Latest / Pit Talk / When Life Gives You Le Mans: French GP Preview with Chris Vermeulen MotoGP Pit Talk

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When Life Gives You Le Mans: French GP Preview with Chris Vermeulen MotoGP Pit Talk · Pit Talk

0:00
Speaker 1: When life gives you, Lemon's Motor GP gives us one
0:03
Speaker 1: of the most iconic stops on the calendar. So grab
0:06
Speaker 1: a croissant, settle in. This is your French GP Preview,
0:10
Speaker 1: brought to you by Shannon's Insurance. I'm your host, Rnita
0:13
Speaker 1: Vmulin and alongside me, as always, is Matt Clayton. But Matt,
0:18
Speaker 1: for this episode, we thought let's bring in the big guns,
0:21
Speaker 1: so joining us is someone who knows exactly what it
0:23
Speaker 1: takes to conquer Lemon, the two thousand and seven French
0:26
Speaker 1: Grand Prix winner and former Moto GP racer Chris Vermullin.
0:30
Speaker 1: Before Chris, I bring you on, Matt, I have to
0:32
Speaker 1: apologize you're outnumbered by Vermulins once again.
0:36
Speaker 2: Well, one of us on this podcast has to have
0:39
Speaker 2: won a Grand Prix, and I don't know about you,
0:40
Speaker 2: whether you've got some past you haven't told me about yet,
0:42
Speaker 2: but it's not you. It's definitely not me. My Motorcycle
0:46
Speaker 2: Riding Exploits will be the world's shortest podcast, but always
0:49
Speaker 2: nice to have a Grand Prix winner, and particularly this
0:51
Speaker 2: Grand Prix and Chris, this is like old times you
0:54
Speaker 2: and I being on a podcast.
0:55
Speaker 3: But.
0:57
Speaker 2: Two as they still let us on. But my question
1:01
Speaker 2: to you is, do you think when the French Grand
1:03
Speaker 2: Prixs coming up, oh yeah, I won that, And then
1:05
Speaker 2: you get out of bed and go, oh man, that
1:06
Speaker 2: was a long time ago, because it's you're not quite
1:08
Speaker 2: as live and supple as you once were.
1:11
Speaker 3: I would say, oh, you're one hundred percent right, and
1:14
Speaker 3: it's funny and made of mine who loves none a GP.
1:17
Speaker 3: And we talk about it a fair bit. He said,
1:19
Speaker 3: I just watched the French race. It come up again,
1:21
Speaker 3: and I said, I can't believe it's eighteen years ago. Yeah,
1:25
Speaker 3: it feel it feels like it was a little while ago.
1:28
Speaker 3: But five or six years, you know, not eighteen years ago,
1:31
Speaker 3: two thousand and seven race, and what an iconic track.
1:35
Speaker 3: The track is still the same as it was then.
1:37
Speaker 3: But yeah, I do have great memories. I have greater
1:42
Speaker 3: memories from other races, if you like. But that's my
1:45
Speaker 3: if you that's that's the Grand Prix I won. It's
1:49
Speaker 3: the one I still on the top of the party.
1:50
Speaker 3: Suzuki's first win in a long time, and they didn't
1:54
Speaker 3: get again Maverick Vignolas many years later. So yeah, he's
1:57
Speaker 3: iconic for a few reasons, and yeah, glad to be
1:59
Speaker 3: part of it.
2:00
Speaker 1: What I like about the French Grand Prix is you
2:02
Speaker 1: never know what's going to happen. It could be red flags,
2:05
Speaker 1: it could be rain, it could be sunny and twenty
2:07
Speaker 1: five plus degrees. And then we have what's happened so
2:11
Speaker 1: far in the championship with last weekend, Fabio Cordorarro is
2:14
Speaker 1: just pulling something out of nowhere and putting the Yamaha
2:17
Speaker 1: up the front heading into the French Grand Prix. Two
2:19
Speaker 1: French riders. But let's take you back eighteen years ago,
2:23
Speaker 1: because I can't believe you just said that, Chris, how
2:26
Speaker 1: do you master Lamon? What's the secrets to this track?
2:30
Speaker 3: Then? It is a quick laptome around Leman is not
2:35
Speaker 3: sacrificing too much entry speed and getting on the throat early.
2:38
Speaker 3: It is a simple way to put it. A lot
2:40
Speaker 3: of these long corners head on two straights and you
2:43
Speaker 3: can make a lot of time, then you can lose
2:45
Speaker 3: a lot of time there. So if you can get
2:47
Speaker 3: that part right, generally you pretty quick around Lamon, but
2:50
Speaker 3: obviously all these guys are quicker around them On. But
2:53
Speaker 3: going back to the French riders being fast here it
2:55
Speaker 3: is one of the busiest Grand Prixs of the year.
2:57
Speaker 3: That the circus goes to two hundred thousand over the weekend.
3:03
Speaker 3: The French crowd are absolutely nuts. No rider will get
3:05
Speaker 3: any sleep in their motor home all weekend because there'll
3:08
Speaker 3: be parties, there'll be noise in the campground, and there'll
3:11
Speaker 3: be engines revving, a lot of croissant spang Eden as
3:15
Speaker 3: you said before, And yeah, no, they love it and
3:18
Speaker 3: they go they go nuts for it and winning the
3:21
Speaker 3: race there, I have a great following, but I can't
3:23
Speaker 3: imagine what it would be like to be a French
3:25
Speaker 3: rider there because in that year that I did win
3:27
Speaker 3: Sylvanian Tili took the lead of that race and the
3:30
Speaker 3: French crowd went absolutely berserk. And now they've got two
3:34
Speaker 3: front runners or two top riders, let's face it, world
3:37
Speaker 3: champions in the class. They have really got someone to
3:40
Speaker 3: cheer for.
3:40
Speaker 2: It's kind of for both of you. It's kind of
3:42
Speaker 2: one of my nerd moments of the year. And when
3:45
Speaker 2: they do the French national anthem before the race starts
3:47
Speaker 2: and they just play like the opening ten seconds of
3:49
Speaker 2: the music and then cut it off and the crowd
3:52
Speaker 2: just takes over and it's full hair standing up on
3:55
Speaker 2: your arms, and the way that front straight is there
3:58
Speaker 2: with those two big grand stands, you've got huge tunnel
4:01
Speaker 2: of noise going on. And you know, I mean the
4:03
Speaker 2: crowds were massive when you were doing it, Chris, but
4:05
Speaker 2: I mean now you saw the crowd they got in
4:07
Speaker 2: there last year, that moment before that race. If you're
4:09
Speaker 2: a French rider, I don't know how you keep it together,
4:11
Speaker 2: quite frankly, because the emotions would be massive.
4:15
Speaker 3: They would be massive, wouldn't they And it is a
4:18
Speaker 3: it's cool atmosphere. And not even not being French like
4:21
Speaker 3: you said, Matt, and being on the grid and not
4:22
Speaker 3: being French, it's cool. It's cool to be part of it.
