MotoGP confirms the success of its mechanical equality

Probably the biggest revolution that MotoGP has undergone in recent years has been that which, with the help of the technical regulations designed by Dorna, has allowed us to see something unique this past Sunday at the Silverstone Circuit: in this order, a Yamaha crossed the finish line. , a Suzuki, an Aprilia, a Ducati, a Honda and a KTM, the six brands that compete in the premier class. It is clear that there will always be a factory that does its homework better than the others, or that has a pilot who stands out both for his qualities and for his understanding with his machine.

Yes, it can already be said that Fabio Quartararo controls the 2021 MotoGP with a firm hand. The Frenchman has added five victories and after twelve grands prix accumulates 65 points of advantage over Joan Mir, a cushion similar to the ones he had at this stage of the championship Marc Márquez in 2018 and 2019. But this fact, which falls within the logical and possible, cannot hide this other, that of technical equality, which allows the list of potential winners every Sunday (considering winning, going up to the podium or to make a pole) is very long, something that did not happen not so many years ago.

In 2015, the first year of Aprilia in its new stage in the category, the victories were shared by the official Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, and the official Honda of Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa, with a general with only these two brands more Ducati taking the top ten. In 2021, Yamaha, Ducati, Honda and KTM have won, and Suzuki and Aprilia have reached the podium (thirteen different riders have already taken at least one trophy home) and have the potential to win, especially the world champion Japanese motorcycle in 2020.

“It’s just the beginning,” said Aleix Espargaró after signing the first podium in the MotoGP era for Aprilia, a factory whose last victory in the top flight dated back to 2000, a third place for Jeremy McWilliams at Donington Park, also in England. “It was not a podium the result of chance, rain or falls,” he continued. “We have been knocking on the door for many careers. And I’m going to stay here, there will be Aleix and podiums for a while. The question of ‘can you get your first podium here?’ to ‘can you get your first victory here?’ I am ready to accept this challenge and this pressure.

More freedom

Precisely, in that 2015 mentioned above, Espargaró faced the challenge of participating in the development of the returned Suzuki, with Maverick Viñales as a teammate, a duo that will meet again in Aprilia. At Silverstone in 2016, it was Viñales who gave the Japanese house the first triumph in this new era, which has continued to grow to catch up with the competition and beat them. Something similar to what happened in 2017 with KTM, led by Aleix’s brother, Pol, and who like Suzuki and Aprilia have been taking advantage of the opportunities that the regulations drawn up by Dorna have given them: more engines, more freedom in development, more possibilities to train …

«In some way I can feel what he has felt, because I have been in his position, in a factory that starts from scratch, with the sacrifice that it entails, with all the development behind him, fighting, training, with continuous disappointments, because unfortunately he did not have the luck or the speed that I had in KTM, and for Aprilia and for him it has cost them much more to get this podium ”, declared Pol Espargaró about the success of his brother and Aprilia. Because KTM got its first box in the last race of 2018, and the first win in 2020 at the hands of Brad Binder, something that has been repeated on four other occasions, which reveals the speed of the Austrian house, ambitious and aggressive in its plan to reach the top of MotoGP. That, the victory, is the icing on the cake that Aprilia now has left, culminating this growth by climbing to the top of a podium, something that from this Sunday they see a little closer.