Marc Marquez believes permitting injured MotoGP riders to check earlier than their racing comebacks “is usually a good rule” however not for speedy introduction, following Aprilia’s requested for Jorge Martin.
Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Martin missed all of pre-season testing this 12 months because of a number of fractures from a crash on day one in all winter operating at Sepang.
He second fall throughout coaching forward of the Thai Grand Prix resulted in him fracturing his wrist and has dominated him out till a minimum of the Qatar GP subsequent month.
Having solely accomplished 90 laps on the manufacturing facility Aprilia since final November, Aprilia has formally lodged a request to permit Martin to check the RS-GP previous to his racing comeback.
Below the present concession guidelines, solely Honda and Yamaha are allowed to check in-season with its race riders on MotoGP equipment.
Whereas there was assist for the proposal, Ducati has publicly mentioned it will not again this rule change going down this 12 months however is open to it being launched in future.
Marc Marquez echoes this sentiment, although believes in the future of testing after a very long time away from the bike gained’t make a lot distinction.
“It may be an excellent rule, however for the long run,” he’s reported by GPOne as saying on the matter.
“For the time being the regulation will not be like that. After I cam again from my damage [in 2021] this rule was not there.
“You may introduce a rule to permit a rider who’s out of competitors for 2 months to do in the future of testing – no more, as a result of two days would already be an excessive amount of.
“In the future of testing is sufficient to get the rhythm with the bike.
“You may put a minimal time [in place], however the groups should determine. For the riders it’s vital, however in the long run once you go two months with out using a MotoGP bike, one kind of day of testing doesn’t change a lot.
“You want time to get you rhythm again.”
Jorge Martin
Ought to MotoGP bend testing guidelines only for one rider?
Ducati’s reticence to again Aprilia’s proposal to bend the testing guidelines is comprehensible, given it had a number of situations lately the place this is able to have been useful.
Franco Morbidelli missed all of pre-season testing because of struggling a concussion in a winter coaching incident, and didn’t have any time on his new Ducati till the opening spherical of the season in Qatar.
Enea Bastianini additionally missed the primary 5 grands prix of 2023 to damage, in addition to an additional 4 later within the 12 months, that severely restricted his time in adapting to the GP23.
However that’s true of all producers at one level or one other, so Ducati kicking again due to this appears short-sighted.
The model additionally argues that Jorge Martin will probably be a direct rival on the RS-GP when he returns to motion, and due to this fact time on a MotoGP bike earlier than his racing comeback could possibly be seen as handing him a bonus given Aprilia desires to carry the take a look at in Qatar forward of that spherical.
Approving a take a look at now would depart little time to police it sufficient to allay fears that Aprilia might use it to attempt new components. In idea, MotoGP would solely want so as to add some limits on the numbers of tyres and quantity of gas Aprilia might use, in addition to guarantee an impartial FIM scrutineer was on-site to supervise the take a look at.
From a security perspective, altering the testing guidelines to permit long-time injured riders to get again in control in a personal setting could be an excellent transfer. From a business viewpoint, it additionally limits the potential of a rider returning at a weekend solely to tug out after one session, and due to this fact shortchanging followers who’ve bought tickets particularly to see mentioned competitor.
However there should even be thought given to why this debate is being sparked now and if such a giant deal would have been made about this proposal if it didn’t contain the reigning world champion. And if the shoe was on the opposite foot, would Aprilia be of the identical opinion?
In the end, this is able to be a rule change that may profit your complete grid, However, equally, a sudden change can’t be seen to have been made for the good thing about just one. Given the can of worms this modification might open if not regulated correctly, giving the championship time to correctly combine it will be higher within the long-run.