4:25
Speaker 3: They go mental, They just they just love it. They
4:28
Speaker 3: love the racing and it's great that we've got crowds
4:31
Speaker 3: like that. You know, that's what makes part of it
4:32
Speaker 3: for sure.
4:34
Speaker 1: I have a Christian When you were just talking about
4:35
Speaker 1: the crowds there before last weekend with in Harah, me
4:38
Speaker 1: and Matt spoke about on the last pot is like
4:40
Speaker 1: you could hear the crowd over the top of the
4:42
Speaker 1: commentators and over top of the black noise. I know,
4:45
Speaker 1: it's been a long time since you race. But can
4:48
Speaker 1: you hear the crowd when it's like that or you
4:50
Speaker 1: is it the noise just so drowned out by the engine.
4:53
Speaker 3: Well spl like you'd hear the crowd Moto GP because
4:57
Speaker 3: they're so loud. Well, this Isuki, don't know if you
5:00
Speaker 3: guys remember the Suszuki. That thing was bloody loud. To
5:05
Speaker 3: be honest, you didn't hear much. You don't hear much.
5:08
Speaker 3: And the thing is screaming well back in the day
5:10
Speaker 3: at eighteen thousand rpm twenty thousand at times and loud. Yeah,
5:16
Speaker 3: even though it was like that. And I don't know
5:19
Speaker 3: listeners like if they get too many gps. But I
5:22
Speaker 3: work in strandsuit bike stuff. I do World two white things.
5:25
Speaker 3: But then you go to a motor GP race and
5:27
Speaker 3: you forget how loud these bikes are and you sit
5:30
Speaker 3: in the garages. And that's why the riders have microphones
5:33
Speaker 3: to talk to their crew, because otherwise you sit in
5:35
Speaker 3: there yelling. So they are very very loud. So it
5:38
Speaker 3: is hard to hear the crowd, but you do. You
5:41
Speaker 3: do know what's going on. You know what's going on
5:43
Speaker 3: on the start line. You know on the last lap
5:45
Speaker 3: of the race when they are absolutely going nuts and
5:48
Speaker 3: those Hares crowd they go, they go. I remember being
5:51
Speaker 3: in Hereth one year and on the start line there
5:53
Speaker 3: was a guy with a chainsaw without the chain on it,
5:56
Speaker 3: but he had the bar who's stroking sauce and he's
5:59
Speaker 3: in the grandstead revving this thing.
6:01
Speaker 1: And I looked over, they're going to test the fire us.
6:09
Speaker 3: That's that's good.
6:11
Speaker 2: Mentioned the chainsaw must have got it go, must.
6:14
Speaker 3: Have gotten going. But yeah, I was talking about Cruchie
6:16
Speaker 3: tom Okaine and he's like, look at that. Where else
6:18
Speaker 3: do you see that in the world. I have chainsaw
6:20
Speaker 3: going in a grand sense. So yeah, going back to
6:23
Speaker 3: those Latin crowds, they love it and they go off.
6:26
Speaker 2: Well, and you can only imagine what it would be
6:29
Speaker 2: like if Fabio has some sort of a race weekend
6:31
Speaker 2: that he did at Lamon that he did in Herreth
6:34
Speaker 2: where that was you know, that qualifying lap And I've
6:37
Speaker 2: been doing a bit of a deep dive on this today,
6:39
Speaker 2: given how slow that Yabaha is through the speed traps,
6:41
Speaker 2: what he was able to do on that qualifying lap
6:44
Speaker 2: was you know, I'm Olden City all these days and
6:47
Speaker 2: I've seen a million races of Chris. You've been in
6:48
Speaker 2: a million of them, but that's one of those ones
6:51
Speaker 2: where you see it happening in the moment you're looking
6:53
Speaker 2: at it, going, oh my god, that this thing is
6:56
Speaker 2: absolutely something special this minute and a half that we
6:58
Speaker 2: saw around there to beat a jucaddi, because we know
7:01
Speaker 2: Mark Mark has just collects poles for fun at the moment.
7:04
Speaker 2: But it was a mesmerizing lap, and it was one
7:06
Speaker 2: of those ones that sometimes you go to a writer
7:08
Speaker 2: and say was there any more in that? And they'll go, oh,
7:11
Speaker 2: it was a bit deep in here, and I was
7:12
Speaker 2: a bit early on the throttle on there. He could
7:14
Speaker 2: do that lap one hundred more times. He's probably not
7:16
Speaker 2: repeating it. It was just magical.
7:18
Speaker 3: It was magical, and it set up his whole weekend.
7:21
Speaker 3: Let's face it. He could get the start from there
7:23
Speaker 3: and he could be in the group. And it looks
7:26
Speaker 3: like on some of it and heretha is a tier
7:28
Speaker 3: track like Lemon, those sorts of tracks. If the Yamaha
7:31
Speaker 3: can be ridden away, it needs to be ridden to
7:33
Speaker 3: get the lap time ie not being held up in
7:35
Speaker 3: the middle of a corner by a jucaddi. He can
7:37
Speaker 3: get he can run with those guys passing him is
7:40
Speaker 3: another thing, and it's easier for those guys to pass him,
7:45
Speaker 3: but that set up his whole weekend and allowed him
7:47
Speaker 3: to challenge for the podium. And let's face it, even
7:50
Speaker 3: if Mark didn't crash, Fabio still would have been on
7:52
Speaker 3: the podium. So it's it was a fantastic result. It was.
7:56
Speaker 3: It's great to see a Japanese manufacturer starting to make progress.
8:00
Speaker 3: I think Honda is as well, just not as quickly.
8:03
Speaker 3: But yeah, watch out full the more because I reckon one,
8:06
Speaker 3: jay Z will be pretty quicker out there as we.
8:08
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, completely agree.
8:12
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I think the fire alarms stopped now,
8:15
Speaker 1: so that's good and back to Moto GP. Back to
8:18
Speaker 1: what I want to talk about. Alex Marquez goes into
8:21
Speaker 1: this weekend leading the World Championships second time this season
8:24
Speaker 1: as well, and we're only into round six, even though
8:26
Speaker 1: it does feel like round six hundred because it's been
8:28
Speaker 1: a hectic season so far. Talking after the testing and
8:33
Speaker 1: stuff that we had last weekend, we know that Peker
8:36
Speaker 1: has been struggling with the front end. You guys were
8:37
Speaker 1: just talking about marcz as well. Do you think now
8:40
Speaker 1: we're going to start to see or Chris, do you
8:42
Speaker 1: think now we're going to start to see the factory
8:43
Speaker 1: ducaddies start to break away or is this a circuit
8:46
Speaker 1: like you said, because it's a bit smaller, does it
8:49
Speaker 1: boast more group We'll see a bit more of an
8:51
Speaker 1: even playing field for this weekend.
