MotoGP, Razali admits Yamaha-Petronas’ 2021 season was “a humbling experience”

Having risen from the ashes of the Petronas team, which will be remembered for “launching” Quartararo and “bidding farewell” to Valentino Rossi, Razlan Razali’s new RNF WithU team is preparing to make its MotoGP debut this season. For sure the unknown factors are more than the certainties for a newly created team but with a squad that has been tested over the years it will be up to the Malaysian manager to make everything run smoothly.

“Building your second MotoGP team is not fun! – said Razali in an interview with our Crash.net colleagues – It’s a lot of work, especially when we started the planning for this team only in September-October. It was a challenge to attract big sponsors obviously. We’ll use this year to build for the future, the next 3-5 years. It’s all about rebuilding and rebranding. Everything is from scratch but we also have experience from the last three years.”

In recent years the Petronas team has experienced moments of euphoria but it’s also gone through its fair share of ups and downs. To relaunch the team, Razali kept team manager Wilco Zeelenberg and coach Ramon Forcada firmly in command who, albeit with some regrets about the separation from Franco Morbidelli, will work with Dovizioso.

“We are humbled by our experience last year of course. We’re more cautious, we don’t take things for granted. We started very strong in our first two years and to go from the peak and come crashing down in the third year, there are a lot of lessons learned there. Especially when it comes to humility, not to give up and start again. But this is sport. It happens all the time. You win some, you lose some.”

To reach, Razali hopes, the peaks of 2019 and 2020, the team will rely on the experience of Andrea Dovizioso and the young Darryn Binder, who arrived directly from Moto3 but not without some controversy and perplexity.

“It’s easy for people to criticize our decision to sign Binder, but we don’t mind, because at the same time that’s what being a development team is all about. But we are the underdog and can afford to take those kind of risks.”

The start of the season for the RNF WithU team will be in Verona on Monday 24 January, with the presentation of the bikes and the new livery.

“I think the launch signifies a number of things. Number one is the rebranding of the team. For our title partner WithU and president Matteo Ballarin, who has been supporting us since 2019, we want him to have that sense of belonging of holding the launch in his hometown of Verona.”

MotoGP, Concern growing within Suzuki as search for new team manager continues

The MotoGP championship will start in less than a month, but Suzuki is still without a team leader. For the moment Shinichi Sahara is carrying out the role of technical manager and that of team manager, but he would like to return to dealing mainly with technical issues on a permanent basis. When? It is not known.

The Japanese manager admitted this today, on the eve of the tests in Indonesia.

“I know it’s a topic that everyone wants to know about, but it’s not the right time to talk, it’s not all clear yet – were his words – we are still talking with some people. It is just taking longer than I imagined and would have liked, but we are not in a hurry, we are not panicking. Everything is under control in terms of team management. I can’t say more, we will announce the name as soon as everything is settled, we are still negotiating with several candidates ”.

This ‘void’ could have consequences with the definition of the contracts with the riders for the future, but Sahara hosed down that idea.

“I’m not worried about negotiations with the riders, I always speak personally with them – he said – Even when Brivio was around I was involved in the contracts, but at this point of the year the most important thing for us is giving them the most competitive bike possible and trying to win the championship again. Keeping Rins and Mir would be the best scenario for the future, but I have not set a deadline, we are talking, as always, but this is not the time to finalize everything. We might do it before the summer, but that’s just my idea”.

There is also another recurring topic when it comes to Suzuki: the possibility of having a satellite team. Even on this point, however, there is nothing certain.

“I know it would be useful and I have not changed my mind, I am positive that sooner or later we will have a satellite team – he said – But it will depend on the decisions of the company’s top management and then we will have to find the right team, maybe we will have to wait a little longer”.

Better to talk about engineering matters then, also because in the first two days of testing in Sepang the GSX-RR seems to have taken a step forward.

“The tests in Malaysia gave me very positive feelings, we have seen significant improvements compared to 2021, especially in terms of engine performance, but we know that it is still too early to be happy. However, we have confirmed that we have taken the right direction” summed up Sahara.

The competition, however, is not standing by idly and Ducati has brought along a new system that lowers the front even during the lap.

“Our front system works only for the start, we are not really planning its evolution for this year – explained the technical manager – I know that other manufacturers are trying to use it during the lap; if it works, we will use it too, we will need an extra budget, it will have to be discussed carefully”.

After all, Suzuki has always preferred evolution to revolution.

“We have a conservative attitude in development, there were areas to improve, such as top speed and braking, but without losing our strengths. It’s our style and I hope it works. We started trying new qualifying strategies, already last year in Portimao and Valencia, and it seems to be going well. It’s not easy, there are many factors at play, but we have some ideas” he concluded.

MotoGP, Miller: “I crapped myself when I saw Rins’ bike”

What a scare Jack Miller! The Australian almost got hit by Alex Rins’ Suzuki in the closing minutes of the session. A crazy qualifying round for the Pramac rider who ended up falling in the last sector of the track. When he got up and realized that the engine was still running, the moment he approached the bike to turn it off, he saw the Spanish rider’s Suzuki pass him like a missile.

