Why Marco Bezzecchi’s costly Japanese MotoGP tyre call was correct “on paper”

Marco Bezzecchi says his alternative rear tyre choice in the Japanese MotoGP Sprint was correct “on paper”.

Bezzecchi chose the medium-compound rear tyre for the Sprint, and started well, improving from fourth to third by the third corner having passed Pedro Acosta, who would go on to be taken out by Alex Marquez before the end of the first sector.

But he quickly started falling backwards as the other riders around him, all with the soft-compound rear tyre, found themselves with much more potential from the start.

With the harder tyre, Bezzecchi could’ve been expected to have better pace at the end, but this never materialised.

With the majority of the field on the soft, Bezzecchi’s choice seems bizarre, but he explained afterwards that his strong pace in FP2, in which he was able to lap in the mid-1m43s with the medium rear tyre, convinced him to go for the less-favoured harder-compound tyre for the half-distance race.

“Well, now, yes,” said Marco Bezzecchi when he was asked after the Sprint if he made the wrong tyre choice,

“Basically, I saw that yesterday my pace was good but not as I wanted, and I was a little bit on the limit with the temperature from the rear tyre already yesterday. 

“So, we decided to try to work on the medium this morning [FP2] to see if I could have at least two options. With the medium this morning I was feeling good, I was riding quite fast.

“So, because of this pace and because of the less risk with the temperature, I tried to make this decision. But at the end today I was riding a bit too slow, one second slow.”

Bezzecchi added: “At the end, I think on paper, for myself, it was the right choice. Then, with the result, it’s not the right choice. 

“[I knew] I had to survive, of course the first two laps, two-and-a-half laps, but after I was super-confident. 

“It was a decision that was not taken because I was slow and I said ‘Okay, let’s risk for the medium and maybe I can make [a better result]’. We thought about it.”

The Aprilia Racing rider had no explanation for the difference in pace between FP2 and the Sprint.

“I don’t explain,” he said. “I don’t want to say anything wrong or too early. So, I prefer to check everything.”

There is a possibility that the medium will not be used in the grand prix because the hard-compound rear tyre – brought, with the same heat-resistant construction as used in Austria, by Michelin to Japan as a precaution because of Motegi’s new surface – could be mandated after some of the soft-compound rear tyres lost chunks of compound rubber from the centre of the tyre during the Sprint.

Bezzecchi said his medium “didn’t look too bad” after the Sprint, but also that there are no guarantees it will not suffer the same problems as the soft over the full race distance.

“I don’t know if it’s [hard-compound rear tyre] going to be mandatory or not,” Bezzecchi said.

“If they choose this, I will agree because it’s mandatory. I worked with the medium and my wear on the medium didn’t look too bad, but 12 laps on the medium is still a lot so it’s a bit of a jump on the unknown. 

“I will do what they advise us to do. If they say that with the medium can be good, I will analyse, and if I think it’s the best choice I will go with the medium.”