8:53
Speaker 3: Look, I'm on the outside as well, and this is
8:54
Speaker 3: only my opinion, but I don't think the step from
8:58
Speaker 3: a twenty four GUK to a twenty five is as
9:01
Speaker 3: big as say the twenty three to the twenty four
9:03
Speaker 3: as you Caddy was. So I think I think it's
9:08
Speaker 3: probably a little bit better in some areas and it's
9:10
Speaker 3: probably still being developed in others. And we've seen that
9:13
Speaker 3: in the past that once they get going, and you're
9:15
Speaker 3: right asking this question, needs that they the factory bike
9:18
Speaker 3: does start to take off. But I can't see the
9:20
Speaker 3: advantage being as big as it was last year. Saying
9:24
Speaker 3: that they've got the best two riders like Alex Makes
9:25
Speaker 3: is doing a fantastic job, no doubt about it, but
9:28
Speaker 3: he is not a Mark Muckers and he is not
9:30
Speaker 3: a Peco Bagnia for a whole championship, So I think
9:34
Speaker 3: the factory team will overtake him. I hope I'm wrong
9:38
Speaker 3: because I love Alex. I think he's he's been given
9:41
Speaker 3: a rough deal because he's Mark's brother. He's had to
9:44
Speaker 3: really prove himself extra to which and he's there. But
9:47
Speaker 3: I think Mark and Peco will be still the two
9:51
Speaker 3: guys to beat, and I think Mike's just proven he's
9:54
Speaker 3: hard to beat anywhere. He's just going to beat himself.
9:57
Speaker 3: No one's going to beat him. It's only how many
9:59
Speaker 3: mistakes does he make will not make? So yeah, let's
10:02
Speaker 3: see how many, if any more, come, and how many
10:04
Speaker 3: there are.
10:05
Speaker 2: It's interesting what you're saying there about the gap between
10:07
Speaker 2: the twenty four and twenty five doesn't seem to be
10:09
Speaker 2: as big as a gap between the twenty three and
10:11
Speaker 2: the twenty four. I reckon we're going to get a
10:13
Speaker 2: taste of when that twenty five is starting to pull
10:16
Speaker 2: away as the better bike. Don't necessarily watch what Mark
10:19
Speaker 2: and Peco are doing. Watch Fabio de jan Antonio. Here's
10:21
Speaker 2: the other guy on the twenty five. So if you
10:24
Speaker 2: start seeing Digia start rising towards the top and then
10:26
Speaker 2: he's ahead of Morbidelli and he's fighting with Alex Marquez,
10:29
Speaker 2: that's when you can see the twenty four maybe starting
10:31
Speaker 2: to come back to the pack a little bit, because
10:33
Speaker 2: Digi is the guy at the moment. He came in
10:34
Speaker 2: super injury compromise as we know, and he's starting to
10:37
Speaker 2: get there. He had that podium at Austin. But once
10:40
Speaker 2: you start seeing him moving forward, that might be the
10:42
Speaker 2: point where you go, all right, they've got the twenty
10:44
Speaker 2: five sorted and that might be the biggest tell for
10:48
Speaker 2: me as to can Alex Marquez maintain what he's done,
10:51
Speaker 2: because he's been amazing these first five rounds. Certainly not
10:54
Speaker 2: something I saw coming, but it's a long championship and
10:57
Speaker 2: if he can maintain that level with that GP twenty
11:01
Speaker 2: five ascending, I think that's going to speak volume for
11:03
Speaker 2: what Alex is doing.
11:04
Speaker 3: You're one hundred percent right, and dig he is the
11:07
Speaker 3: perfect gauge. I can't agree more, Matt, you know for
11:10
Speaker 3: where that twenty five bike is. By going back, I
11:13
Speaker 3: only spoke briefly about Alex Marquez, I one hundred percent
11:16
Speaker 3: agree with you. It's been it's been outstanding, and I
11:19
Speaker 3: think as soon as he got on that twenty four bike, well,
11:21
Speaker 3: let's face it, it's completely developed. It's the championship number
11:24
Speaker 3: one and two bike out of last year. It's perfect around.
11:28
Speaker 3: It's just the fastest anything went around all the tracks
11:31
Speaker 3: last year. And he's so he's gotten on it easy,
11:34
Speaker 3: but wow, putting that together and consistent just bang bang bang. Yeah,
11:39
Speaker 3: it might only be second places, but at second place
11:41
Speaker 3: is to one of the greatest riders of all time.
11:43
Speaker 3: Let's face it. So he is doing a sensational drill.
11:47
Speaker 1: Yeah great, What do you think those changed for him
11:49
Speaker 1: this year? Because it feels like he has made like
11:51
Speaker 1: a massive jump, but also not just the bikes made
11:54
Speaker 1: the jump, but Alex himself. As a writer, I think
11:57
Speaker 1: what things happened.
11:59
Speaker 3: I reckon he's on a bike that's capable of doing it.
12:02
Speaker 3: Sometimes when you when you're not quite there and you
12:05
Speaker 3: try harder, you make more mistakes where you go worse.
12:09
Speaker 3: You know you can over try it, And I reckon
12:10
Speaker 3: he's on something that's very good, and he knows that
12:14
Speaker 3: he's going to be good around that, and he knows
12:16
Speaker 3: the tracks is very established. Let's face it, he's a
12:20
Speaker 3: Moto three and a Moto two world champion, So he's
12:22
Speaker 3: not slow in any any any weekend, but he's able
12:26
Speaker 3: to and that's when you get the most out of
12:29
Speaker 3: it when you can just knock it back that little
12:30
Speaker 3: bit in the race and just go and he just
12:33
Speaker 3: feels comfortable. I reckon well.
12:34
Speaker 2: And you know it's interesting too you get to that
12:36
Speaker 2: point where he's always been this sort of motor g
12:38
Speaker 2: P race winner in waiting, it's more sort of potentially
12:41
Speaker 2: a race winner. So now that he's gone and done it,
12:44
Speaker 2: I'll be curious to see is you know he's operating
12:46
Speaker 2: at this level We've never seen him operate at before.
12:49
Speaker 2: Now that he's actually done it this proof of concept,
12:51
Speaker 2: there is there another level that he can rise to
12:53
Speaker 2: because that whole oh when are you going to win
12:55
Speaker 2: a Grand Prix? That's done, that's in the bin there
12:57
Speaker 2: we don't have to talk about that.
12:58
Speaker 3: And how cool would have I think to see him
13:02
Speaker 3: and Mark actually have to fight. Oh yeah, there's a
13:06
Speaker 3: lot of respect between them, right and Mark's very happy
13:09
Speaker 3: for his brother to win the race and et cetera.
13:13
Speaker 3: And I'm a massive Mark Markers fan. But when he's
13:16
Speaker 3: actually got to fight his brother, or if there's actually
13:18
Speaker 3: a weekend where Alex is quicker or outriding Mark, I
13:23
Speaker 3: want to see how that unfolds because yeah, that'll be interesting.
13:26
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you mentioned jay Z earlier Joan Zarco, you
13:31
Speaker 1: said this weekend could be good for him. How do
13:34
Speaker 1: you think the Hondas are going to go this weekend?
