MotoGP: Italian GP Preview – MotoGP’s Heaven

Heaven Is A Place On Earth – might be a 1987 ballad by Belinda Carlisle but those song lyrics don’t ring truer than anywhere else than from the echo through the Tuscan Valley.

Is there a greater place on earth than the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello? Possibly! However, there is something rich about being in a valley watching 250+ bhp fire breathing MotoGP bikes sing there tune through the Tuscan hillside and the cheers for the man in yellow – Valentino Rossi – come together and make you feel as though you’re listening to an Andrea Bocelli melody.

The Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, to give it, it’s full name has been a permanent fixture since 1991 but had seen Grand Prix racing race there on five previous occasions in – 1976, 78, 82, 84 & 85 – with Barry Sheene becoming the first rider to win on the Ferrari built circuit.

Win number 10? Tough but not Impossible

Rossi comes into Mugello as one of the favourites and alway does because he can seemingly open up his magic box and produce a miracle, he will be chasing his 10th win in all classes at the circuit and 8 in MotoGP. However, it’s been over 10 years since Rossi last won at Mugello – June 1st 2008, so when Rossi lines up on the grid on Sunday it’ll be June 2nd 2019. Who would have thought that when Rossi went on his 7 year successive winning streak from 2002-08 that he wouldn’t have won at least once in those 11 years and 1 day.

It hasn’t been through a lack of trying, he came close to winning in 2009 when he picked up 3rd in the flag-to-flag race and most notably when he took pole and sat comfortably behind his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo on the opening laps of the race until his engine exploded in spectacular fashion. Many thought and knew Rossi had the pace that day to get to the front and win.

Mugello 2019 could be another tough weekend for the Monster Yamaha rider, as the home straight is 1.141 m long (0.7 miles) after coming out of a fast left hand final corner. The saving grace for Rossi, is that the Yamaha works well at Mugello with its long sweeping corners and Rossi’s last pole position came at the venue 12 months ago and Yamaha have won 9 from the past 15 races held at Mugello.

300 and not out

Andrea Dovizioso will line up on Sunday’s grid ready for the start of his 300th Grand Prix race, 18 years and 1 day after he made his debut in a wildcard race at the very same track. He qualified 24th ahead of Gabor Talmasci (2007 125cc champion) and 5 places ahead of Dani Pedrosa. He unfortunately retired from the race on lap 13. He will be the 3rd rider in history to reach this milestone after Rossi (388) and Loris Capirossi (328) Grand Prix starts.

This weekend, he will be feeling confident as Ducati have won the last two races at the circuit with Jorge Lorenzo last year and Andrea Dovizioso in 2017, when he became the first rider in history to win the Italian Grand Prix on and Italian bike as an Italian.

Of the current grid, he sits 3rd on the most amount of podiums at Mugello (6), 5 behind Lorenzo (11) and 8 behind Rossi (14). The Ducati fans will be sitting on the edge of Correnaio cheering on Ducati and of course Dovizioso. Can Dovi do what Rossi and Capirossi failed to do on their 300th Grand Prix and win?

Out to Ruin the Italian Party

One man that Dovizioso will have to beat will be his championship rival and championship leader – Marc Marquez, the 26 year old Spaniard is proving troublesome to beat in 2019. He has won 3 of the opening 5 races and could have been 4 had he not crashed from the lead at COTA.

Marquez hasn’t won at Mugello since 2014 and this season has looked to have been his best chance since. The bike is better than it has been in the years following 2014 and Marquez is faster and more mature than ever.

Although Marquez took his first of 73 Grand Prix wins at the circuit in the 125cc class in 2010, he has only won twice since (Moto2 2011 and MotoGP 2014) and been on the podium a further one time when he lost out to Lorenzo on the run to the line in 2016.

Marquez will be aiming to become the 3rd winningest rider in the premier class, he currently sits on 47 (the same as Lorenzo) a win this weekend would take his to 48 wins and rd behind Mick Doohan (54) and Rossi (89).

What To Watch For

Danilo Petrucci will be looking towards Mugello as his best chance of scoring his first ever MotoGP win. As the Italian has always gone well at the circuit scoring a 2nd place behind Dovizioso in 2017. After his 3rd place at Le Mans, the Mission Winnow Ducati rider will be confident heading into his home round.

His biggest upset could come from fellow Ducati rider Jack Miller, who has for the most part been outperforming Petrucci, now with an announcement of who will partner Dovizioso in 2020 seemingly coming at Catalunya (after Mugello) Miller will be looking to better his Ducati colleague.

Jorge Lorenzo comes into round 6 sitting 14th in the championship with only 16 points to his name and a best result of 11th – coming at Le Mans last time out. He has been plagued with injury and not been able to adapt to the Repsol Honda.

However, there has been sign of improvements and Mugello his a circuit which suits Lorenzo’s fast and flowing style. He has won here 6 previous times, including taking his first win for Ducati in 2018 after a similar start to that season as in 2019.

Moto2

Alex Marquez comes into this weekend with all the chat being about whether he will move up to MotoGP in 2020 with Pramac. This comes off the back of his first win since Motegi 2017 and a win that put him back into championship contention, sitting in 4th, 14 points from Lorenzo Baldassarri in 1st.

The championship leader has won 3 of the opening 5 race of 2019 but the two he didn’t win he crashed. His first lap crash at Le Mans gave him concussion but was back testing within a matter of days. Fellow Moto2 rider Jake Dixon missed a round due to concussion earlier in the year. We’ll see whether or not this has an affect on the Italian.

Mattia Pasini will once again fill in for the injured Pawi in the Petronas Moto2 team. He will be the only rider on the grid to have previously won at Mugello in Moto2, doing so in 2017 and picking up his first win in the class.

Moto3

Scotsman John McPhee heads into Mugello off the back of his first win of the season and his second win of his career. He set pole position at the Italian track the last time he previously raced a Honda back in 2017. His best result came the same year.

Romano Fenati hasn’t scored a podium in 2019 but comes to a track in which he has won at before along in 2014, along with Andre Migno who picked up the win in 2017. They are they only two riders to have won a race at Mugello for Valentino Rossi’s – Sky VR46 Team.

Aron Canet leads the championship by 14 points over Lorenzo Dalla Porta coming into round 3 but neither have scored a podium at the circuit, although the top 6 in the championship have never been on podium at Mugello.

The stakes this weekend will be higher than ever, with a lot of riders out to prove a point or two and there is never a guarantee of who will be the winner until the very last lap. One thing that Mugello always provides is a stadium like atmosphere, fantastic racing and good weather.