Category: Superbikes

1. ASSEN SPRINT: ONE POINT FOR MARQUEZ, DIGGIA OUT OF CONTENTION

   Posted on 4:00pm Saturday 24th Jun 2023

   It was a disappointing Saturday afternoon for Team Gresini MotoGP, out of the battle for the top positions with both riders. Alex Marquez is ninth at the chequered flag and last rider in the points (also thanks to a penalty given to Marini during the last lap), while Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed out of the encounter after a few laps while trying a comeback.
    
   The common (and negative) denominator for the riders #73 and #49 was the start. Both Gresini standard bearers lost four positions and were then forced to a comeback: this is not the ideal situation by any means, especially in a 13-lap race. The race pace is there, however, and so the ingredients to do a lot better tomorrow. The goal is a relaxed July and some smiley faces.

   9^th ALEX MARQUEZ #73 
   “Unfortunately, on the opening lap I had a first sector to forget. I got wrong everything I could get wrong from turns one to five and lost a lot of ground. We need something more feeling-wise, and we’ll work on that tomorrow during warm up. One point is better than nothing but it’s clear that we can and must aim at higher positions.”
    
   DNF - FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49
   “We need to improve at the start, this is clear. I immediately lost several places, but in only one lap I had already passed four riders… I was behind Nakagami with the pace to bridge the gap with the group battling for the points, but while entering turn 11 I lost control of the bike and spun around. A pity, but it’ll be a whole different story tomorrow.”

2. APRILIA’S WEEKEND ON THE SACHSENRING COMES TO AN END WITH A MEDIOCRE PERFORMANCE

   Posted on 12:00pm Monday 19th Jun 2023

   It wasn’t the best of Sundays for Aprilia on the Sachsenring. After the difficulties encountered yesterday, Aleix and Maverick were unable to straighten out the German race weekend today.

   Aleix and his team gambled on the soft rear tyre, partially in light of the data collected during the Sprint. It was, unfortunately, a gamble that did not pay off. Although he battled in the early stages of the race, the Spaniard had to reckon with a drastic drop in grip towards the end, finishing outside the points zone.

   Maverick, on the other hand, had a technical problem that forced him to a DNF during the ninth lap.
        
   Aleix
   "I think that with the medium tyre, I would have been able to finish easily in the top 10. However, the data from the Sprint race yesterday seemed to indicate wear that was not too excessive for the soft and that’s why we decided to use it. The decision did not pay off. In the finale I basically had no grip. We were lacking in performance this weekend, as the results from the other Aprilias also shows, on a track where we did not expect to encounter these difficulties."

   Maverick
   "The weekend had started off well straight away but then we were unable to express our potential. If we work well, we know that we can be fast, but evidently there were some problems which conditioned our performance. We still don’t know if this stems from a problem with the engine that forced me to retire. We’ll analyse the data in-depth now and try to figure it out. It’s a shame but complaining won’t help anything. We still believe in the project and we’ll keep our heads down and continue to work hard. The positive note is that I recovered positions in both starts – yesterday in the Sprint race and today in the GP – so from this point of view there was improvement."

3. TEAM GRESINI RACING MOTOGP IN THE POINTS IN GERMANY

   Posted on 4:00pm Sunday 18th Jun 2023

   A positive top-nine was achieved by Team Gresini Racing MotoGP which places both riders in the points with Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth and ninth, respectively, at the chequered flag.
    
   This was a sort of confirmation for both the Spaniard and the Italian, who had a positive and solid showing throughout the weekend and were able to finally capitalise on a good result also in light of the upcoming last of three back-to-back events at Assen. 
    
   Diggia, in particular, put together a great comeback after being all the way down to 14^th at some stage. He recovered five positions before sealing his fourth top-ten finish of the season after Argentina, Texas and Le Mans.

   7^th - ALEX MARQUEZ (11^th in the championship standings – 52 points)
   “We surely bagged some more important points. Too bad for losing so much time behind Aleix (Espargaró) who started the race with soft tyres and in the first laps he tried – rightfully so – to defend his position. When I got past him it was unfortunately too late to bridge the gap with the leaders, even though my pace was top-five worthy. We’re happy and if we managed to solve some set-up issue earlier, we would be talking about a different type of result.”
    