13:37
Speaker 3: Chris, Look, I don't think it's a particularly great track
13:40
Speaker 3: for the honder But I don't think there's any great
13:42
Speaker 3: track for the Honda at the moment. I think Zarko
13:46
Speaker 3: me is getting speed out of it, but he can't
13:48
Speaker 3: stay on it for whatever reason that or so I
13:51
Speaker 3: just ah anyway, but I think Look, I think Zarko
13:57
Speaker 3: is a great writer. I think he's a CHAMPI I
14:00
Speaker 3: think he's very very fast on the new motorcycle. I
14:03
Speaker 3: think he's very clever at working with his engineers, and
14:07
Speaker 3: he's got a great group of guys in that Elsier garage.
14:10
Speaker 3: But I think what he's been able to get that
14:14
Speaker 3: bike is good. And I think come along, you know
14:17
Speaker 3: as a tracked well got a lot of support in France.
14:19
Speaker 3: I think it will just add a little bit for
14:21
Speaker 3: him well.
14:22
Speaker 2: And also there's an emotional aspect to him which you
14:25
Speaker 2: know sometimes which I think in this instance is actually
14:28
Speaker 2: really positive. Like sometimes you can have guys get overawed
14:30
Speaker 2: by situations of having a home grown prix or pressure.
14:33
Speaker 2: He strikes me as the sort of guy who will
14:36
Speaker 2: rise with that and perform perhaps better because he doesn't
14:39
Speaker 2: want to let people down. But Chris, this is interesting
14:42
Speaker 2: for me, like he's been so good this year that
14:45
Speaker 2: you can almost forget that he's thirty five. He's the
14:47
Speaker 2: oldest guy in the grid now that Alaisha's gone. And
14:50
Speaker 2: you look at where Honda is at right now, they're
14:52
Speaker 2: clearly starting to come forward like a lot of teams,
14:55
Speaker 2: they've got their riders on these two year cycles. But
14:57
Speaker 2: Luca Marine's out of contract at the end of the sea,
15:00
Speaker 2: and you've got this weird situation that you can almost
15:03
Speaker 2: forget that Zarko is thirty five. If Honda is rising,
15:07
Speaker 2: I wonder who the better guy for that seat is.
15:09
Speaker 2: Me is contracted until the end of twenty six, as
15:11
Speaker 2: we know. Do you want Marini's sort of technical ability
15:14
Speaker 2: and ability to push a project forward behind the scenes,
15:18
Speaker 2: or do you want a guy like Zarko who you
15:19
Speaker 2: know his elbows are going to be out in races.
15:21
Speaker 2: He's a pretty fearsome guy in handleby to handleback colmback,
15:24
Speaker 2: and I don't think you should be looking at his
15:26
Speaker 2: birth certificate and think he's getting any slower. I actually
15:28
Speaker 2: think he's a really really strong rider right now. So
15:31
Speaker 2: if you're honder and you're moving forward, Zarko is not
15:34
Speaker 2: the future as we go forward to twenty seven in
15:36
Speaker 2: this new rule reset. But I also think he's almost
15:38
Speaker 2: too good to be in a satellite team right now.
15:41
Speaker 3: Very much so. But I think Honda at the moment,
15:44
Speaker 3: I think all four bikes and the two teams are
15:48
Speaker 3: getting equal equipment, and I think the feedback coming from
15:51
Speaker 3: the LCR garage now is just as important as the
15:55
Speaker 3: I was going to say repsot goes, but the.
15:56
Speaker 2: Fact, oh, actually it's usually really us.
15:59
Speaker 3: To because we've been watching that since what ninety five
16:03
Speaker 3: excuse like, yeah, exactly, but yeah, the factory, the HC garage,
16:09
Speaker 3: I don't think. I think Zako's on a HC contract
16:13
Speaker 3: right and he's put in the LCR team. I think
16:17
Speaker 3: he fits really well there. He gets on with his
16:19
Speaker 3: crew chief and Christoph Borbignong's in the garage beef he's
16:23
Speaker 3: been there forever, Luccio. There's a lot of important people
16:27
Speaker 3: that gel and get the most out of it. Maybe
16:30
Speaker 3: Honda won't want to upset that either, because maybe that
16:33
Speaker 3: side of the team is giving them. That's one way
16:36
Speaker 3: they're pushing. But Honda is going to be the biggest
16:39
Speaker 3: change for next year. Let's face it, Chantra is he
16:42
Speaker 3: going to keep her eye? Probably not Marini, mir I
16:47
Speaker 3: think if Honda can get an Acosta, oh yeah, someone else,
16:53
Speaker 3: it's going to happen and they'll go for it. And
16:55
Speaker 3: let's face it, they've got as big a check book
16:57
Speaker 3: as anyone, so they can afford to go there. And
17:01
Speaker 3: KADM doesn't look like it's out of the doldrums just yet.
17:03
Speaker 3: It's there's watch this space is what's going to happen there?
17:06
Speaker 3: I reckon.
17:07
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you brought that up because that was
17:09
Speaker 1: the next thing I wanted to talk to him mat about,
17:10
Speaker 1: was Matt, you wrote this fantastic piece on Pedro, Acosta
17:13
Speaker 1: and KATM that went out on Fox sports dot com
17:16
Speaker 1: A four slash Motorsport yesterday, and when I was reading that,
17:21
Speaker 1: you look at Pedro, you look at his background, where
17:24
Speaker 1: he's come from, and it seems like this shit just
17:27
Speaker 1: like a switch has changed. And we spoke about this
17:29
Speaker 1: a lot on the pod. For me, he just looks
17:31
Speaker 1: miserable at the moment. What was your take, mat Obviously,
17:35
Speaker 1: when you're writing that article, do you see a light
17:38
Speaker 1: coming for Pedro or do you think that these rumors
17:40
Speaker 1: that we keep bringing up are they going to come
17:43
Speaker 1: to fruition.
17:44
Speaker 2: There's an impatience with him, and it's the way he speaks,
17:47
Speaker 2: it's the way he walks, it's the way that he
17:50
Speaker 2: just rolls in life. He's a guy who's in a
17:52
Speaker 2: hurry to do everything yesterday, which is partly the reason
17:55
Speaker 2: he is where he is. Is a twenty year old
17:57
Speaker 2: in murder GP. It's a great thing, but it's also
17:59
Speaker 2: not a great if you're not aligned with the manufacturer's
18:02
Speaker 2: timeline that you're on at the moment. Now we know
18:05
Speaker 2: KTM they've had their financial difficulties over the off season
18:08
Speaker 2: and they've had to perhaps sort of pull back the
18:10
Speaker 2: rains a little bit. Pedro does want to hear that,
18:13
Speaker 2: and yes, he's been there the whole time. He's come
18:15
Speaker 2: through Moto three, he's come through Motor two, is close
18:17
Speaker 2: with Aki. But Pedro Acosta was annoyed with his rookie
18:20
Speaker 2: season last year because he didn't win a race, which
18:23
Speaker 2: he had one of the better rookie season certainly the
18:25
Speaker 2: beginning of it was an incredible he's super impatient for success,
18:30
Speaker 2: and so asking him to just sort of just sit back,
18:33
Speaker 2: chill out, we'll get this right in a few years.
