The Motorland Aragon circuit near Alcañiz in Spain divides opinion in the MotoGP paddock. Most people really like the layout, and the track produces great racing – the last three races there were decided by less than a second, and featured a flurry of overtakes on the last lap – but the location is something you either love or hate.
I am a fan. Set a couple of kilometers outside of Alcañiz, a small Spanish town with a magnificent 12th Century castle overlooking a river and an arid plain, the circuit has been designed to blend into the landscape. The famous wall, consisting of massive red stone blocks hewn from local quarries, give it an intimidating feel. You are in the midst of an environment you are at the mercy of. Big skies, scorched red earth stretching into the distance, low hills rising up to mid-sized mountains.
The circuit feels like it is a part of that landscape, like it has always been there, despite only being opened in 2009. It sits on the side of a sloping hill, rising off toward the northeast. That hill provides a lot of elevation changes, which give the track its character.
The start and short front straight sits on perhaps the only flat part of the circuit, though if you qualify too far back you sit over the crest of the hill on the approach to the front straight. That straight leads you onto the hardest braking point of the track at Turn 1, a 90° left hander where you are trying to shed 200 km/h to get through the first corner.
From the exit of the first Turn, the track soon flicks right again, past pit lane exit (a tricky point in certain circumstances) and then into the fast right of Turn 3, where the riders just brush the brakes to scrub off speed. Then on the gas again for the short run to Turn 4, where riders once again gently squeeze the brakes through the fast left before hitting them much harder for the tight left of Turn 5.
Out of Turn 5 and through the fast kink of Turn 6, before braking hard again for Turn 7, the temperature in the brakes rising with little time to cool off between corners. Through the tight right of Turn 7 off to Turn 8, the Sacacorchos, Aragon’s own version of the Corkscrew. You throw the bike hard right and start the steep drop down the hill to Turn 9 and the sequence of lefts that will take you down to the Bus Stop chicane.
Turn 9 is a tight left, which drops down and into a dip through the fast left named after Marc Márquez. Appropriately, given the fact the Spaniard has won here five times. The track starts to rise in the middle of Turn 10, opening out while the bike stays on the left through the long and fast Turn 11.
Places to pass
This part of the track is crucial. If you want to make a pass, the next few corners are your best chance. If you are trailing someone through Turn 11, you can carry a bit more speed and dive under them at the hard braking zone for the tight left of Turn 12. But it is easy to carry just a little too much speed and run wide, letting the rider you passed get back again. The track turns right again through Turn 13 and into the heart of the Bus Stop, before another short turn to the second right at Turn 14. You can attempt a pass here, or you can bide your time and try to line up a pass down the back straight by getting extra drive out of the tight left of Turn 15, which leads onto the back straight.
The back straight is the fastest part of the track, ably assisted by the fact it is a fairly steep downhill dive. The bikes are hitting well over 350 km/h on the approach to the last two corners. Two chances to pass, if you are close enough and brave enough, but the price for getting it wrong is high.
Braking on the approach to the first fast left, Turn 16, is the safest choice, in the hope that you can carry the speed to keep your rivals behind you. But if you are not quite close enough and have the corner speed and drive, you can try to close up through the final Turn 17 and get the drive up the hill and onto the front straight. Miss out there and you get another shot at Turn 1. But on the last lap, the short run to the finish line means you really have to make it stick.
Power and turning
The track rewards the ability to hold a line through a corner at speed, but you also need to be able to stop and have the horsepower for the chase down the back straight and up the hill at the front straight. The bike spends a lot of time on the side of the tire – especially the left – but you also need drive to get out of Turn 15 and down the hill. It is a complex and fascinating equation.
Which is why the mix of winners is so intriguing. The last time MotoGP was at Aragon, in 2022, the race was a battle between two Ducatis, Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia, with an Aprilia finishing third. 2021 saw a thrilling battle between Bagnaia on the Ducati and Marc Márquez on the Repsol Honda, riding with a twisted humerus.
