~ Auto Buzz ~: MotoGP 2015: Grand Prix of Australia Wrap-Up Phillip Island: a fantastic race that proves Marc Marquez is a master at managing his tires.

Marc Marquez race action from Phillip Island 2015

One reality we all saw: This was a great race, won by Marc Marquez after he passed Jorge Lorenzo on the last lap following three intense periods of passes and re-passes. Valentino Rossi, the championship leader, stuck in fourth place behind Andrea Iannone’s fast Ducati, saw his MotoGP title lead over Lorenzo diminish by seven points (296 versus 285) with Malaysia and Valencia yet to be run. An unseen reality: Bridgestone’s continuing overreaction to the 2013 repaving of this circuit. That year, tires chunked, the race was shortened from 27 to 19 laps, and there was a mandatory tire change in the first 10 laps. Bridgestone’s response to this resembled Goodyear’s at Daytona in 1979: to make a “tire of cement” (what the riders called the Goodyear at the time) that was hard enough to go the distance without risk of blistering or chunking. As Phillip Island practice began in 2013, all riders noted the increased grip and smoother surface, but the hardest available tire grained badly and was not strong enough to deal with the available grip. Contrast that with this, from Bridgestone’s 2015 Phillip Island preview: “At this circuit, it is easy to suffer from excessive rear spinning.” The reason for that spin? It’s not the Phillip Island surface. Rather, it’s the hardness of the tire that Bridgestone considers necessary for safety here (everyone chose the softer of two rears). The new pavement is not slippery. It is the chosen rubber that it too hard to warm up and grip. Cal Crutchlow, who finished seventh, 9 seconds out of first, said, “The last eight or nine laps I thought there was something really wrong with it (his rear tire) because it dropped so fast. I couldn’t even ride around the corner. If I rolled off the throttle the rear just came around immediately (closing the throttle partially unloads the back tire). It wasn’t the engine braking, it was just the rear grip.”

Dani Pedrosa race action from Phillip Island 2015

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who finished fifth, said: “The race was hard because during all the weekend I had a massive problem in the last turn. I could never really go fast out of the last turn. [There was] always a lot of spinning and movement when I tried to open the throttle. I couldn’t fix the problem, and everybody could get next to me on the straight. I was losing so much speed, and two or three tenths there. They always passed me on the straight because of my low exit speed.” Some riders using the “open” MotoGP electronics package found it unable to control their wheelspin. On Friday, Lorenzo called the track “very slippery.” Pol Espargaro, after practice, said: “I still have a lack of grip and that causes a lot of spinning.” Stefan Bradl also joined the chorus, adding: “I could feel a lack of grip at the rear. There was a lot of spinning coming out of turns, so I’m not able to accelerate as I’d like to.” What can you do about lack of rear grip? Years ago, engineer/rider Hurley Wilvert tested two Kawasaki two-stroke 750 triples back-to-back, same day. Both had similar wheelbases but one bike had its engine mounted low, the other significantly higher. Although Hurley had built the low bike himself, he was faster on the tall one. He found he could accelerate harder on the tall bike because, as its height transferred more of his and the bike’s weight to the rear during acceleration, he could open the throttle more without spinning the tire.

Jorge Lorenzo leads the field at Phillip Island 2015

This explains why Pedrosa had a special problem at Phillip Island. The higher mass is on a bike, the more weight it transfers to the rear on acceleration (this is why dragsters are built so low; they get their weight transfer from the huge thrust of a wide, soft slick). But Pedrosa, being as light as he is, cannot transfer weight to the rear as well as the greater mass of other riders does. So he spun instead of accelerating, and had to watch others, on otherwise equal bikes, accelerate out of reach. When tires won’t warm up, it’s normal to reduce tire pressure, but with Phillip Island’s 2013 tire problem, there is a mandated minimum rear tire pressure in force. In desperation, Eugene Laverty’s team went the other way, to higher rear tire pressure (perhaps hoping that if the tire spun enough, it would heat up enough to grip). At first, it seemed to work, but he said the grip disappeared after three laps “and it stayed that way for the whole race.” Laverty had won here in World Superbike in 2014, and saw Phillip Island as his best chance to put the developing Aprilia in the points. Now he finished nineteenth. I suspect that the top riders and teams raised their bikes a bit to transfer more weight to their rear tires, but weight transfer works both ways: the taller the bike, the greater the braking-induced weight transfer to the front. Marquez has spoken previously of more-rapid front tire degradation as a result of having to do most of his braking with the front.

