The MotoGP paddock regulars arrived at a new venue last week, and Toby Moody was there too to give us the inside track on the new, er, track…
Tributes paid to Shoya
After the sad events of the previous grand prix in Misano where Moto2’s Shoya Tomizawa died after an accident, many of his colleagues across the paddock had a little sticker remembering the no. 48 rider, including fellow countryman Hiroshi Aoyama, whose helmet is pictured above. MotoGP sorely missed the immensely likeable Japanese rider in Aragon.
Fool throttle
Red Bull Derbi rider Marc Márquez blitzed 125cc qualifying to be on the pole by over 0.5 seconds, only to be knocked off at the very first corner of the very first grand prix at Aragon. Swiss Randy Krummenacher came barreling into the left-hander without a chance of stopping – down he went, whacking Marc too, the Spaniard’s championship lead falling onto the tarmac as hard as his bike did with its throttle hanging off. With five races remaining, it's going to be a tremendous fight for the title, but Marc can still turn this one around against countrymen Nico Terol and Pol Espagaró.
More dragon than Aragon
Hiroshi Aoyama returned to the Interwetten Honda team garage after the race like he had ridden through a food fight. I asked the mechanics what was going on – maybe some mischief from the fans during the cooling-down lap? No, just a massive swarm of dragonflies that were in the arena on race day. The gauze that protected the airbox was rammed full of the bewinged insects, and others had come to (literally) a sticky end elsewhere on the bodywork, which didn’t look too great, either... ugh. We could show you a photograph, but we won’t. (Oh, go on then.)
Toby Moody
The rise and rise of Hermann Tilke
The new Aragon circuit went down as an instant favourite with fans and the paddock regulars alike. The riders loved it, saying it was so similar to Istanbul Park with its rise-and-fall nature adding to the blind crests and off-camber corners. It certainly seemed that Hermann Tilke may have got it more right than wrong – not that Marc Marquez being knocked off at the first corner would have helped swell the fan club.
You’re so self-satisfied, I don’t need you
The only gripe that race and paddock organisers IRTA had with the track all weekend was getting the music turned down over the public address system. It was blaring out over the back doors of the garages, making conversation nigh on impossible for mechanics. But hey, what’s wrong with I Want to Break Free by Queen?
Moseying into town
There were many rumours of a lack of hotels and cars running out of fuel en route to the track, so remote is its location. In reality, this was total rubbish. John Wayne with a horse tied up outside the saloon bar, desperate for water, it was not. It certainly could have been dry and hot, as it was 39ºC on Monday, but the rain on Friday put a stop to that. The advantage for many were the truly fabulous roads all around the venue that turned into 'mini Nordschleife' tracks for people as they drove back to their hotels. Some of surfaces were the smoothest I've ever driven on, and that includes some racetracks. Dangerous roads, yes, but brilliant for the press office stories of, 'I crested this hill, then…' (Don’t try this at home, kids.)
Toby Moody
Jesus lives (here)
The other great part about a long drive to your hotel is the kind of place that you pass – see above. So, this is where to find him, and you saw it first here on redbull.com! Obviously he’d popped out for five minutes when Marc Márquez came by…
En grève? Mais non
Randy de Puniet had two crashes in two sessions on Sunday, one in the warm-up and the other in the race. However, the normally steely Frenchman reverted to being as happy as a Frenchman on strike when he said, “I am OK, but I am in a bad mood because the last two months have been very tough for me.” After having his leg broken in Germany, the LCR Honda man could say he had a right to.
Lop-ears lopped off
The LCR Team Bunny, aka model Lauren Vickers, again caused a stir in the paddock as she donned her Playboy bunny tail and ears. Alas, though, she had trouble negotiating her way through the massively popular pit walk for the fans on Thursday afternoon... she's so tall that her ears caught on the overhead gantry. So, an earless bunny she was.
Read more about the weekend at our event page
JaredEarle
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