A Suzuki finished third in 2021, won one race in 2020, and finished second in the other race in that pandemic year. Suzuki ruled the roost in Aragon in 2020, Joan Mir and Alex Rins finishing on the podium in both races. In 2019, Marc Márquez beat the Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller. Jorge Lorenzo won on a Yamaha in 2014 and 2015, and would have had a shot at a podium at the least in 2018, had he not ended up in the gravel at Turn 1 after the start. Casey Stoner won here on a Ducati and on a Honda. And KTMs have finished fourth here in 2022 and 2020.
So who does that favor? You tell me. Complicating matters is the fact that the track has been resurfaced, adding grip and stress on the tires to the 2024 Aragon round. To cope with that, Michelin have brought an extra rear compound, though the nature of the surface remains a question mark. At a Moto2 test earlier this month, Pirelli found that the track was very abrasive, as is common with new surfaces. The question is whether it will also generate a lot of heat in the tires as well.
Hot stuff
The new surface, and the fact that we are here at the end of August rather than a month later, will pose serious challenges to the teams. With ambient temperatures of over 30°C expected, making it likely we will see track temperatures of 50°C, making the right tire choice will be vital. The teams will need to balance wear and stress on the rear with the likelihood of an overheating front, while factoring in the loss of grip caused when the track gets greasy at such a high temperature. The current schedule leaves so little time for working methodically that some teams are likely to get caught out.
Which adds a bit of spice to proceedings. As on paper, you would expect the race to be a four-way shootout between the riders currently leading the championship. Pecco Bagnaia, fresh off a double victory in Austria, and back in the championship lead again, will be looking to consolidate his position.
The factory Ducati rider has strong form here: an impressive win in 2021 over Marc Márquez, and second after a hard-fought battle with now teammate Enea Bastianini in 2022. But Bagnaia is also growing into a rider who is strong at every track, whether he likes the circuit or not, no doubt ably assisted by having the best bike on the grid.
Making life difficult
Bagnaia’s biggest problem is that he isn’t the only rider with the best bike on the grid. The Ducati GP24’s ability to exploit the additional grip of the 2024 Michelin rear (thanks to a significant extent to the newest version of the ride-height device) makes it hard to beat, but Bagnaia has to face both Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin on the same machine.
That Bastianini is hard to beat at Aragon is clear from the 2022 race. The then Gresini Ducati rider took the fight to Bagnaia all race long, and beat him hands down on the final lap. But his form at Aragon is outstanding. In addition to the 2022 win and a couple of Moto3 poles, he also has three podiums in Moto3 and two in Moto2. Bastianini has really found his feet again since Mugello, and is growing into a constant threat. The Italian will be a hard nut to crack at the Motorland Aragon circuit.
The same cannot be said for Jorge Martin. Though he won here convincingly in Moto3 in 2018, and had a podium in Moto2 in 2020, his record in MotoGP is not particularly strong. Ninth in 2021 and sixth in 2022 is not a solid foundation on which to build a bid for victory. But the Spaniard has made a big step forward since we last raced here, so will be hoping that the form book does not tell everything.
Home boy
The potential fly in the GP24 ointment is surely Marc Márquez. To an extent, this is the Gresini Ducati rider’s best chance of victory so far this year. He is pretty much fully adapted to riding the Ducati, and Aragon only really has one spot where the GP24 can use its advantage over Márquez’ GP23, out of Turn 15 and down the back straight.
But this is a track that Márquez loves. It is a left-handed track, and the six-time MotoGP champion is at this best when turning widdershins. His record here is superb: five wins in MotoGP, plus another victory in Moto2. Two more podiums, in Moto2 and MotoGP, plus seven poles across three classes.
Márquez’ last outing at Aragon was something of a disaster. Fresh back from the final surgery to fix his right arm, he started down the order, and had an unfortunate coming together with Fabio Quartararo, when the unsighted Quartararo touched Márquez’ bike, crashing out and destroying the tail of Márquez’ Repsol Honda. Márquez has something to put right, and there is no better place for him than Aragon.