Jorge Lorenzo race action from Australia 2015

Said Lorenzo: “I expected Marc to be stronger than me [he had been so in practice], but in the race I saw that he had some problems in some corners. So, when I passed him again, I tried to push to the limit and create an advantage, but it wasn’t enough. In the slow corners, I lost out a little bit because my front tire’s life was going down, so I couldn’t lean in completely, and he was able to recover a lot of time in these corners.” Marquez saw it this way: “I tried to catch Jorge. After I overtook him I tried to push, but then I saw that the front tire was moving a lot with this temperature (track temp was 108 degrees F even though the sea breeze remained at 59 degrees F) and it was time to cool down again. Then came that exciting last lap: “Honestly, I didn’t believe that I would [catch] Jorge,” said Marquez. “But I pushed 100 percent on the last lap and in the end it was a great victory.” It was Marquez’s 50th win, and the performances of Lorenzo and Rossi clinched the MotoGP Manufacturers’ title. The teams do their best to give their riders set-ups that will provide balanced tire performance with workable grip to the last lap, but in the race itself the job of responding to ever-changing conditions is up to the riders. As so often before, Marquez managed to have a bit more tire left than Lorenzo.

Andrea Iannone race action from Australia 2015

Iannone’s third-place finish, behind Lorenzo, is a great step forward for Ducati, whose bikes for so long were unable to penetrate and finish with the lead group. Lorenzo: “For me, it was one of the hardest races in my life, especially at the beginning because Andrea [Iannone] always passed me on the straight. I was trying everything I have in the last sector to get a little advantage but always he passed me.” The Yamahas were down as much as 6 mph on the Hondas and especially Iannone’s Ducati. Yamaha’s engine design philosophy has been to build-in greater engine range and driveability at considerable sacrifice of top speed. Back in the early 1990s in 500cc GP, the Yamaha had wide torque that gave the ability to spin-steer while Honda had to hope its higher top speed (remember the “Honda lane” at Hockenheim?) could make up for their lesser ability to steer. Yamaha has stuck with this compromise in the new century. Ducati, on the other hand, remains committed to engineering the most powerful engine possible, then seeking to make it driveable through electronics. Honda has done pretty much the same—overdoing it this season and creating the engine harshness that Marquez has spoken of, which has effectively put him out of the title chase. One of the two Yamaha men, Rossi or Lorenzo, will be the 2015 MotoGP champion, and Rossi’s lead is down to 11 points. The pressure is unrelenting.

CHATTER MARC MARQUEZ “It was a really fun race—certainly one to remember—and it had different phases to it. At the beginning there was a lot of overtaking, then when I passed Jorge it seemed that I was breaking away. However, I overheated the front tyre and had to slow my pace. At the end I overtook Iannone and Valentino and I had a great last lap; I don't know where I pulled that time out from, but it was what made the difference for us! I want to thank all the team, Honda and all the fans. After a difficult season it’s always nice to finish the year with some victories!” DANI PEDROSA “It was a difficult race—they are always tough here—but I'm pretty satisfied with our performance because we had a good pace, even though the final position was not very good because we were so caught up with Crutchlow. I had problems on the last corner; I could not accelerate hard because the bike was moving about, I lost all my acceleration down the straight and other riders were able to overtake me. At the end I was able to ride alone and I set very similar times to those at the front, and that’s positive. Now we will go to Malaysia and try to do better.” JORGE LORENZO “I think this was the most exciting race of the season and for sure one of the best in the last few years. To have four of the fastest riders fighting for victory in all the corners for the whole race is unbelievable. To be honest, I didn‘t expect that Andrea and Valentino would be able to stay with us. I also expected Marc to be stronger than me, but in the race I saw that he had some problems in some corners and so when I passed him again I tried to push to the limit and create an advantage, but it wasn‘t enough. In the slow corners I lost out a little bit, because my front tire‘s life was going down, so I couldn‘t lean in completely, so he was able to recover a lot of time in these corners. I didn‘t want to crash in the last braking zone and that‘s probably why Marc was able to brake later and take the victory. It‘s a really good feeling to close in on Valentino in the championship. The bike was working really well and we did a good job throughout the whole weekend. It was just a pity that this front tire on the bike was struggling a little bit, but we are a step closer in the championship. It could have been more but it also could have been less, but it‘s enough. At some point you have to be happy, look ahead to continue delivering this good work during the last two races.” VALENTINO ROSSI “Today the results could have been better, but this is OK too. It could have been better if I would have been able to overtake Iannone in the last lap and it was a shame I wasn’t able to stay on the podium. I had a good pace and good speed during the race, so arriving in fourth place is a pity, but it was still a good race. We already said that race results was going to be important 10 rounds ago, but now it‘s really important and it will be very tough until the last race.” ANDREA IANNONE “What an incredible race! It was really important for me to finish on the podium because here we had the possibility of doing a good race, but the result was neither easy nor a foregone conclusion. We all had a great battle, passing each other many times, and it was an incredible spectacle, I hope also for the people watching at home. The team fully deserved this result and it was also important for me because we are getting better all the time, race after race. If you look at last year’s race, here we have made incredible progress, and no one expected this. On the second lap something really unusual happened, because there was a seagull in front of me trying to get out of the way: I hit the poor thing head on, but in the end it was like a good luck kiss!” RESULTS: 2015 GRAND PRIX OF AUSTRALIA

