Yesterday I published some comparison times between MotoGP bikes and WSBK bikes based on performances at Assen this year and they certainly were interesting figures. I thought I might expand on that just a little this morning and see what, if any, conclusions could be drawn from the stats.
For a start, it’s no great surpsise that the greatest disparity in times is with Yamaha. (1.846sec). Pretty much everyone acknowledges that the best bike out there at the moment is the M1 and that the Yamaha WSBK squad has pretty much lost their way in WSBK, courtesy (in my opinion anyway) of a couple of very poor rider selections.
Honda is next with a 1.787 gap, again mainly due to the huge improvement in the RCV and patchy form from the normally bullet-proof Ten Kate CBR1000RR’s.
The same can be said for the Ducati, but it is, of course, as some have already noted, the Suzuki figures that show just how appallingly bad the current Suzuki MotoGP bike really is.
But I want to also look at two other, closely-related factors that emerge from this set of stats.
The first is that these results are taken from the RACING fastest laps. If you look at the Qualifying times, it becomes even more interesting.
Here’s the MotoGP grid.
| 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Fiat Yamaha | Yamaha | 1:34.515 |
| 2 | Randy De Puniet | LCR Honda | Honda | 1:34.797 |
| 3 | Casey Stoner | Ducati Marlboro | Ducati | 1:34.803 |
| 4 | Ben Spies | Tech 3 Yamaha | Yamaha | 1:34.926 |
| 5 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati Marlboro | Ducati | 1:34.999 |
| 6 | Andrea Dovizioso | Repsol Honda | Honda | 1:35.015 |
| 7 | Dani Pedrosa | Repsol Honda | Honda | 1:35.162 |
| 8 | Marco Simoncelli | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 1:35.283 |
| 9 | Colin Edwards II | Tech 3 Yamaha | Yamaha | 1:35.393 |
| 10 | Aleix Espargaro | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1:35.593 |
| 11 | Loris Capirossi | Rizla Suzuki | Suzuki | 1:35.664 |
| 12 | Alvaro Bautista | Rizla Suzuki | Suzuki | 1:36.344 |
| 13 | Mika Kallio | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1:36.502 |
| 14 | Hector Barbera | Paginas Amarillas Aspar | Ducati | 1:36.569 |
| 15 | Kousuke AKIYOSHI | Interwetten Honda MotoGP | Honda | 1:38.198 |
| 16 | Marco Melandri | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | DNQ |
And here’s the WSBK grid.
1 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’34.944
2 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’35.062
3 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’35.306
4 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.330
5 2 Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1’35.633
6 7 Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’35.892
7 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’35.909
8 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’36.405
9 35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’36.027
10 52 Toseland J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’36.061
11 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1’36.069
12 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1’36.094
13 50 Guintoli S. (FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’36.327
14 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’36.348
15 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1’36.574
16 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Honda CBR1000RR 1’36.581
17 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’36.906
18 57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’36.989
19 77 Vermeulen C. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’38.378
20 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1’38.622
21 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’38.471
22 95 Hayden R. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’38.769
Plainly the WSBK bikes are nearly as fast as the MotoGP bikes in flying lap trim.
Now, what is this going to mean when we go to 1000cc bikes (probably) next season? Well, in terms of qualifying, if the new bikes have prototype chassis set-ups and “free” engines, then there shouldn’t really be any difference when it comes to qualifying at least. But, in race trim, if the disparity listed in the first set of figures holds true then what we are fearing about a “two tiered” grid could easily come to pass. Even with lots more sophistication in the chassis and the ability to extract more power, you can’t see them bridging a nearly 2 seconds gap, can you?
