The MotoGP grid is almost universally excited to be heading to Algarve for the final round of the 2020 season after many of them had their first chance to try the track yesterday.
But there are some concerns about the rollercoaster Portimao track’s safety and new asphalt too.
“I hope that Portimao remains on the calendar in the next few years because it is a beautiful track in a beautiful place” :: Valentino Rossi
While the six factory team test riders used MotoGP machinery to assess the resurfaced track for control tyre supplier Michelin, test restrictions meant the racers in attendance had to suss the flowing track on street bikes before travelling en masse to Le Mans last night for this weekend’s French Grand Prix.
“It’s a fantastic track and I like it a lot,” Valentino Rossi enthused.
“It’s a lot better than what I expected, because looking at it from the television I expected it to be more tricky with a lot of jumps – but it is beautiful, one of the best places to ride a motorcycle.
“Yesterday was a perfect day, with 25 degrees and no wind, and they’re hoping to have a similar temperature in November so I’m happy to end the championship there.
“I hope that Portimao remains on the calendar in the next few years because it is a beautiful track in a beautiful place.”
The track is undoubtedly one of the toughest that MotoGP has ever visited, as 2014 World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli explained to The Race.
The Suzuki MotoGP test rider finished on the Algarve podium five times in WSBK (pictured above in 2014) and said the track will require a lot of set-up work for the grand prix teams.
“I don’t think it’s going to be more physically demanding than any other track, but the anti-wheelie strategies are going to be interesting, because there’s a lot of places where you can take off!” said Guintoli.
“There are some places where the floor just drops – it’s a rollercoaster.
“It’s a great track because it flows; even with the slow corners, the flow is never really broken.
“It’s really interesting, and it’s going to be interesting for the engineers who have to try and manage all that power.
“It’s actually a track where slower bikes can do really well, and it’ll be interesting to manage the power and the performance of the tyres.
“It’s borderline for MotoGP, right on the limit. In the rest of the track we have enough room, but the last corner for me is dangerous” :: Aleix Espargaro
“People that I know who have rode on it say that the track is very abrasive, that they were struggling to do more than 10 laps on the tyres at a track day.”
The track has been resurfaced ahead of next month’s MotoGP race and the inaugural Formula 1 race there later this month.
Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci, a winner at the track in Superstock racing (pictured above), says that the new asphalt isn’t quite perfect either. He expects the F1 race to exacerbate the bumps they found even more, and reckons that the initial warning signs from yesterday don’t bode well for the race.
“It’s a very nice track. I’ve been there from 2008 to 2011 before my MotoGP career, and I won my last race with Ducati before leaving the European Superstock championship,” he recalled.
“This year it’ll happen the same, my last race in Ducati, and of course I will try and win to celebrate the 10-year anniversary!
“The track has become faster – I rode half a second faster than my Superstock lap record on a production bike yesterday.
“There are some bumps in the penultimate and last corner that we could feel with a production bike and tyres, so on a very stiff MotoGP bike they will be tough.”
While the riders universally enjoyed their day out at Portimao, Aleix Espargaro admitted that there are some safety concerns from parts of the track.
One of the minority who has ridden the track before, having trained there with Alex Rins towards the end of the coronavirus lockdown, the Aprilia rider had concerns despite loving the track.
“The only place where I felt a little bit unsafe is the last corner,” said Espargaro.
“It’s very fast on a MotoGP bike and you change speed at a very fast speed with the grandstand and the wall very close.
“It’s borderline for MotoGP, right on the limit. On TV everyone comments on the up and down, but in the rest of the track we have enough room, but the last corner for me is dangerous.”
“I don’t know why Jorge was testing with the 2019 bike and not the 2020 bike” :: Fabio Quartararo
One person not on track yesterday was MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo, with the Petronas SRT Yamaha rider opting to sit it out.
Experienced at Portimao from his Spanish championship days, he said there were more reasons to sit it out than to go.
“It was first of all to avoid any kind of injury – it was a bit risky before three races in a row,” said Quartararo.
“I’ve been there before, six years ago, and we have long free practice sessions when we go there, and it was on a different bike, so those are the reasons why I didn’t go.”
However, he was also quick to question why factory Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo wasn’t providing more valuable feedback to his team.
Lorenzo lined up not on a 2020 M1 but on the same 2019-spec machine he tested at Sepang in February (his only other outing as test rider), and Quartararo clearly had questions Yamaha about the decision.
“For sure I think that we need to make more tests during the season,” he said.
“Jorge tested in Sepang and in Portimao, and we need to improve that because for me it’s so important to have all the details we can during the season.
“I don’t know why he was testing with the 2019 bike and not the 2020 bike.
“The question isn’t for me but maybe better for Yamaha.”