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Points	Team	Time/Gap
1	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	25	Repsol Honda Team	40'33.849
2	LORENZO Jorge	99	SPA	20	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	+0.249
3	IANNONE Andrea	29	ITA	16	Ducati Team	+0.930
4	ROSSI Valentino	46	ITA	13	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	+1.058
5	PEDROSA Dani	26	SPA	11	Repsol Honda Team	+5.062
6	VINALES Maverick	25	SPA	10	Team Suzuki Ecstar	+6.800
7	CRUTCHLOW Cal	35	GBR	9	LCR Honda	+9.375
8	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	8	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+18.401
9	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	7	Team Suzuki Ecstar	+20.039
10	SMITH Bradley	38	GBR	6	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+20.657
11	REDDING Scott	45	GBR	5	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	+21.846
12	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	ITA	4	Pramac Racing	+22.840
13	DOVIZIOSO Andrea	4	ITA	3	Ducati Team	+29.168
14	BAUTISTA Alvaro	19	SPA	2	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	+37.244
15	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	1	LCR Honda	+40.192
16	BARBERA Hector	8	SPA	0	Avintia Racing	+48.263
17	HERNANDEZ Yonny	68	COL	0	Pramac Racing	+48.572
18	BAZ Loris	76	FRA	0	Athina Forward Racing	+48.677
19	LAVERTY Eugene	50	IRE	0	Aspar MotoGP Team	+50.201
20	DI MEGLIO Mike	63	FRA	0

RIDER STANDINGS
Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Points	Team
1	ROSSI Valentino	46	ITA	296	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
2	LORENZO Jorge	99	SPA	285	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
3	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	222	Repsol Honda Team
4	IANNONE Andrea	29	ITA	188	Ducati Team
5	PEDROSA Dani	26	SPA	165	Repsol Honda Team
6	SMITH Bradley	38	GBR	158	Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7	DOVIZIOSO Andrea	4	ITA	153	Ducati Team
8	CRUTCHLOW Cal	35	GBR	107	LCR Honda
9	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	ITA	97	Pramac Racing
10	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	96	Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	88	Team Suzuki Ecstar
12	VINALES Maverick	25	SPA	84	Team Suzuki Ecstar
13	REDDING Scott	45	GBR	78	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
14	HERNANDEZ Yonny	68	COL	49	Pramac Racing
15	BARBERA Hector	8	SPA	30	Avintia Racing
16	BAZ Loris	76	FRA	28	Athina Forward Racing
17	BAUTISTA Alvaro	19	SPA	28	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
18	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	17	LCR Honda
19	HAYDEN Nicky	69	USA	16	Aspar MotoGP Team
20	BRADL Stefan	6	GER	11	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
21	LAVERTY Eugene	50	IRE	9	Aspar MotoGP Team
22	NAKASUGA Katsuyuki	21	JPN	8	Yamaha Factory Racing Team
23	PIRRO Michele	51	ITA	8	Ducati Team
24	DI MEGLIO Mike	63	FRA	8	Avintia Racing
25	AOYAMA Hiroshi	7	JPN	5	AB Motoracing
26	TAKAHASHI Takumi	72	JPN	4	Team HRC with NISSIN
27	DE ANGELIS Alex	15	RSM	2	E-Motion IodaRacing Team