Normally MotoGP world championships are decided on Sunday afternoons when the chequered flag drops at the end of races – but just to add yet another curveball to the mad 2020 season it seems entirely plausible that this year’s title could come down to Saturday afternoon performances instead.
That’s as Suzuki team-mates Joan Mir and Alex Rins seemingly continue to self-sabotage in qualifying, doing everything they can to ensure that they’re on the back foot before the lights even go out despite pace and performances in recent races that are hinting at title-winning speed.
Mir currently sits second in the championship battle, only eight points behind Fabio Quartararo, and is out to become the first Suzuki rider to take four consecutive podium finishes since Kevin Schwantz (below) in 1994 in tomorrow’s French Grand Prix.
However, he’ll start the race at Le Mans from a distant 14th on the grid, two places ahead of Rins in 16th. The pair both crashed out in the final minutes of FP3 this morning, denying themselves a chance to fight for Q2 and forced to go to Q1.
It marks yet another disappointing day for Suzuki, after a year of poor Saturday performances for both riders.
Making it to the second row only twice in nine races now, Mir will once again be forced to carve his way through the field at Le Mans if he wants to match Schwantz’s record.
In fact, so far Mir has only a front-row qualifier once in his entire MotoGP career, at the second of two rounds at the Red Bull Ring in August – and it was no coincidence that the Styrian Grand Prix also looked like his best chance ever to chalk up a long-awaited maiden race win.
The irony of the issue is that the situation that has left the GSX-RR struggling so much in qualifying is exactly what has allowed Mir to charge through the pack to podium success and title contention in recent races.
Very easy on tyres and able to allow the riders to push on without overheating the front tyre in particular, the GSX-RR has given Mir and Rins the ability to avoid the issues that have plagued their fellow inline-four engined competitors at Yamaha when pushing through the pack.
Without clean air in front of them, in particular, the Yamahas struggle to make their way through a group of riders, meaning that qualifying is even more crucial for them. It also leaves them on a knife edge when in the mid-pack, contributing to Fabio Quartararo’s crash out of the race and the championship lead at Misano last month.
However, with very low temperatures in northern France in October and with almost a mile separating Turn 10 and the next left-hander after it in Turn 3, it means that Suzuki’s front tyre temperature is plummeting ahead of one of the most notorious corners on the calendar – and subsequently affects its entire time attack.
“We’re working to improve in this area,” Mir said after qualifying, “because at the minute the temperature with the front tyre is something that we’re struggling a lot with. I lose so much time in the first sector because of the first left corner – I’m not able to stop the bike, I don’t have any feedback, and if I try a bit more I lose the front.
“This is really difficult because I’m losing half a second in the first sector, and that’s a lot of time. The good news is that we don’t lose time in the other sectors, which means we can be fast even if we need to find a solution for the first sector. If we can find a solution there, even two tenths, before tomorrow, then we can make a really good race.”
However, circumstances out of Mir’s control could well hand the current second-placed man in the title race an advantage. While he’s already been able to display at other tracks his ability to carve through the field, the fact that the Ducatis of Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci are on the front row aids him and Rins.
Fast for one lap but without the race pace of their rivals, especially the Yamahas of Quartararo and Maverick Viñales, the Ducatis’ incredible top speed and amazing start ability should bunch up the pack early in the race, giving the Suzukis the chance to push forward.
