From the heart of racing in Spain to the heart of racing in Italy. The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, to give it its rather ponderous full name, lies at the southeastern end of the Po Valley, the flat, hot, dusty, smog-bound basin trapped between the Alps and Dolomites to the north, and the Apennines to the south.
The Po Valley is Italy’s beating industrial heart. From Milan in the northwest to Bologna in the south, it is full of engineering and automotive companies whose name resound around the globe. Moto Guzzi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati, Brembo, Magneti Marelli, Piaggio, and a thousand more you have never heard of, but without whom half the world’s vehicles would not be able to move. The regional government of Emilia-Romagna have rebranded it Motor Valley, a name it deserves.
Along the valley’s southeastern edge, the Adriatic coast is littered with beach resorts, which are bustling in July and August, but slowly die out as the summer fades. They are odd places, basically a long strip of restaurants and tourist shops selling exactly the same tat that stretches for 40-odd kilometers, from Cattolica to Cervia.
What does everyone who works in the tourist industry do outside of the summer season? They ride minibikes and karts around the hundreds of karting tracks that litter the countryside. And all those thousands of schoolkids riding minibikes from the age of seven or eight have produced a remarkable crop of racers. From Valentino Rossi to Enea Bastianini to Fausto Gresini to Andrea Dovizioso to Lucio Cecchinello, the list goes on.
Racing in the heart
It is not surprise, then, that the area should have a race track. Once upon a time, races were held basically up and down the long straight streets of Riccione. In the 1970s, they moved to what is now the Misano World Circuit, at the foot of the hills that rise from the coast up toward the Apennines, and racing has been held there on and off for decades.
Grand prix motorcycle racing used the circuit through the 1980s and early 1990s, until Wayne Rainey’s crashed in the gravel and suffered a spinal injury that ended his grand prix career. Though not his racing career, as he moved to karts, and now oversees the MotoAmerica series in the US.
Racing returned to Misano in 2007, after substantial changes to the circuit, including making it run in the opposite direction, taking the speed out of Curvone and making that section where the bikes get slower and slower, rather than faster and faster. But we’ll come to Curvone in a minute.
On the one hand, that is a shame, as the original layout was magnificent. But in an era where speeds have continued to increase, the neutering of the circuit was inevitable. And it could be much worse. What the redesign created was a fairly tight circuit with a lot of braking and some slow corners, but which still retained the character of the original track.
But first, the riders have to get to that part of the track. For the third race in a row, the riders face an exceptionally tricky first section of corners. Especially for the start of the race: after a short run to the first corner, you brake hard and turn in right, before flicking the bike hard left again for Turn 2. It is easy to get it wrong and run on, and harder to ensure that if you do, you lose enough time before you rejoin. During the race, Turn 1 provides one of the better passing places, though again, you leave yourself open to a counterattack at Turn 2.
The left of Turn 2 is even tighter than the first corner, but once safely through there, you can start to wind on the gas a little as you flick right again for the Variante del Parco, or Turn 3. Misano is old enough to have names for corners, a charming but sometimes confusing habit. But Misano, like Mugello, has the best corner names on the calendar.
Out of Turn 3 you shift up and accelerate hard for the short run to Turn 4. There is almost enough room to squeeze through, before the next right hander at Turn 5. A quick burst of gas again and then flick the bike left, and a good place to crash, before you accelerate hard onto the back straight.
Tie a yellow ribbon…
Which is not quite straight. More of a long drift to the left, officially designated as Turn 7, before you brake hard for possibly the best overtaking spot on the circuit, Turn 8, or Quercia. Quercia is named for an old oak which once stood in the corner, before it was removed to make way for spectators, and again underlines just how charming the corner names are at Misano.
Sweeping out of the left hander at Quercia, and onto the grandest part of the Misano circuit. First, another place to attempt to make a pass, or at least line up one later on. There’s enough space between Quercia and Tramonto, Turn 10, to build up the speed you need to outbrake someone ahead. It is tricky though, as you are braking as you lean the bike over through Turn 9.