18:36
Speaker 2: He doesn't want to hear that, like he's he's going
18:37
Speaker 2: to be twenty three and three years time, but he's
18:39
Speaker 2: not thinking about three years time. And so the Honda
18:42
Speaker 2: thing's super interesting is Chris Ray's there because we know
18:45
Speaker 2: Honda has a pretty heavy check book and certainly no
18:48
Speaker 2: shortage of ambition. And if you had to back one
18:51
Speaker 2: of these manufacturers to get a completely clean sheet of
18:54
Speaker 2: paper right from twenty twenty seven, where we're taking will
18:56
Speaker 2: the arrow off the bike, so we going to a
18:58
Speaker 2: new engine. Speck Arro's been the thing that's brought to
19:01
Speaker 2: Caddy forward to this position of complete dominance right now.
19:05
Speaker 2: You take all of the Caddy's toys away from him
19:06
Speaker 2: the minute it kind of levels the playing field a
19:08
Speaker 2: little bit. So the key is being out of contract
19:11
Speaker 2: at the right time to be with the right manufacturer.
19:13
Speaker 2: We see this in motorsport anywhere when there's big rule changes.
19:17
Speaker 2: Hond would be a great bet for twenty seven, but
19:20
Speaker 2: he's Pedro going to be patient enough to sign on
19:22
Speaker 2: with them or try and break a contract or put
19:24
Speaker 2: his faith in them for twenty seven when he's annoyed
19:27
Speaker 2: that he didn't win last week in the week before that,
19:28
Speaker 2: Like there's it's a really interesting conundrum because I'm not
19:31
Speaker 2: sure he's going to find a manufacturer that's on his timeline,
19:34
Speaker 2: but which any of these manufacturers would sign him tomorrow
19:37
Speaker 2: if they had a chance to. But then he's got
19:39
Speaker 2: to read the tea leaves a little bit and try
19:41
Speaker 2: and align himself with the right one. It's a super
19:43
Speaker 2: interesting situation, I reckon it's very interesting.
19:46
Speaker 3: I think anyone would sign him except you, Caddy. I
19:49
Speaker 3: don't know, because they've got their books full, haven't they.
19:52
Speaker 3: They already had to let the world champion go from
19:55
Speaker 3: last year. So but you're right, I think Yamaha or Honda,
19:58
Speaker 3: let's face it, the other two main ones or pretty
20:01
Speaker 3: are they're they're gonna they would sign him in a
20:03
Speaker 3: heartbeat for sure.
20:06
Speaker 1: Talking about KTM, let's talk about the Maverick situation, because
20:10
Speaker 1: I feel like this weekend Tech three tech T I
20:13
Speaker 1: should say their home race. Maverick's been on fire these
20:18
Speaker 1: last two Chris, what's your take on this because we've
20:20
Speaker 1: spoke about it before, haven't we, Matt, and Matt's saying,
20:24
Speaker 1: I love is it's some have Rick Vignale's like, you
20:26
Speaker 1: just don't know what you're going to get each weekend.
20:28
Speaker 1: It's like a bag of surprises. How has your take
20:31
Speaker 1: on him with Tech three and KTM been this year?
20:34
Speaker 3: Well, he's one of the older riders in the championship, right,
20:37
Speaker 3: And it goes back to hell that was the next
20:40
Speaker 3: writer after me that won on a Suzuki. So I've
20:42
Speaker 3: known Maverick Friendly as a mate for a long time
20:48
Speaker 3: and I can never understand how he can be so
20:51
Speaker 3: quick and then so average, and then you go testing
20:54
Speaker 3: and he's the fastest guy by a mile. We can't.
20:57
Speaker 3: Now he's on a KTM and he's rap and he's battling,
21:01
Speaker 3: and he's making moves and making passes that stick, and
21:05
Speaker 3: I'm just wow, I've never seen that. So there's obviously
21:08
Speaker 3: something there that's making him very comfortable. So I think, look,
21:13
Speaker 3: it goes back to Moto GP is a formula, right,
21:15
Speaker 3: It's not the old days of five hundreds where it
21:19
Speaker 3: was you've got to have a five hundred CEC and
21:22
Speaker 3: that's the end. Of the rules. They're on the same breaks,
21:24
Speaker 3: they're on the same tiers, they're on the same ECUs.
21:27
Speaker 3: There's so many things that are that are identical, and
21:30
Speaker 3: it's a formula. Now. I think the KTM is just
21:34
Speaker 3: that much different to every other bike he's been on
21:36
Speaker 3: recently that he's gone on. There's actually some things here
21:39
Speaker 3: that I can get out of this to make work
21:40
Speaker 3: for me. And whether that's WP suspension, whether it's the
21:43
Speaker 3: still Trellis frame, the feeling of that, I don't know
21:46
Speaker 3: what it is, but it looks like it's working and
21:49
Speaker 3: it's exciting because it's it's brought something else in so
21:53
Speaker 3: and Maverick's a strange unit. Like I said, I know
21:56
Speaker 3: him quite well. There's no doubt about it. He is unique.
22:00
Speaker 3: But I like the guy. He's good hearted, he's a
22:03
Speaker 3: nice boke. He's a great family man, and I want
22:06
Speaker 3: to see him do well.
22:07
Speaker 2: He's the most appropriately named murder GP writer of all
22:10
Speaker 2: time because he actually is what it says on his
22:13
Speaker 2: birth certificate. But the thing that was really interesting actually
22:16
Speaker 2: for U Chris after Spain, I think it was he
22:20
Speaker 2: was being asked about his adaptation to the KTM, having
22:22
Speaker 2: come in from another manufacturer as Bastianini his teammate has done.
22:26
Speaker 2: And Vignalde's take was, all the other KTM riders are
22:29
Speaker 2: complaining about the vibrating and we remember Jack Miller. This
22:32
Speaker 2: was like he sort of wheely thing, like the bike's
22:33
Speaker 2: vibrating like crazy. We had that awesome slow mo shot
22:36
Speaker 2: at Motigi last year. It looked like it was on
22:37
Speaker 2: a trampoline. Maverick has come in and said, well, compared
22:41
Speaker 2: to the Aprillia, this thing doesn't vibrate all that much,
22:43
Speaker 2: and his thoughts and his thoughts on Bastini's saying, well,
22:46
Speaker 2: Bastianini has come from the best bike and the most
22:48
Speaker 2: sortied bike, and he's now having to adjust to this
22:51
Speaker 2: thing that clearly isn't as good as a duc d
22:53
Speaker 2: E GP twenty four. And you know, there might be
22:55
Speaker 2: a little bit of gazemanship in those comments, but it
22:57
Speaker 2: does make sense in that Anaas have very particular rider
23:01
Speaker 2: likes things to be just so, and if you're dealing
23:03
Speaker 2: with this bike that's vibrating like crazy and you're not
23:06
Speaker 2: used to it, and Maverick's like, that's fine, I'll ride
23:09
Speaker 2: around that, And maybe that's why he's getting the results
23:11
Speaker 2: that the other guys aren't.
