Rain supreme
Round 17 Chang International Circuit, Thailand 30 September-2 October
2022 MotoGP World Championship
A WEEK IS a long time in motorsport. Just ask Ducati, whose hopes of a first rider’s title in 15 years took a serious blow in Japan. Although unable to better the brilliant wet-weather riding of winner Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) here, three red bikes followed behind. Crucially, Francesco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) was one of them, his third-place a surprise after his struggles in the rain just eight days before.
And just ask Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha). Handed a reprieve by Bagnaia’s late error at Motegi, the reigning world champion picked a bad moment for an off day. Not once over 25 painful laps did he look comfortable as issues with set-up, front tyre pressure and visibility contributed to a disastrous finish of 17th. In just 42 minutes, his 18-point lead was shredded to two with all momentum blown out of his sails.
The field was thrown an almighty curveball 100 minutes before the first MotoGP race in Thailand since 2019 got underway as heavy showers drenched the track before, during and after the Moto2 race. The main event was delayed by just under an hour, with a lap shaved off the race distance, down from 26 laps to 25. As none of the weekend’s previous sessions were anything but dry, fitting wet tyres to race on the drenched track was a step into the unknown.
Surprise polesitter Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) admitted a good deal of guesswork decided his setup for the rain. But no one got it quite as wrong as Yamaha.