Even if you don’t get past, that may not matter, as it can help you get in position out of Tramonto to get the draft all down the back straight, and the best-named corner on the calendar. Turn 11, or Curvone, is aptly named, and the best name for a corner along with Mugello’s Arrabbiata 1 and 2. If Arrabbiata means furious, for the appropriate attitude with which to attack the two corners, Curvone is the augmentative of corner.
Serious business
The literal translation is “really, really big corner”. Which is fitting, as the bikes are hitting nearly 270 km/h through the blisteringly fast right of Turn 11. Before 2007, when the track ran in the opposite direction, the riders were accelerating through here. Since the track was reversed, it is a place where the riders are just starting to think about braking for the final series of rights, and the other prime overtaking spot.
There is danger here, however. Get too close and you lose the downforce on your aero, and the bike can get unstable. And we have seen the risk of a crash at Curvone, when the delightful talent of Shoya Tomizawa was snuffed out in the Moto2 race in 2010, when he fell in front of Scott Redding, and Redding had no way of avoiding hitting the young Japanese star.
Navigate Curvone safely, and you are ready to either attack the rider ahead or defend from anyone behind you. Start scrubbing off speed through Turn 12, then lose more and more as you approach the hairpin at Turn 14. The right at Turn 14, Variante del Carro, is where you know someone is going to attempt to dive up the inside. And where it’s easy to make a mistake trying to either attack or defend.
Out of Turn 14, up a gear and on the gas for the fast flick left of Turn 15, and another common place to crash after spending such a long time on the right side of the tire. More gas, more gears, and then brake for your final chance of a pass. Turn 16 is the perfect place for a last-chance lunge, but if you do so, there is every chance you run wide on the exit and find yourself exceeding track limits. Which on the last lap means giving back the place you have just gained.
Training day
Whatever the layout, there is one group who should have some advantage at the Misano World Circuit. The riders of the VR46 Academy train here on a very regular basis, riding road bikes to hone their skills and train their competitiveness. That should be good for Marco Bezzecchi, especially as the Aprilia is so strong in braking now. It should be good for Franco Morbidelli, who is on a Ducati GP24, a bike arguably made to ride around Misano.
It should be good for Pecco Bagnaia, but given the Ducati Lenovo’s season so far, it would be wise not to get up too much hope. Bagnaia’s struggles have been done to death, and the double MotoGP champion seems as confused about his situation as everyone else. A step forward at Hungary appeared to be a false dawn at Barcelona, though the Italian then found some more pace in the main race, when the full 22 liter fuel tank helped give him the trust in his front end that was missing in the sprint race.
In his quote for the Ducati preview press release, Bagnaia states that he hopes to be able to carry on the progress and good feeling from the Sunday race into Misano. Hope springs eternal, of course, but Bagnaia will probably be more interested in the test on Monday, when he gets to spend a day working on finding a more permanent solution to his woes.
One hand on the trophy
And so to the winner. Before Barcelona, Marc Márquez warned that he would struggle at what is for him one of his worst circuits, and that was true. The championship leader could only manage a win in the sprint race and second in the Sunday GP, beaten fair and square by his brother Alex Márquez at the Gresini Ducati rider’s best track.
But Marc Márquez has not said this is a track where he will struggle. He won here in 2021 on a Honda, with a right arm that was barely working properly. And he won here in 2024 on the Gresini Ducati, then finished third at the same track two weeks later. Marc Márquez is on a roll, and though he cannot wrap up the title in Misano unless the FIM Stewards take points of his brother Alex – an event as likely as Somkiat Chantra destroying the field by 15 seconds – he will extend his lead and pretty much guarantee he takes the title in Motegi, in front of the Honda bosses that let him go so he could do just that.
But Honda bosses will see the benefits of having let Marc Márquez go as well. When he left, Márquez said that Honda could better spend his salary – €25 million a year – on improving the bike. And that has proven to be true. 2024 was a tough year, where a lot of the groundwork was laid. The turnaround came at the Misano test, when new aerodynamics and a new chassis started to point the bike in the right direction.