23:12
Speaker 3: I think it's spot on, and the riders have come
23:14
Speaker 3: from different different backgrounds, and you're exactly I believe you're
23:18
Speaker 3: exactly right, because let's face it, those bikes were so
23:21
Speaker 3: different and ay it did come off the best bike,
23:24
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think that's probably right. You know, in
23:27
Speaker 3: Prillier might not be the best thing out there, and
23:30
Speaker 3: Maverick got it to work at sometimes, and so do Delash,
23:32
Speaker 3: but we haven't seen it win many races, have we,
23:36
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think you spot it on there, mate.
23:38
Speaker 1: Before we move on to the most anticipated question of
23:41
Speaker 1: what is your predictions for this weekend, let's touch on
23:45
Speaker 1: Jack Miller because it seems like Matte, I feel like
23:49
Speaker 1: you hit the nail on the head with this year.
23:51
Speaker 1: Jack finds the ceiling really quickly and then that's kind
23:54
Speaker 1: of where it is and we're still a really strong
23:56
Speaker 1: start of the year. But now it seems Jack's back
23:59
Speaker 1: to making silly mistakes or crashing out. What's your take
24:03
Speaker 1: on Jack being at Promak Yamaha, Chris. Do you think
24:06
Speaker 1: it's been a good move for him? And do you
24:07
Speaker 1: think we're going to see Jack continue to be stronger
24:10
Speaker 1: for the rest of the year.
24:12
Speaker 3: What was the only move for Jack Let's face it,
24:14
Speaker 3: like being completely honest, he didn't have any other options,
24:16
Speaker 3: so it is a good move if you want to
24:18
Speaker 3: stay racing, and I think the Yamaha made a step
24:23
Speaker 3: forward and he probably dodged a bullet getting off that KDM. Like,
24:26
Speaker 3: let's face it, the company itself is not in a
24:28
Speaker 3: great position, so it's probably worked out very well for Jack.
24:32
Speaker 3: He fits with the Primac team really well, and a
24:35
Speaker 3: couple of races there he's outperformed QUADRAO. He's outperformed rins
24:39
Speaker 3: most of the time established Yamaha riders, so he's getting
24:42
Speaker 3: a lot out of it. But you're right, needs there's
24:45
Speaker 3: a few mistakes starting to roll in, but we are
24:49
Speaker 3: only around six. So the thing for Jackie is how
24:53
Speaker 3: many rounds does he have? Because there's no doubt about it.
24:55
Speaker 3: Yamaha talking to other writers, they're going to be they're
24:58
Speaker 3: going to be seeing what options are, not only for Jack,
25:01
Speaker 3: but Miguel Lavera can't be secure where he is either,
25:04
Speaker 3: I don't believe. So, yeah, interesting times because we saw
25:09
Speaker 3: what Fabio did in Hereth as well, so the bike's
25:11
Speaker 3: obviously making progress. So the potential is there.
25:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you mentioned before that you know, it
25:16
Speaker 2: wasn't like he had any other options. He was the
25:18
Speaker 2: twenty second and last guy aside or the grid for
25:20
Speaker 2: this year. But I reckon he's come along there at
25:23
Speaker 2: a decent time as they've gone. You know, yes, there
25:25
Speaker 2: was a vacancy there, but Yamaha has now got double
25:27
Speaker 2: the number of bikes, double the amount of data. There's
25:30
Speaker 2: a need for someone there with as you were saying, Ronita,
25:33
Speaker 2: Jack gets to this ceiling fast and then maybe he
25:36
Speaker 2: hits his head on it, or maybe he sort of
25:38
Speaker 2: peters a log at a certain level. But someone with
25:40
Speaker 2: Jack's experience with multiple manufacturers a to bring Yamaha up
25:44
Speaker 2: out of the basement in the short term. But you've
25:46
Speaker 2: also got to look what impact could he have going
25:48
Speaker 2: forward when you know, at the end of twenty six
25:50
Speaker 2: these rules go in the recycling bin, So what impact
25:54
Speaker 2: can he have going forward there? I actually reckon he's
25:57
Speaker 2: been a good asset for them. The results have tailed
25:59
Speaker 2: off the last couple of races. Qatar was a disaster.
26:02
Speaker 2: He had food poisoning, it was a shock or he
26:04
Speaker 2: had an absolute mayor there and then that bizarre d
26:06
Speaker 2: NF at her Reth where a piece of the body
26:09
Speaker 2: work actually cut a cable that came loose and actually
26:13
Speaker 2: actually sliced one of the because he was having all
26:14
Speaker 2: these problems electronically because a piece of the body work
26:16
Speaker 2: could actually shared off one of the cables in the ESU,
26:19
Speaker 2: so the bike I didn't know where it was and
26:21
Speaker 2: he was going absolutely nowhere. So that was one of
26:22
Speaker 2: those Only Jack Miller could have that sort of retirement
26:25
Speaker 2: retirements bad, really really.
26:28
Speaker 3: Bad level of racing that just it just doesn't happen.
26:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's like a one in a thousand shot. But
26:34
Speaker 2: if anyone was going to tick that box on the
26:35
Speaker 2: BINGO card, it was probably Jack. But I think his
26:38
Speaker 2: impact behind the scenes there is just an experienced head.
26:42
Speaker 2: I wonder if you gave Yamaha truth serum whether they
26:45
Speaker 2: would have wanted to have signed OLIVERA for two years
26:47
Speaker 2: and Jack for one, because I reckon if they could
26:49
Speaker 2: have had a do over on that, they might have
26:50
Speaker 2: flipped those two contracts because we've not seen enough of
26:53
Speaker 2: Olivera to know whether he's really on top of the
26:55
Speaker 2: Yamaha this year, and when the two of them were
26:58
Speaker 2: on track together, Jack was Demonts probably better, So yeah,
27:01
Speaker 2: curious one. I reckon he'll get another year. Chris, I
27:04
Speaker 2: know about you, just simply because of where we are
27:06
Speaker 2: in the rule cycle and the value he brings there.
27:08
Speaker 2: And there doesn't seem to be like some young blokeout
27:10
Speaker 2: of Moto Too that's knocking the door down to get in,
27:12
Speaker 2: So it'd have to be another motor GP guy that's
27:15
Speaker 2: parked at the moment, perhaps elbow him Outralue if yeah,
27:21
Speaker 2: I see that.
27:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I know Yamaha have some interest in him
27:27
Speaker 3: and so on. But that that you're exactly right, I
27:30
Speaker 3: think I think they will keep Jack. But yeah, let's
27:33
Speaker 3: let's see, it's early stage and it's in Yamaha's you
27:37
Speaker 3: know there are no rus because there's there's not many
27:40
Speaker 3: guys coming through, right, so they can make the call
27:42
Speaker 3: when they're ready to.
27:45
Speaker 1: Matt, what should people look out for this weekend? Then
27:48
Speaker 1: at the French Grand Prix, because we know turn three
27:50
Speaker 1: being one of the highest crash corners on the whole calendar,
27:53
Speaker 1: so I could possibly see some crashes there. But what
27:56
Speaker 1: should what should the listeners look out for?
27:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, no small accidents in the first couple of quarters
28:01
Speaker 2: at Lamont for sure, but I kind of figured you
28:04
Speaker 2: were going to ask me this, so I dove into
28:06
Speaker 2: the database for you before he jumped on. So here's
28:08
Speaker 2: a stat for you. Of the twenty three mTOR GP
28:12
Speaker 2: events in the four stroke era, eleven of them have
28:15
Speaker 2: either been wet or affected by rain at some point,
28:18
Speaker 2: so one in two basically more than any other track
28:21
Speaker 2: over that period, so more than Silvestone, more than Philip Island.
28:24
Speaker 2: Bring all your wardrobe to Philip Island because you're going
28:26
Speaker 2: to be using it at some point. So at some
28:28
Speaker 2: point this race weekend, and is it going to be
28:31
Speaker 2: the Sprint, is it going to be in Q two,
28:33
Speaker 2: is it going to be in the Grand Prix itself,
28:35
Speaker 2: There's probably going to be some rain, so you've got
28:38
Speaker 2: the opportunity for a bit of a mixed up grid.
28:40
Speaker 2: And you rewind twelve months ago. Do you remember where
28:43
Speaker 2: Mark Marquez finished on the podium in both the Sprint
28:45
Speaker 2: and the Grand Prix last year and he was thirteenth
28:48
Speaker 2: on the grid and watching his first lap in both
28:51
Speaker 2: of those races last year was one of those ones.
28:53
Speaker 2: After the race, I've got to go and see that
28:55
Speaker 2: again because I've lost track of how many people he's
28:57
Speaker 2: passed and where he's passed them. He was in those
29:01
Speaker 2: first laps last year at both races. So I'm expecting
29:04
Speaker 2: a little bit of rain. It's just when it happens
29:05
Speaker 2: and what it does to the pecking order. Because if
29:08
Speaker 2: we get a random Q two and you've got people
29:10
Speaker 2: out of positions for the sprint in the Grand Prix,
29:12
Speaker 2: then sign me up because it's a fun circuit. When
29:15
Speaker 2: you get a jumbled grin, I reckon.
29:17
Speaker 1: Chris, what's your take on that? You reckon? That's pretty
29:19
Speaker 1: much back lang on, That's.
29:21
Speaker 3: What all the stats and he's pretty much bang on.
29:23
Speaker 3: You go to Lomon, it was it's the middle of
29:25
Speaker 3: somewhere and cold, get your jackets out. It is like
29:27
Speaker 3: being a Philip Olin in October. So there's no difference.
29:30
Speaker 3: And you're right, it can be very jumble. It's a
29:34
Speaker 3: it's a short track, so there's a lot of laps
29:36
Speaker 3: around there. I don't know the number seven, Yeah, so
29:43
Speaker 3: it's hard. It's hard to be consistent for that or
29:45
Speaker 3: that many laps. It's difficult. As the bike as tired,
29:48
Speaker 3: it degregates. Yeah, and managing those situations, Mark was insane
29:54
Speaker 3: last year. You're exactly right known the start of the race,
29:56
Speaker 3: but the end of the race and how much pressure
29:58
Speaker 3: he put on Peco and and Jorge at the end
30:02
Speaker 3: of that Grand Prix on the old bike that was
30:04
Speaker 3: clearly not to the same level as the as the
30:07
Speaker 3: newer bike. And yeah, he's going to I think Mark
30:10
Speaker 3: Market is going to be pretty special around there. I
30:11
Speaker 3: know you're going to come with your tips, so just
30:14
Speaker 3: put me down for Mark Mark because I think that's
30:17
Speaker 3: going to do the double.
30:18
Speaker 1: Do you think they will have issues with the tire?
30:21
Speaker 1: I was just thinking because it is such a long lap,
30:23
Speaker 1: so it's less of a long race, but the shorter laps.
30:26
Speaker 1: Are we going to have issues with the tire infringement,
30:28
Speaker 1: that tire pressures, things like that again because we saw it.
30:31
Speaker 3: Could I don't know, because it's so long, I think
30:33
Speaker 3: because it could be very cold and the weather can
30:35
Speaker 3: change for equal Yeah, you know, it could be quite
30:38
Speaker 3: warm on the on the Saturday, for example, and be
30:41
Speaker 3: much colder on the Sunday, and that's for the team
30:44
Speaker 3: to manage and for the rider to manage. Are they
30:47
Speaker 3: gonna you know, do you set it to go out
30:49
Speaker 3: in front and you know, so there's so many variables.
30:54
Speaker 3: For me, it is the dumbest rule. They've got some
30:57
Speaker 3: dumb rules in manor GP at the moment, and I
30:58
Speaker 3: don't mind in my opinion, like all those bloody zones
31:02
Speaker 3: that they run off in and get long like penalties
31:04
Speaker 3: and all and yellow flag and qualifying and you can't
31:07
Speaker 3: do a lap. I don't like that rule either. But
31:09
Speaker 3: the tire one is the worst. It is. It just
31:12
Speaker 3: doesn't make sense.
31:13
Speaker 2: Well, you saw that with Maverick in Qatar where he
31:16
Speaker 2: was almost too fast for his own good and that
31:18
Speaker 2: he got to the front and all the tire pressure
31:20
Speaker 2: dove because they had set him up to run in
31:22
Speaker 2: the pack, and then it's like, oh now Maverick's leading
31:25
Speaker 2: the race. Oh dear Maverick, could you not lead the
31:27
Speaker 2: race please? And then by the time he'd lost the
31:29
Speaker 2: left of five laps and that was pretty much signed
31:31
Speaker 2: his own penalties certificate on that one. And at the
31:33
Speaker 2: end of the race, like literally as soon as he
31:35
Speaker 2: crossed the line, I thought, okay, get ready for the
31:37
Speaker 2: tire pressure penalty in three two wide and then there's
31:40
Speaker 2: the investigation. And when it's in Qatar, I got to say, you.
31:46
Speaker 3: Need to be under that temperature for fifty percent of
31:48
Speaker 3: the race. Sixty Yeah, the race, but qualifying they can
31:53
Speaker 3: run whatever pressure they want. Yeah, yeah, tell me where
31:56
Speaker 3: the safety aspect. And Pedro Acosta last year got investigated
32:00
Speaker 3: because he's high pressure went downe but his rim was
32:03
Speaker 3: leaking air, so he didn't get disqualified. Now it's a
32:06
Speaker 3: safety rule, and you're telling me that a leaking rim
32:09
Speaker 3: is not unsafe.
32:11
Speaker 2: I enjoyed the way they proved his innocence on that one.
32:13
Speaker 2: They put the wheel in a weally bin full of
32:15
Speaker 2: water and they looked at went, oh, these bubbles coming
32:19
Speaker 2: out of this thing. It's clearly got to leak in it.
