MotoGP, Mauro Sanchini takes us to Mugello

He competed in it, he knows all its folds, he talks about it with passion during his technical comments as the second entry in the chronicles of the MotoGP races alongside Guido Meda and he knows how to explain its secrets and pitfalls. Mauro Sanchiniformer Italian Superbike champion and now a brilliant technical voice on the microphones of Sky, tells us the track of Mugelloseat of the Italian GP on Sunday 11 June MotoGP which will be broadcast live on Sky Sport MotoGP, Sky Sport 1, streaming on Now, unencrypted on channel TV8 and exceptionally also streaming on the skysport.it website and on the official Sky Sport MotoGP channel on Youtube.

How many MotoGP circuits are as technical as Mugello?

“Good question. Few: Barcelona, ​​Malaysia, once Brno and certainly Mugello: it’s a track that forgives you nothing, neither in driving nor in set-up”.

How much does its hilly layout, with many natural ups and downs, contribute to creating spectacle and difficulty?

“The tracks that are born by copying the terrain on which they stand are the most beautiful. They have a superior charm because the driver enjoys it and in this way it creates a show for those who watch the races as well. Phillip Island is also fantastic: it was born for the bike, it’s more heart pounding with those fast corners, but it’s not as technical as Mugello”.

What is the most difficult point of Mugello?

“The detachment of the San Donato at the end of the straight it’s one of the most difficult points in the entire World Championship: for a driver it’s exciting, heart pounding, but it requires a lot of respect. Today the bikes get there at 360 an hour and that step at the end creates an extra difficulty, even if the aerodynamics now help keep the bike flat on the asphalt. You have to hold a good line, but from when you go downhill until you brake, you have much less space than in the past, when you got there at 270/280 km/h, and therefore you also have less margin for error and for reacting to the unexpected. Not to mention one thing: if you’re in someone’s slipstream you also lack air braking and you enter a tunnel that makes you accelerate further. Even in Austin braking in the first corner is hard, on the opposite slope and to the left, but if you make a mistake there you end up wide of the line, while in San Donato you find yourself in the gravel at high speed”.

Is San Donato also a place where time is made?

“No. Overtaking is done there. To set the time, the key points are there Bucini, the corner that leads into the straight, where you have to be very technical: it’s a corner you have to feel inside, otherwise you come out badly. Then time turns to Angry-2 and also at Blondetti 1 and 2in that change of direction”.

As a spectator, however, what point would you recommend to enjoy the show?

“There Casanova-Savelli: there are two, but it’s almost a single curve, a right-left downhill bend that delights the spectators more than the drivers: the professionals there don’t make so much selection with the stopwatch, but for the fans, who can also enjoy overtaking, it’s the best.”

Yamaha and Ducati have won 10 of the last 11 editions here: do you need more acceleration or engine flexibility today to win at Mugello?

“Mugello needs a balanced bike that is strong in braking, agile in direction changes, fast on the go and on the straight. In the past, Yamaha condensed all of this to the best, while today I think Ducati has the most complete and balanced bike: it brakes hard, has a stable front end, holds the rope well and has a great engine combined with excellent chassis”.

So do you foresee a Ducati monopoly at Mugello?

“No, I think his domination is increasingly difficult, because Aprilia and Ktm are fast and insidious”.

“She’s improved a lot compared to last year in points such as acceleration in tight corners, rear grip and decisive braking. She has a great bike, a smooth rider like Maverick Vinales and she was only held back by a bit of bad luck It reminds me of Cinderella and her carriage which turns into a pumpkin at midnight on Saturday: it has a potential greater than 2022 and if it stops tripping over its fate…”

Well, and the KTM? Could he be the thorn in Ducati’s side, both at Mugello and in the World Championship?

“A revelation: last year he paid off in the time attack with new tires and in fact he started back and recovered in the race. Now he has solved this problem, he has fixed the weak points, the Italian grafts have made the difference and I think it is very insidious, both for the race, both for the season”.

How and how much does the new Sprint Race affect the World Championship?

“Everything is tighter for the riders, there’s more stress and less time for many things, even if I think the difficulty in finding the set-up is a false problem. As an enthusiast, then, I’m in favour: it’s a novelty that it needs to be metabolized, but the more races there are, the more fun it is.Since the highlight of Saturday is now the Sprint Race, I might have eliminated Q1 and Q2 and made a progressive elimination format like the Q1, Q2 and Q3 of Formula 1 “.

Numbers in hand, Pecco Bagnaia, Brad Binder and Jorge Martin are the men of Saturday because they are very profitable in the Sprint Race, while Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco excel in Sunday’s race: how do you explain it?

“A lot depends on the episodes, with incidents and twists and turns: I don’t think it’s related to the riders. I think this division won’t always be like this: in the end, you take the same risks, both in the Sprint Race and in the GP”.

There is a lot of Italy at Mugello, with Bagnaia and Bezzecchi in the first two places of the MotoGP standings, separated by 1 point, and Tony Arbolino leader of Moto2: will it be Mameli’s Inno on Sunday as well?

“In MotoGP there are all the preconditions, because almost all Italians can fight for victory. In Moto2 Arbolino is having an excellent season and in Moto3 we have good names, even if there are others who are in better shape at the moment. Sport, however, is beautiful because it can surprise”.

Last year there were many empty fields at Mugello: what response do you expect from the public this time?

“For me this is one of the greatest curiosities. My feeling is that we will never see the ‘Mugiallo’ of Valentino Rossi’s times, but that we won’t even have the gaps of 2022: I think it will be a fun edition and with lots of people Then, perhaps, with more affordable prices, things could improve, but I don’t know the situation well”.

The big favorite of this World Cup?

“Bagnaia: he is fast, aware and is proving to be a super rider, in terms of speed and consistency”.

And Bezzecchi? Do you think Borgo Panigale can also deliver those updates already planned for Pecco and Bastianini?

“As an Italian, I hope to see them fight hard to the end. Bezzecchi has exploded this year, he’s fast and he’s also becoming a character: I don’t think his Ducati has much less than that of the officers”.

Marc Marquez always seems to be the only one capable of making up for the limits of the bike: how long will he be able to withstand Honda’s current situation of technical inferiority?

“Only he knows the answer, but I have the feeling that he is a bit at the limit of this patience: he remarks more and more often that he is fast, even compared to his teammates, that he is fast and that the injury is behind him. They are jabs at Honda to underline that he is there, while the bike… In fact, he was also on the podium at Le Mans, while the other Hondas seemed to be at sea. If he gets a good offer, I’m convinced he might as well leave.”

And who could make him this offer?

“Ducati is the least interested because it has a fast bike and a large battery of excellent riders at its disposal, some consolidated and others in the maturing phase. With all due respect to their guides, then, if Ktm or Aprilia took Marc, I’m sure they would fight for the title.”

There has been too much leveling at the top in the current MotoGP: could it be a situation that prevents the handle that differentiates the champions from emerging?

“I believe that in all sports the level has been pushed so high that we have so many excellent champions. As in tennis, the number 1 can lose from the number 80, in motorbikes we have many riders who push themselves higher to express their talent , the more they raise the general level and lead it to rise further. It’s not that if there are no dominators we have to lower the level of the others for this. If once there were 4 riders who started to win, you could also manage yours a little pace in relation to theirs; if now, however, there are 8 or 9 riders fighting for success, you have much less room to manage the race. Hence the need to take greater risks and consequently the possibility of accidents. But I believe that if the current riders weren’t very strong, the top riders of the past would not have stopped so late…”.