Progress
A year later, and the Honda RC213V is a pretty good bike. The new frame the factory riders have been using is a big step in the right direction, though it still needs some fine tuning. At a private test on Monday, Luca Marini, Joan Mir, and Johann Zarco all got time on the new frame, and Zarco should have one for the Misano weekend. The Honda is a bike capable of fighting for the top five right now, a stark contrast from a year ago. An intriguing prospect to watch.
Much the same can be said of the Aprilia, where Marco Bezzecchi is at home and fast on a bike he now understands. Jorge Martin is adapting well to the Aprilia, and showing the speed that made him champion last year. Though he is still struggling in qualifying, when he reverts to the Ducati style that comes most naturally to him. Time on the bike, especially at the test on Monday, should help with that. And then there’s Ai Ogura, who is back to his best again.
The KTMs, too, are on an upward trend. While Maverick Viñales is still gaining strength in his injured shoulder, and not yet back to the form he showed at the start of the season, the other three KTM riders have been impressive. Pedro Acosta is establishing himself as the third most competitive rider in MotoGP (maybe not third best, as Fabio Quartararo is stuck on a Yamaha), and getting faster each weekend.
The same is true for both Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini. Binder is adapting his naturally aggressive style to be smoother to use the strengths of the RC16. While Bastianini has made huge leaps forward in the last few races, giving up on adapting the bike to him and accepting instead that he has to adapt himself to the bike. With great success.
New era dawns
Finally, to Yamaha. In Misano, we will see the future of the Japanese factory, when Augusto Fernandez will race the new V4 for the first time in public. The bike – still named M1, or Mission 1, for the position they are aiming for – is due to be presented to the public on Thursday afternoon – an event I will sadly miss, as due to a canceled flight I arrive a day later than planned – and there it will be apparent just how much hope Yamaha have invested in the new engine layout.
The bike might be better than anticipated. At a private test on Monday in Barcelona, hindered by poor weather, Fabio Quartararo was fastest, with a lap of 1’39.3. Though we do not know for certain he was on the V4, the odds that he was are very high indeed, as it makes little sense for him to be wasting time on the inline four Yamaha are on the verge of abandoning.
Of course, the real issue which Yamaha faces is not necessarily linked to the engine configuration. What the Yamaha riders complain of is a lack of rear grip, which has multiple causes. In theory, a V4 allows a rider to pick the bike up off the edge more quickly and get onto the fatter part of the tire with more grip. So it might help, but in the end, grip is determined by such a vast multitude of factors – engine character, electronics, geometry, frame and swingarm stiffness, suspension setup, wheel mass and stiffness, and on and on and on – that there are no guarantees.
Reality bites
The real test of how good the Yamaha V4 is will come on Monday, when Quartararo, Alex Rins, and Jack Miller should all get time on the bike. Then we will see how their lap times stack up against the opposition. And then, we might see whether Yamaha decide to make the switch and use the bike for the rest of this year.
Can they do that? By my reckoning, they can. Quartararo, Miller, and Rins all currently have seven of the ten engines in their allocation in use. That leaves them three engines until the end of the season, which should be enough for six MotoGP rounds. Especially if the focus is on 2026, rather than success this year.
The question is whether their aero allocation will let them use a new fairing. By my count – which may be incorrect, I will admit – Yamaha have only used one of their two upgrades for this season. That would allow for the use of a new fairing for the V4 machine.
But it is also possible that the V4 engine will fit inside the existing fairings. Photos of the bike shown so far look like it is using the old fairing, at least for the upper, though the sides are more difficult to tell. Though it would not be ideal – it would waste the extra room gained from having a narrower engine – it is possible that the new engine might fit in the old aero if Yamaha want to race it.
So there is much to look forward to at Misano. Not so much for the outcome of the racing – the safe money is on a Márquez one-two, with Marc beating Alex as usual – but for everything else instead. Interesting times in MotoGP.
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