   9^th - FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (15^th in the championship standings – 34 points)
   “We had a great race, maybe my best so far. We completed several overtaking manoeuvres on a track where it’s almost impossible to pass. I’m really happy, even though it’s a shame that we started so far back because the pace was really good. We’re charged up for Assen.”

4. CRAZY SATURDAY AT SACHSENRING: ALEX IN Q2, TOUGH LUCK FOR DIGGIA

   Posted on 12:00pm Saturday 17th Jun 2023

   Two crashes ruined an otherwise good Friday in Germany for Team Gresini MotoGP, who will have some extra work to do today to fix the Desmosedici machines #49 and #73 ahead of tomorrow. It was a pity especially for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who missed the chance of battling for the direct seed to Q2 after showing that it was well within reach. Alex Marquez managed to get through anyway, and with a 9^th place he will surely have a more relaxed FP3.  
    
   The Italian rider managed to stay with the leaders for the whole opening day. His crash at turn 11 happened at the worst time of all – with three minutes left in the session, as the youngster from Rome could not defend his position from his rivals’ charge in what was the best moment, conditions-wise, after the morning rain.
    
   Marquez crashed slightly further into the lap (turn 13) during what could have been his fastest lap of the day (he was +0.008secs away from today’s best lap-time in the third split).

   9^th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (1’20.671s)
   “It was a positive day: I managed to be quick straight away and FP1 was a good session. Without the rain we managed to continue the work done with the bike and everything went well. Too bad for the crash during the last time attack because it was a really good lap, but that’s what Fridays are also for: to find the limit. We’re in Q2, so mission accomplished for now.”
    
   11^th - FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (1’20.799s)
   “I’m disappointed, even though I must say we’ve been constantly quick today, so it was also an encouraging day. We did everything perfectly timing-wise and with the tyre choice. I entered the track and got a yellow flag and then a red one. Once we made our way back to the track the tyre had lost a lot of temperature and thus I crashed. Here tyre-temperature is key, especially at turn 11 which is the first right-hander after many to the left. We were not lucky today, but we’re charged up for tomorrow.”

5. SACHSENRING - FRIDAY

   Posted on 7:00pm Friday 16th Jun 2023

   IN THE CHAOTIC FINALE OF P2 ALEIX TURNS AN INCREDIBLE LAP TO CLINCH A TOP-3 SPOT
   A CRASH KEEPS MAVERICK FROM IMPROVING

   As if the unstable weather wasn’t enough, with the rain constantly threatening to reshuffle the deck for MotoGP on Friday at the Sachsenring, the riders also had to deal with a heated finale for the second session. First, a few yellow flags cancelled out the time attack attempts, and then a red flag brought things to a halt just over three minutes ahead of the chequered flag.

   At the restart, Aleix had to reckon with two used tyres in order to properly manage the new tyres available. Before a garage left speechless by the tension, the rider from Granollers once again showed his true character, finishing an extraordinary lap and placing in the top 3.

   Maverick suffered the consequences initially of a few yellow flags which hindered his time attack and then he fell victim to a crash without any physical consequences. Once back out on the track, he lacked the time to complete the final lap, so he’ll have to fight through Q1 to go through to Q2 tomorrow.
   
   Aleix
   "When I realized that I couldn’t use any other new tyres for my time attack after the red flag, I had almost given up. Instead, on my last flying lap, I gave one hundred percent, doing a time that surprised even me! It was fundamental because we have seen just how important qualifiers are and going straight through to Q2 is our first goal achieved. I don’t have a fantastic pace, but it’s also true that I didn’t turn a whole lot of laps today, a bit because of the track conditions and a bit to avoid fatiguing my foot. We’ll work on it tomorrow."

   Maverick
   "To be honest, I had hope to go straight through to Q2. We worked rather well today and I felt good on the bike. Unfortunately, however, I was unable to find the right feeling with the first to sets of soft tyres. When I put on the third set, the level of grip at the rear increased suddenly and that’s what caused the crash. We’ll try to analyse what happened further because, in general, I feel ready for qualifying tomorrow. We have a good chance of recovering and going through to Q2."