Struggle to Qualify
We have all heard many times how some riders struggle to qualify well, which ultimately derails their end result over the race weekend as it has become increasing difficult to improve positions in a MotoGP race, A well publicised case of this is recent times is F### Digi###'s struggles on the latest GP25. He and the media are reporting that when a fresh new rear tyre is added in run #2 of a qualifying session, the extra grip from the rear just pushes the front too much. Come Sunday, as the race entres the 2nd half, Digi becomes mega, but why? Surely if you have strong underlying race pace, putting a fresh new bag just = way more performance right? Well, not necessarily. Conversely, how can Fabio be so amazing on the M1 in Q, then when it comes to the race, the pace isn't there and he drops positions. Is it really just because the M1 realises on corner speed and when bikes are in the way he can't use it? Yes... and NO! The things is. If it was that obvious, teams full of extremely intelligent and experienced technician's would just fix it right? And that is the exact point! It is far from obvious. How can one bike excel in Q when the tyre grip is high, yet struggle on lap 1 - 5, when the tyre grip is also high? Full tank???? Nup! Even if the star is poor, speed is speed and you find a way. To understand it properly you have to analyse things in a diffent way. What else changes rather than just the obvious stuff like tyre grip or fuel load. Geez, if it was that simple Mav would have never had an issue at the start of the race. There is another thing that changes in the 2nd run of Q that is way more important than tyre grip or fuel load alone. And this was never more evident than the weekend passed at Assen. Corner load!!! Anyone that has ever had a new bag knows, you get more confidence and you 'push'. You throw the bike in more aggressively, without specifically knowing, you will carry more lean angle and you will be more aggressive with the bike too. This is amplified when you are on Run 2 of Qualifying to ensure a grid spot.... so........you just push harder and introduce more load. The tyre is brand new on lap one of the race. while you are being aggressive for position, you are not pushing the bike to the ultimate limit of lap time performance. And this is the main difference. Not the fuel load. How many lap records are set on lap 2? And how often to you hear commentators banging on about strong pace at the end of the race? At Aseesn, MM93 was clearly much faster into and out of all the slow speed corners. But he was slower in the high load, fast corners. And he really had a few big stacks on friday there. Digi struggle in run 2 of Q, when pushing the bike to its full limit, throwing it in. Yet as the race settles down, het gets in a rhythm, he becomes fast. So what is more at play here? the tyre grip, fuel load? or how it behaves when in high load situations and pushed to it's limits? A less stable bike will not respond to being man handled. A more stable one will. And the level of man handling does change a lot from Q2, to Lap 1. Food for thought. So is this more about some bikes just can't handle being pushed too hard in high speed, fast turns, and mid turn? Like the GP25. Or is this about a mythical new rear pushing the front?