MotoGP – The last corner of Jerez –

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The last corner of Jerez

MotoGP - The last corner of Jerez -

Spanish GP 2005, last corner: Gibernau leads, Rossi forces his braking and goes inside, the two men touch each other, Gibernau picks up his bike, goes into the gravel, comes out again and finishes 2nd behind Rossi … Who has hit the other ? Analysis.

Three days before the Portuguese Grand Prix, the last corner of the Spanish Grand Prix continues to arouse many passionate debates (read).

To better understand what really happened, let’s look back at the action of this end of the race. In the penultimate corner of the race, a straight, Gibernau leads ahead of Rossi. On the exit, instead of closing off the attack path possibilities for his opponent, Sete takes the ideal line by coming back to the right of the track to enter the last left. In doing so, he leaves the door open for Rossi, despite being known as the best brakeman on the field … The Catalan’s first strategic mistake.

Then, entering the final corner, Rossi brakes beyond the grave, breaking his course completely to the point where he himself probably thought he would fail to grab the rope. The Italian, who took his foot out to replace it after the downshift from the start of the race, had already set foot on the track on the penultimate lap, as if to test the grip inside the ideal trajectory in case he had to use it, as was the case in the last lap.

After this braking, Rossi succeeds in angling his motorcycle, which then becomes practically parallel to Gibernau’s which, being on the "normal" trajectory, comes back towards the rope, therefore towards Rossi. In such a case, when a rider sees a competitor inside, the rule is to raise the motorcycle to avoid hitting his opponent. However, Gibernau puts his motorcycle full angle and hits Rossi. Why ? Two solutions:

  • Either Gibernau didn’t see Rossi, busy as he was to take the ideal trajectory of this corner in order to keep the best acceleration to stay in the lead until the finish line. If so, he’s making a mistake since he should have seen it to avoid it.
  • Either Gibernau has seen Rossi and tries in a desperate effort to shut the door on him at all costs. Double error, in this case: technical error since he should have raised his bike to avoid hitting Rossi, even if he strayed from the path with the rope. Then there was a strategic error, as if he had slowed down slightly and Rossi got away from the chord point, Gibernau might have been in a better position on the inside of the bend by passing behind the Italian. He could therefore have righted his bike before Vale and accelerated earlier than his opponent, which would most likely have allowed him to win…

This is the mistake Rossi made at the Sachsenring in 2003, when he passed Gibernau on the last corner and Sete, better placed for the re-acceleration, had gained 60 thousandths! Vale had then sworn that he would not be taken back: whose act !

In any case, it is Gibernau who is making the mistake because Rossi, him, laid down his motorcycle when Gibernau came to touch him. Whether or not Sete saw Vale doesn’t change that: it was the Spanish who hit the Italian and not the other way around, even if Rossi was not on the ideal trajectory..

Rossi’s victory is therefore not a victory at a discount and if Gibernau lost this round, he did honor to his rank and gave us a splendid finish, a manly fight where without him, Rossi’s domination would have been was certainly more solitary and, in any case, less spectacular: thank you to these two champions !

J. ARSOUILLE – Photos DR

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