Top 15 riders fast enough to win at Mugello last season

The jump in MotoGP performance this season was epitomised by the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

The top 15 riders across the finish line on June 2nd completed the 23-lap distance faster than Francesco Bagnaia’s race-winning time from June 11, 2023.

That included Yamaha’s Alex Rins, in 15th, who set a race time of 41m 14.998s compared with Bagnaia’s victorious 41m 16.863s the year before.

Unfortunately for Rins and Yamaha, Bagnaia, winner of both races for Ducati, improved by 25.478s, leaving Rins 23.613s behind at the chequered flag.

It was a similar story for race times in the Sprint, with Bagnaia’s 2023 winning time beaten by the top eleven riders this year.

“The level is so high, we have to push a lot, the times are crazy fast,” said title leader Jorge Martin. “In the Sprint, we did the lap time from qualifying three years ago.

“But it's normal now. Tyres are better, and the bikes are better.”

Among the biggest personal year-on-year improvements at Mugello was by Maverick Vinales, some 33-seconds faster for Aprilia in the Grand Prix this year: “But… only P8! I'd like to improve by 45-seconds so I win the race!”

Vinales added: “[Ducati] did a step. I don't know if it's occasionally like Mugello, but in Le Mans also I did a really good race and was only P5! So we need to make a step. 

"Let's see in Assen, a track that can suit can better our bike than Mugello.”

Asked where he thinks Ducati’s 2024 race time progress is coming from, Vinales replied: “I think one point is they make the soft tyre last until the end, with a lot of performance.

“So that's a sign. We need to see if we are putting a lot of temperature on the rear tyre or not. We need to understand.

“What I feel is that after 5 laps with the soft, I feel it very hot and then I start to lose traction and especially I lose the grip going into the corners. So that's my problem. So we need to work on that.”

Aprilia’s technical director Romano Albesiano highlighted that “Maverick didn't have a good performance [at Mugello] last year, so this [33sec] number can be a bit ‘disguised’.”

But he also confirmed: “It looks like the [rear Michelin] tyre this year has changed more than was expected.

“Sometimes we have vibration [chatter] too.... But honestly, we had more last year. Our bike in general benefits from the new tyre, so [the change is] OK for us.”

Over at KTM, rookie and top RC16 rider Pedro Acosta explained that he and the factory have put in a lot of work to avoid chatter from the extra grip of the revised rear tyre.

“Since Le Mans, we are able to avoid it, in one way or another,” Acosta said. “It's true that we were working massively in this area, the factory and also me, to try to avoid it with my riding style.

“It's still not super natural for me, it's also true that it's not the easiest way to ride for me, but it's a way to avoid [the chatter].

“I need to be a little bit more smooth in some parts of the track,” he added of how he is adapting to avoid triggering the vibration. “Maybe there are some points that I could be better in the entry, for example, but then if this [chatter] problem arrives, this problem would be worse on the exit.

“With this super powerful bike, we need to try to be super fast [on the exit and] in the straight, to gain time for free. I'm trying to do that, like I say it's not the easiest way for me, but it's coming better.”

Otherwise, Acosta's only request is "to try to have a little bit more weight in both tyres to have a little bit more [grip]."