“I reached Turn 11 too fast and fell,” Jack began. “But the Ducati’s engine was still on, so I went back to the bike to turn it off. In the meantime I then heard the noise of another bike that ended up falling and, when I realized it was Rins’, I crapped on myself, because it zipped right past me. Fortunately, I survived. Inside of me, I just wanted to run away, so as not to get run over.”

Unfortunately, in qualifying he weren’t able to take advantage of the last attempt.

“It didn’t go badly for a qualifying session, even if the final result was not what I expected,” the Australian rider said. “The first sector was not the best, then I ended up falling in my last attempt. I feel really bad, because I had the right confidence with the bike and in the FP4, and I had figured out which tires and set-up to use for the race.”

What race should we expect for tomorrow?

“I have to say that, in the morning, the sensations are better than in the afternoon, as far as my Ducati is concerned. Personally, I’m confident. I hear many riders say that it will be a race with a slow pace because of the temperatures and the tires, but I don’t believe that. In my opinion, there will be several who will ride at a low 1’38 ”, and I think I can be one of those. Then we’ll see tomorrow.”

MotoGP, Quartararo: “Miller was in trajectory, it’s not correct to ride like that”

Fabio Quartararo will start from sixth on the grid at Termas de Rio Hondo, not a bad result in general but the Frenchman knew he could do more. On his second fastest lap, however, he found Jack Miller in his way, as the Australian was preparing to do a fast lap, and had to abort the attempt. He tried again, but at that point it was impossible to lower his benchmark time.

“Honestly, on this track if you don’t make the time on the first lap with the new tire then you can’t improve. hey (referring to Miller, ed.) was not exactly in trajectory but at that point you arrive very fast, in fourth gear, and all you need is for someone to be close to the line to disturb you. For me it’s not correct to ride that way, that’s all”.

Fabio then brought the matter to an end, preferring to see the glass half full. Race Direction however decided to punish Jack with 3 positions on the grid, so tomorrow he will start 14th behind Bastianini and Bagnaia who gain one position.

The Frenchman then continued to talk about his qualifying: “I did my best, I don’t think I’ve ever braked so late at turn 5 – he said – The second row is not the best result I could have done, but it’s still a good position to start from for the race seeing as I don’t have the best pace, but it’s not bad either. I think that tomorrow I will be able to fight for a good result”.

He will probably have to contend with an opponent he did not expect: Aleix Espargarò.

“Today I was not surprised by Aprilia for the pole position but for the 1st and 2nd place for Espargarò and Vinales in FP2 – commented Quartararo – Aleix’s pace with the soft tire surprised me, it’s fantastic. If he gets off to a good start tomorrow, he could get away. However, I still have a bit of margin, we’ll see how it goes “.

MotoGP: Aprilia 1-2 With Aleix Espargaro & Vinales In FP2

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MotoGP, Rins: “I thought my tire was exploding”

Alex Rins couldn’t afford another crash after Assen and Sachsenring, so he chose to settle for fourth, a result that nevertheless has a bitter after taste. The podium was the goal, but in the end there was nothing he could do against the Ducati of Jack Miller.

“unfortunately I suffered the whole race – comments the Spaniard – my aim was to remain in the leading group with Dovi and Marc, but I couldn’t. The problem was the tyres, as I had no grip, particularly at the rear. I felt vibrations and at one point I thought the tires would explode”.

He is therefore left disappointed.

“It would have been great to be back on the podium, but I couldn’t do more than fourth. Seeing how the race went, the result is positive, as I’d had two DNFs prior to this round and couldn’t afford crashing again.”

He now focuses on tomorrow’s test.

“We’ll have a lot of work to do. The electronics is an aspect that encourages me, in that I’ve had positive feedback. We need to evaluate the new fairing tomorrow, trying to compare it with the previous one. If it goes well, we’ll bring it to Austria, as there are hard braking points at the Red Bull Ring.”

MotoGP, Kuwata: “Honda has broken out of its shell and now we want a 1-2”

This time HRC has shown its claws. The RC213V project for 2022 has been completely revolutionized and, from what we saw in the tests in Sepang and Mandalika, it has also improved. The new Honda clearly stands out weaknesses from the past, with the intention of erasing thees of the previous model.

“You can see the differences from the outside of last year’s machine, but it is also of the inside – explained the director of HRC Tetsuhiro Kuwata in the video above – The concept of the 2022 machine is to break out of our shell to improve the performance, so more of the machine is completely different from the last two years. We changed the engine, chassis and electronics. We can already confirm that it works for our weak points ”.

The other good news is that Marc Marquez is finally back after the many physical problems that have plagued him.

“Marc has made a great history together with Honda since he joined and we are very proud of what he did together with us – continued Kuwata – One of the best memories is 2019, when he showed his real potential. Unfortunately he has been in a very difficult time for the last 2 years, but I now I believe he will open the next page in history this year and there is no doubt he can fight for the championship with us”.

The Japanese engineer also has high expectations of Espargarò.

“Last year Pol was struggling to adapt to our machine, but once he started to understand it, we started to understand what he needed to go fast. During the second half of the season he showed his speed. There is no question mark about his speed, if we can give him a bike with greater potential, he can fight for victory in the races and the championship ”.

When it comes to the final goal, Kuwata doesn’t mince his words: “Our target is always the same, winning the championship, but this year we will try to get a 1 and a 2 with our riders”.