Many things have taken place in the past 2 weeks in the MotoGP world championship. Somethings we expected, but others we did not. For example, we expected that Young-Gun Quartararo would be fast, and he was. We also expected Ducati had a long-shot in securing the services of Viñales; he renewed with Yamaha as we knew he would. Finally, we expected that Lorenzo would sign-on as Yamaha’s test rider; he did.
The surprises where many, however. For starters, for the first time since 2002, Rossi is not signed (yet) to a Factory team. A day after Viñales renewed his contract, Quartararo announced he would become his teammate in 2021. Though most expected that Quartararo would eventually become a factory rider, nobody thought it would happen before Rossi made a decision. Most thought Yamaha would give Rossi time to decide, ideally until the Mugello GP and certainly at least until the opening round; and if he were competitive renew, and then deal with Quartararo, otherwise, pressure him enough to have the Italian legend retire. None of this happened. At this point nobody really knows what Rossi will do in 2021. There are many rumors, like running his own team, joining Petronas on a factory bike, etc, but the fact of the matter is that until he’s signed, nobody knows.
Another surprise was the pace of the KTM and Aprilia MotoGP bikes. Both Espargaro brothers, Pol and Aleix, finished 7th and 9th fastest in the test and both within 3 tenths of the fastest rider.
The final surprise was the position in which Ducati is at the moment. Ducati went from the fastest bike on the grid, true title contender and generally-desired ride, to what seems like just another entry. HRC are very strong, Yamaha, with the new blood in the form of the young Frenchman is also looking well. And even Suzuki is not looking too shabby. Ducati on the other hand seems to be looking more like a bike belonging to the ranks of KTM and Aprilia.
The next and final test is March 8 in Qatar, before the opening round.
