Top speed is one of the visible parameters of a motorcycle’s competitiveness, allowing riders to have an advantage or disadvantage when overtaking on the straights – for example, at Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo has long called for improvements in this area. However, Carlos Checa believes it is not one of the most determining factors
The former rider was asked by the website Motosan.es if, with the good top speed it has, KTM can be Ducati’s main rival. In response, he stated: ‘No, the issue is not speed, the issue is the whole package. In MotoGP it’s not just top speed, but the whole package, which can exit the corner well‘.
Checa continued his explanation: ‘In the end, I think that in terms of speed, all bikes don’t make a difference, it might help you make a specific overtaking move at some point. But with maximum acceleration, because a MotoGP bike’s top speed depends on the track, it’s 14 percent of the total time. So, that’s not where you make the difference‘.
On the other hand, the Spanish rider pointed out that currently there are no radical differences in top speed between bikes, so the importance lies in other areas: ‘Now the differences are not so big between one bike and another, in terms of speed. Therefore, other aspects are more important, besides pure power, because they are all already at a very high level‘.
Looking at the Portuguese GP, the highest top speed was by Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing/Aprilia), with 350.6km/h. The Portuguese finished in ninth place. On the other hand, Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac/Ducati) was the slowest, with 338.5km/h.