What of the other Ducatis? Both Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi appear to be finding their feet again, posting stronger results in the past couple of races. Bezzecchi may struggle again at Aragon, however, as the track is more about braking at an angle rather than straight braking, and that is the area where Bezzecchi is fighting to understand the GP23 and the new rear Michelin. Fabio Di Giannantonio is due to return after the shoulder injury he sustained in Austria, but must first pass a fitness test.
Fast in, fast out?
How Aprilia will do at Aragon is something of a conundrum. The layout of the track – corners you enter at speed, which you carry through to the exit – look like they are tailor-made for the RS-GP. But a new surface will provide extra grip which the Aprilia has always found hard to use. Still, the last two outings there have been good for the Noale factory, with Aleix Espargaro finishing third there in 2022 and fourth the previous year.
It is certainly a strong track for Espargaro, and suits his natural style. It is the circuit where he took his first ever podium in MotoGP, barging Cal Crutchlow out of the way on the charge up the hill in the mixed conditions of 2014. And Espargaro has found his feet again after a slump after announcing his retirement. It is his last outing at a track he enjoys and is the second closest to home. So at the very least, he will be out to prove a point.
For Maverick Viñales, this used to be a good track. He has a run of fourth places here in MotoGP, and a win and a couple of podiums in the support classes. But the last two outings here on the Aprilia have been disappointing, finishing 18th in 2021 and 13th in 2022. Above all, Viñales will have to figure out the grip quickly, and find a way to exploit it.
Second home
On paper, Aragon should not be a good track for the KTM. The strength of the RC16 is in braking and acceleration, but the Motorland Aragon circuit is not a stop-and-go track. Yet Brad Binder had a strong race last time we were here, just pipped to the last podium place by Aleix Espargaro. Aragon has a special place in Binder’s heart, as it is the place the South African clinched the Moto3 title back in 2016, with a second place. He has two wins in Moto2, but fourth is the best he has done in MotoGP.
Red Bull KTM teammate Jack Miller has also done fairly well here, finishing fifth in his last couple of outings here, albeit on a Ducati. How he will fare on a KTM is an open question.
Pedro Acosta comes to Aragon off the back of his worst weekend in MotoGP. The Tech3 GASGAS rider has one win here in Moto2, but his primary focus will be on becoming competitive again after Austria. After an exceptional debut in MotoGP, Acosta is now facing the reality of racing in the premier class. The more he learns, the more he realizes just how complex the class is, and how much work has to be done to understand it.
Building at the back
Finally, to the Japanese manufacturers. Honda is the most successful factory at the Motorland Aragon – thanks in no small part to Marc Márquez – but HRC is in the middle of a rebuilding project. One that is proceeding slowly, but surely, as the results by Luca Marini and Johann Zarco show. Zarco continues to be the best Honda rider, leading Joan Mir by 14 points to 13 in the championship, while Marini has gone from trailing the pack to battling his Repsol Honda teammate. The Honda battle is fascinating, but happening so far back that it doesn’t get so much coverage.
There is a little more coverage for Yamaha, as Fabio Quartararo tends to be a little closer to the sharp end. But fighting for top tens is not where the Frenchman wants to be, though he has resigned himself to working on the long road back to success. Progress is being made, as team director Maio Meregalli set out to me in an interview in Austria. But it is a time-consuming process.
Quartararo will at least hope to have a better race than the one in 2022, which saw him crash out in a collision with Marc Márquez, and which left him with scars on his chest when his suit opened. As for Alex Rins, once a winner here on a Suzuki, the Spaniard will continue the work of looking for improvement on the Yamaha. The additional grip of the new asphalt will help, of course. The problem is, it will help everyone else as well.
Whoever comes out on top, the Motorland Aragon circuit is a magnificent setting for MotoGP. It has produced spectacular races in the past, and we can only hope for a repeat.
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