider is one of the riders who has often ended up in the eye of the storm for his unbridled pursuit of slipstreams. In search of a boost in moments of difficulty, the eight-time world champion has often climbed the timesheets, managing to get in the slipstream of the fastest riders, annoyed at finding the Catalan on their heels.

The rules do not prohibit towing, Marc knows it and takes advantage of the opportunity that presents itself to him. Isn’t it edifying? The rider from Cervera claims that it has happened to him in the past, in reverse, and he has never asked himself the question, on the contrary. He would like to find himself in the situation of Bagnaia and the riders whose slipstream is taken: it would mean that he is (again) the strongest.

“I wish I were in Bagnaia’s situation and they followed my slipstream. It would mean I’m the fastest. This is motorcycling, in the end the fastest makes the difference, but the rider who lacks something searches his life to find something more, the advantage of the slipstream or the reference. I wish I could be in this situation, for me it’s part of the show and it will always be like this. If you want to avoid it, then you have to do the qualifications one by one, but we saw it in Superpole and it wasn’t nice,” said Marquez.