PREVIEW
The 2022 MotoGP™ season is shaping up to be one of the most dramatic and competitive in memory with as many as twelve potential winners lining up on the grid . And if the first races are anything to go by , it will be difficult to predict as well .
The first races of the year have offered up plenty of surprises . Take Enea Bastianini , now in his second premier class campaign , for instance . The Italian claimed a brilliant first MotoGP™ victory on his year old Gresini Ducati under the floodlights in Qatar and then scored another at COTA to lead the championship .
KTM enjoying a fine start to the year has been another eye-opener . Opting for a new testing strategy that placed priority on reassessing parts used last year and making moderate changes to its bike rather than test a slew of new components , Brad Binder came out in the first race of the year swinging , finishing a brilliant second before Miguel Oliveira brilliantly won round two in a wet encounter in Indonesia . Aside from a tough weekend in the USA , the RC16 has been competitive everywhere .
And there are signs that Honda has built a brilliant all-new bike for the 2022 season . Pol Espargaro ’ s third place in Qatar showed he could well be a player for the title after a series of excellent testing performances . Team-mate Marc Marquez must be counted in the mix , although his job got more difficult when a huge crash at round two forced him to miss races in Indonesia and
Argentina . His epic fightback in Austin showed he is still riding at the top level .
And there have been signs that several of the other preseason favourites are starting to find form . Reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo appeared lost at round one but was excellent as he rode to second in Indonesia . Alex Rins and Joan Mir and Suzuki have enjoyed a solid start , with Rins scoring two podiums in Argentina and and Austin , with Mir yet to finish outside the top six .
But Ducati ’ s Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin – two fancied runners at the start of this year – already face an uphill task after scoring 1 and 0 points respectively from the first two races .
16 | MotoGP™ | Algarve Preview