Pol Espargaró at the KTM in front of empty grandstands 2020 before the start of its fourth and final season for the oranges. His statement at the press conference about his own performance in Losail was absolutely correct, but when it came to Honda, he was completely wrong, as did fellow brand colleague and HRC test driver Bradl.

Some rider statements show astonishing

We are among those observers of the scene who listen as closely as possible when drivers or team bosses make their statements on the record. We are less concerned with the usual sayings such as “we want to do our best”. Except for Rossi and Miller, press conferences are often very monotonous when it comes to what the pilots say. Sometimes, however, words or comparisons come up that draw our attention. This is what happened to two Honda drivers in the case of Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaró. Both the HRC test driver and the Repsol Honda newcomer claimed in the run-up to the Qatar GP that their brand had never been particularly successful in Losail. Below is the evidence of what nonsense the two uttered.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda, inside) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) In the last MotoGP race in Losail 2019, they didn’t give each other an inch to the finish line (© Repsol Honda).

MotoGP’s statistics before the double race in Qatar

It is almost unbelievable how badly the Honda drivers Bradl and Espargaró were wrong with the performance of their brand in Losail. Of course, on the alleged Ducati circuit (according to Paolo Ciabatti in an interview), Yamaha won the most 8 out of 16 victories in Qatar. Behind them is Ducati with 5 successes and Honda with 3. At first glance everything seems clear and Marc Marquez only won once in Losail. But you shouldn’t just keep an eye on the winners, you should also remember that a lot of points will be awarded for the other podium places too. It immediately becomes clear that with regard to this value, Yamaha and Honda are clearly ahead of Ducati with only 12 with 18 podium positions each. The following is evidence of how wrong Stefan and Pol were with their frivolous claim in the run-up to the Qatar GP for the Honda Performance.

The winning statistics related to Ciabatti’s claim

Because Ducati Sport Director Paolo Ciabatti claimed it and many drivers gave similar statements, we come to the statement that the Losail International Circuit is a Ducati circuit. Even so, they were all completely wrong with regard to the podium places. Just considering the winners is completely misleading. Expressed in numbers, Yamaha has scored 392 points in 16 world championship races in Losail, ahead of Honda with 355 and Ducati with just 249. Incidentally, taking all points into account in order to get a picture shows a misleading picture. In this context, we would like to remind you that Ducati has been equipping 6 riders for years, Yamaha only 4, and at Honda this number has fluctuated greatly.

Andrea Dovizioso (left) and Cal Crutchlow – the winner and third place in the Qatar Grand Prix of 2019 are this time, just like Marc Marquez, not participating as second. Dovi was the second most successful driver after Rossi and Stoner (4 wins each) in Losail, but Honda ace Marc Marquez was not much worse. Rossi took a total of 212 points with his podiums, Stoner 116, Dovi 126 and Marquez 97.

Proof provided – the course in Qatar is definitely a Honda track
Basically, the claim that Losail is not a Honda track with the stated values is emphatically refuted. We would like to remind you that one victory was enough for Joan Mir to become world champion in 2020. His 7 podium places made the difference, which his colleagues confirmed at the press conference on March 25th in Qatar. It was a victory for Constance. Franco Morbidelli won three times last year, but was “only” five times on the podium. In addition to Suzuki driver Mir, there was already a world champion in 2006 with Nicky Hayden with a manageable number of victories. The US boy, who was killed in a traffic accident near Misano far too early, was at least twice victorious.

The unforgettable Nicky Hayden (left in the picture) with Honda teammate Stefan Bradl at the presentation of the Honda WorldSBK team before the start of the 2017 season. The American won MotoGP World Champion 11 years earlier thanks to his constancy. Since Kenny Roberts junior, Nicky was the last representative of the country which, with its riders, had dominated the motorcycle world championship for almost 20 years from the mid-1970s (© WorldSBK).

The schedule for the MotoGP 1st weekend in Losail

The changeover to daylight saving time is from Saturday to Sunday, which only affects Europe and which is why the time difference to Qatar is reduced by one hour. It starts on Friday afternoon, and we will publish a daily summary of it.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).