MotoGP: No Testing, No Problem as Yamaha Top Day One in Misano

Friday in Misano saw the the sixth round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship get underway and with consistent conditions expected for the weekend the sessions offered a good opportunity to see who would be fighting for the top positions on Sunday. 

Coming into the weekend there was much talk about the absence of Yamaha from the test in Misano two weeks ago, and the general lack of testing by Jorge Lorenzo since his appearance at the official Sepang test back in February. In the world feed broadcast, Massimo Meregalli, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team manager, told Dorna’s pit lane reporter, Simon Crafar, that Lorenzo had not been testing since February because Yamaha felt uncomfortable to send people outside of Japan during the coronavirus pandemic.

In any case, this lack of testing did not slow down the YZR-M1s on Friday as they made their first contact with the new asphalt in Misano. Maverick Vinales topped the first session of the day in the morning by half a second, ahead of fellow Yamaha rider, Fabio Quartararo. In the afternoon, it was Quartararo who took over at the front, as Valentino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli also confirmed themselves inside the top 10 overnight and Vinales focussed on race pace, the Spaniard’s FP1 time being enough to confirm him in the top 10 ahead of FP3 on Saturday morning. 

The only other manufacturer to get all of their bikes into Q2-qualifying positions overnight was KTM, the fastest of those being Pol Espargaro who was fourth on the combined times behind only the Yamahas of Quartararo, Vinales and Morbidelli. Behind the Spaniard was his compatriot and stablemate, Iker Lecuona, who impressed dramatically on day one in Rimini whilst Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira were eighth and ninth, respectively. 

Outside of the four Yamahas and four KTMs to be in the top 10 overnight, the two Italian manufacturers are equally represented in the provisional Q2 spots ahead of Saturday, with Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci being the strongest Desmosedici in seventh and Aleix Espargaro completing the top 10 for Aprilia. No Honda is in the top 10, evidencing their struggles in the absence of Marc Marquez, and the same can be said for Suzuki, although the GSX-RR’s performance in race trim seems more encouraging.

Much of the talk at the end of the day was about the surface. Whilst the new asphalt in Misano offers good grip, it has also exaggerated the bumps. Some riders are experiencing push-back on their brake pads because of the ripples in the track, which means they can arrive in the next corner with no brakes. 

It makes sense, then, that the fastest bike should be the Yamaha. The M1 always works well in high grip conditions, since it is then able to exploit its strong point – mid-corner speed. Additionally, it has traditionally been strong over the bumps due to its stability. 

The KTM, also, is a predictable bike to be at the front in Misano, due to its strong performance in acceleration which is vital in the World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, as well as its strong front end that can give the rider more confidence when braking on a bumpy surface. 

Whilst one-lap speed is one thing and will be critical this weekend due to the difficulty of overtaking in Misano, the points are awarded on Sunday. The table below shows the relative pace of each rider. 

Maverick Vinales stands out in the table as the only rider to have set three laps in the 1’32s and the only one to have done more than 16 laps on Friday afternoon, touring the Misano track 21 times in total in FP2 alone. His high lap count is due to an extended first run which lasted 20 laps. Vinales started that run with a new medium-compound front tyre and the hard rear tyre with which he set his fastest time at the end of FP1, with four laps on it. The fastest lap of the 20-lap run came on the final timed lap, when the rear tyre had already done 23 laps, and it was a 1’32.928. It will be no surprise to understand that Vinales’ pace got faster as this run progressed, the Spaniard starting in the high-1’33s and low-1’34s and getting gradually faster as the tyre wore and the fuel burned. Whilst the pace he can extract with so many laps is impressive, there can be some worry about Vinales’ speed at the beginning of the race, which so often has cost him results, including, arguably, this year in the second Jerez race. 

Also of some concern to Vinales, perhaps, will be that his time attack at the end of FP2 was only 0.2 seconds faster than the 1’32.928 he set at the end of his long run on the hard-compound rear tyre. This could indicate some difficulties in extracting the maximum from a new tyre with low fuel in the afternoon heat, although it is true that this would be uncharacteristic of the #12. 

For Fabio Quartararo, single lap pace is rarely an issue, and it was not on day one in Misano. He finished top, and had decent race pace to go with it. Quartararo’s pace starts better than Vinales and still reaches the low-1’33s towards the end of the tyre with 20-plus laps on it. Also interesting is the compound of front tyre with which Quartararo was faster, as it was that hard-compound. This could indicate some problems for some of the other manufacturers, such as KTM which often likes to run the hard-compound front tyre, as well as Honda, since Yamaha tend to be slightly easier on the front end. Ultimately, temperature will be key for the front tyre choice, in particular, so perhaps tomorrow in FP4 there could be some more experiments with front tyre choice to understand what is usable in the afternoon. 

Whilst Quartararo and Vinales have the strongest pace on paper, that of Pol Espargaro and Joan Mir is not too far away. The pair of them can run in the mid-1’33s and drop the pace as the tyre wears, although there is discrepancy in their choice of rear compound, as Mir prefers the medium whilst Espargaro favours the hard. 

Another discrepancy between the two is consistency, as Espargaro does not seem to be able to string together mid-1’33s as well as Mir is able to – although it is true that the race can be a different story and we have seen already this season that Espargaro can clean up what appears to be a messy rhythm by Sunday afternoon. 

The third difference between the two compatriots is that Espargaro is inside the top 10 on the combined times whilst Mir is 15th. The Suzuki rider suffered electronics issues on his final run in FP2 which compromised his time attack, which means he has work to do in FP3 to get inside the top 10.

Franco Morbidelli’s pace also looks strong enough to perhaps fight for the podium, as the Italian is able to lap in the mid-1’33s with apparent, relative comfort although he currently has only a maximum of 16 laps on a hard-compound rear tyre which seems to be his preferred option. 

Behind Morbidelli there are many riders who are not too far from being able to fight for the podium. Brad Binder is a good example, as the #33 has been fast on Friday – unusually – and despite a crash which hampered his race simulation possibilities. We will discover more tomorrow about the Brno winner’s pace, whilst Valentino Rossi will be hoping to find two or three tenths tomorrow to be able to fight with his fellow Yamaha riders. Danilo Petrucci seems to be in a similar position to Rossi, running in the mid-to-high-1’33s, as is Andrea Dovizioso who suffered electronic issues on Friday which saw him miss parts of both FP1 and FP2 as his team tried to solve the problems. Miguel Oliveira is also in that mix, whilst Alex Rins seems to be in need of a couple of tenths to be able to run with his teammate, Mir. 

Ultimately, at the moment everything is a prediction. Tomorrow we will learn more but, certainly, in Misano the margins are fine. People who currently look to be fighting for the top 10 could be fighting for the podium with the discovery of just a few hundredths of a second and, of course, qualifying tomorrow afternoon will be vital to understanding who can battle for the podium in the San Marino Grand Prix.