32:21
Speaker 2: But it's a high tech mooto GP for you. But
32:23
Speaker 2: getting back to the Vinyarlest penalty, you know, to let
32:25
Speaker 2: people behind the curtain here. So I'm sitting there riding
32:27
Speaker 2: the post race stuff, and because it's Qatar, it's like
32:30
Speaker 2: four point thirty in the morning, and then when you
32:32
Speaker 2: get the notification there's an investigation for a high pressure penalty,
32:35
Speaker 2: which you know is probably a slam dunk. At that point,
32:38
Speaker 2: it's like, well, here's ninety minutes of my life that
32:40
Speaker 2: i'd like back at half past four on a Monday morning.
32:42
Speaker 3: So done.
32:44
Speaker 2: I probably should have done the smart thing and just
32:45
Speaker 2: had to kip until I actually announced it. But yeah,
32:48
Speaker 2: I'll maybe do that next time.
32:50
Speaker 1: But there's been some other rule changes, right, all that
32:53
Speaker 1: drama that happened in Coder with Marquez, there's been now
32:56
Speaker 1: been a rule change with that saying updates, it's start
32:59
Speaker 1: for see you rules and penalties for not following them
33:02
Speaker 1: across the rule change now where you can writers contest
33:07
Speaker 1: if they've missed x amount of races. Is that right, mate?
33:10
Speaker 3: Yeah?
33:10
Speaker 2: So you we should probably just call these the Mark
33:13
Speaker 2: Marquez rule and the Joge Martin rule because that's the
33:15
Speaker 2: reason they both bought in. You had, you know, Mark
33:18
Speaker 2: with his comedy run off the grid at Austin and
33:20
Speaker 2: cause a complete chaos and everyone else running off the
33:23
Speaker 2: grid and delaying the Grand Prix.
33:24
Speaker 3: If you ask me, it wasn't Mark knew what he
33:28
Speaker 3: was doing. It's just that he confused everyone else and
33:31
Speaker 3: then Erta and Donna didn't know what to do. What
33:35
Speaker 3: do we do now? So it's Mark knowing the rules
33:38
Speaker 3: very well. That's the way I.
33:41
Speaker 2: See it well, and I love the There was a
33:43
Speaker 2: lot of videos that came out subsequently from that where
33:45
Speaker 2: you could see the other writers talking to their crew
33:47
Speaker 2: chiefs and knowing that Mark's so good at reading the
33:49
Speaker 2: conditions in that mixed stuff as well, So that's part
33:52
Speaker 2: of it. And it's like if he goes, we go
33:54
Speaker 2: and literally they're sitting there watching Mark, watching Mark, watching Mark,
33:57
Speaker 2: and you can see Peco was on the robot. Yeah,
34:00
Speaker 2: And as soon as Mark started running towards because he's
34:02
Speaker 2: standing beside the bike because like he's clearly not on
34:05
Speaker 2: the bike something, Something's about to happen here, and Pecko's
34:07
Speaker 2: watching him, And as soon as Mark, where's Pecko's got?
34:10
Speaker 2: It was comedy. But the other rule about the testing
34:13
Speaker 2: for riders coming back from injury, effectively, this is what
34:15
Speaker 2: a prialier wanted Joge Martine to do before he came
34:17
Speaker 2: back for Qatar, and he wasn't allowed to. He had
34:20
Speaker 2: to go out and ride a super bike somewhere, and
34:21
Speaker 2: then obviously he had the misfortune of getting injured again
34:25
Speaker 2: in Qatar. But hopefully when he's ready to come back,
34:28
Speaker 2: and that's sooner rather than later, he can actually get
34:30
Speaker 2: his feet wet and ride a mornergype bike somewhere rather
34:33
Speaker 2: than turning up completely underdone like he was in Qatar.
34:36
Speaker 3: It's interesting that you say, and that's what a pretty wanted.
34:38
Speaker 3: And Joe wanted a test because, let's face it, he
34:41
Speaker 3: got bugger or pre season testing and they're going into
34:44
Speaker 3: the third round, right and he's fourth round, he's done
34:46
Speaker 3: no riding, and it had to be a unanimous decision.
34:49
Speaker 3: And my understanding is gi Catti said no, yes, man,
34:54
Speaker 3: they rule those technical rules. So it's hard, isn't it
34:58
Speaker 3: so petty?
34:58
Speaker 2: As well? Like if you Dicatty won three thousand races
35:01
Speaker 2: in a row and he won a world championship for
35:03
Speaker 2: you last year, but no, you're not allowed to have
35:05
Speaker 2: a one day test to see if your leg works.
35:07
Speaker 2: But That'smoto GP for.
35:08
Speaker 3: You, yes, Lamoto GP.
35:10
Speaker 1: Well, Chris said he's going to go for Mark dominating
35:13
Speaker 1: this weekend. Matt, are you on the same bandwagon as that?
35:17
Speaker 2: Look, I'm saying you Dicatti's going to win because the
35:19
Speaker 2: Dacadi wins. So if they win this weekend. Incidentally, Todcadi,
35:21
Speaker 2: that's the all time record number of Grand Prix wins
35:24
Speaker 2: consecutively to be twenty three. So whenever I try and
35:27
Speaker 2: pick you another winner in this I always think, well,
35:30
Speaker 2: who else could beat one of the Ducaddi's on merit,
35:33
Speaker 2: which is probably nobody. Let's factor in a bit of
35:35
Speaker 2: weather chaos here, but I still think we're going to
35:37
Speaker 2: get Dacati winning. But I reckon we're going to get
35:40
Speaker 2: Yamaha on the podium again. And we had that awesome,
35:44
Speaker 2: well potentially awesome podium in twenty one when Jack Miller
35:47
Speaker 2: won that crazy flag to flag race and the other
35:49
Speaker 2: two riders of the podium were Zarco and Quasharero. There
35:52
Speaker 2: were no fans there. That was the worst part about
35:55
Speaker 2: that podium because it was the COVID times. There was
35:57
Speaker 2: no one there. And so I'd love a free on
36:00
Speaker 2: that podium at Lamont on a Sunday. So let's get
36:03
Speaker 2: Yamaha on the podium again and enjoy those scenes, because
36:06
Speaker 2: it'll be complete chaos. If Quite finishes on the podium again, it.
36:10
Speaker 1: Would be complete chaos. Well, they have you guys, all
36:15
Speaker 1: three writers covered by twenty points in the championship. Any
36:19
Speaker 1: mistakes are not going to go unpunished this weekend for
36:22
Speaker 1: the French Grand Prix in Lemont, and you guys can
36:24
Speaker 1: catch all the action live and add break Free on
36:27
Speaker 1: Fox Sports and KO Plus. Keep up to date with
36:30
Speaker 1: all Mad's articles on Fox sports dot com, do AU
36:32
Speaker 1: forward Slash Motorsport, and stay up to date with our
36:35
Speaker 1: socials at Fox Motorsport. Everywhere, but from Matt Clayton and myself,
36:41
Speaker 1: we're going to say goodbye Chris. Thanks so much for
36:44
Speaker 1: coming on. Always good to chat with you, and we
36:47
Speaker 1: will have you back on the pod hopefully very soon.
36:50
Speaker 3: Sounds good, Thanks guys,