Fast Factories vs Suffering Satellites

JPSLotus · Jun 15, 2016

Kropo had an interesting write-up about the plight of satellite bikes with the introduction of additional factory entries.

"I am not a very happy man," Tech 3 boss Hervé Poncharal told us on the Thursday before Barcelona. His problem? Attracting competitive riders to take the seats vacated by Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro. Their destination was emblematic of Poncharal's problem: at Barcelona, Espargaro announced he would be reunited with his Tech 3 teammate in the factory KTM team in 2017 and 2018.

So Poncharal found himself with the looming likelihood of fielding two rookies in 2017. The Tech 3 boss signed Jonas Folger back in Le Mans, while Johann Zarco is the prime candidate to fill the second Tech 3 seat. (Zarco is currently in Japan testing Suzuki's GSX-RR MotoGP machine. He is expected to sign with Tech 3 once Suzuki have announced they are signing Alex Rins to partner Andrea Iannone.)

The original hope was either to keep Pol Espargaro alongside Folger, to ensure consistency of results, or welcome Alex Rins into the fold on a factory Yamaha contract. Either way, it would ensure the publicity which is vital to keeping sponsors happy. Two rookies and no factory connections is a lot less appealing to the people who help provide the €8-€9 million it costs to run the Tech 3 team.

Read the rest at his site:

https://motomatters.com/analysis/2016/06/13/fast_factories_vs_suffering_satellites.html

The spec electronics have definitely helped to decrease the gap between Honda/Yamaha and Suzuki/Ducati. But it's still the Honda/Yamaha show no matter what anyone wants to believe. Unless Aprilia gets a more powerful engine built, they are going to continue languishing, and KTM is an x-factor.

Given what we've seen out of the Pramac Ducati, or even the Avintia Ducati, I still think it is possible for satellite bikes to run well. Ducati seems to have more interest in providing fairly decent bikes to their satellites, while Yamaha and Honda haven't done a great deal with Tech 3, LCR, or Marc VDS.

Attracting riders is problematic for Tech 3 right now more than anyone IMO because Rossi's seat is locked up for two more years, and given the promises of Pol Espargaro possibly taking over that seat going up in smoke, younger riders are probably leery about the Tech 3 seat.

danski · Jun 15, 2016

It's slightly better than the situation in f1 in that we have two teams that can win at least.
The factory teams should always get parts first but they should filter down to the satellite teams much quicker and with more support. The series is headed to the doldrums with the same faces on the podium every time.

povol · Jun 15, 2016

Simply put, Herve is going to have to dig a little deeper into his pocketbook, thats why he is not happy. With so many factory rides comes the factory sized contracts, his days of bending good young riders over a barrel are gone. He has a decision to make, continue to pay paltry salaries [5-7 hundred k}to second rate riders, or, pay 1 to 1 1/2 million to the top up and comers. His choice.

MigsAngel · Jun 15, 2016

povol said:
Simply put, Herve is going to have to dig a little deeper into his pocketbook, thats why he is not happy. With so many factory rides comes the factory sized contracts, his days of bending good young riders over a barrel are gone. He has a decision to make, continue to pay paltry salaries [5-7 hundred k}to second rate riders, or, pay 1 to 1 1/2 million to the top up and comers. His choice.

Herve could also start to look at WSBK or national championships to bring someone along...instead of looking at the Moto2 prima donnas....We could use Japanese rider in MotoGP....

JPSLotus · Jun 15, 2016

Daniboy said:
It's slightly better than the situation in f1 in that we have two teams that can win at least.
The factory teams should always get parts first but they should filter down to the satellite teams much quicker and with more support. The series is headed to the doldrums with the same faces on the podium every time.

All we've had are two teams that can win in GP for the last 6 years. It's identical to F1 in that you really only have 1 or 2 competitive teams in any given season, only the on-track racing tends to be far better more often than not. But that's more a product of one being 4-wheels and the other being 2-wheels.

I still don't think Tech 3 is getting good support from Yamaha currently. Espargaro was bitching about the lack of support recently, so I don't think this helps matters any further with attempting to attract younger talent.

JPSLotus · Jun 15, 2016

povol said:
Simply put, Herve is going to have to dig a little deeper into his pocketbook, thats why he is not happy. With so many factory rides comes the factory sized contracts, his days of bending good young riders over a barrel are gone. He has a decision to make, continue to pay paltry salaries [5-7 hundred k}to second rate riders, or, pay 1 to 1 1/2 million to the top up and comers. His choice.

Alex Rins was adamant about only riding a factory bike...I don't think salary has anything to do with it for a rookie rider. If anything, everyone sees you only have a chance in hell of doing something on a factory bike...but I think this is drastically being overstated as the Aprilia is down by 30HP to the factory Ducati and the KTM is still unknown. The GSX-RR has improved enough to be a possible podium contender at select circuits, but race winner seems like a stretch.

After the hatchet job Honda did to their satellite teams last year with that joke RC213V-RS, and Yamaha's minimal support, is it any shock getting rider's on a satellite bike is difficult since the support just isn't really there?

povol · Jun 15, 2016

JPSLotus said:
Alex Rins was adamant about only riding a factory bike...I don't think salary has anything to do with it for a rookie rider. If anything, everyone sees you only have a chance in hell of doing something on a factory bike...but I think this is drastically being overstated as the Aprilia is down by 30HP to the factory Ducati and the KTM is still unknown. The GSX-RR has improved enough to be a possible podium contender at select circuits, but race winner seems like a stretch.

After the hatchet job Honda did to their satellite teams last year with that joke RC213V-RS, and Yamaha's minimal support, is it any shock getting rider's on a satellite bike is difficult since the support just isn't really there?

You kind of answered your own question. Like you say, there is only 4 bikes capable of winning a title. Once those seats are filled, which they always are, you have riders fighting to get the remaining factory seats because they pay factory salaries. Rins wasnt demanding a factory bike because he thought he was going to come in and win a title, he wants factory money while he is doing his apprentice. These kids are wising up to the old ........ that you have to ride for peanuts to prove yourself. If im going to risk my life to make you rich, you are going to pay me.

Fast Factories vs Suffering Satellites

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