Holiday time is over for MotoGP with August set to be a busy month for riders, with three grands prix in four weeks as well as a test. With the championship not yet at the halfway mark (nine races down and 10 to go), nothing is written, though Marc Marquez has already made a mark on the season.
The Czech MotoGP at the Brno-Red Bull ring that opens this second half of the season will be key in establishing whether or not the winds can change, or whether Marquez will continue his course towards the title.
It is up to Yamaha and Ducati to muddy the Spaniard's waters.
The two manufacturers find themselves in two different situations but these are, in a sense, complementary: the Japanese manufacturer is closer to Marquez in the standings but the Yamaha M1 still has its limit, while the Italian house lies further back, but can count on a highly competitive Desmosedici.
Until now Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales have done well to make the most of their opportunities and pocket important points. Rossi has scored only one zero (in Argentina as a result of contact with Marquez). Vinales is the only rider to have scored points in every race. This hasn't been quite enough to bother the world champion though, and the fact that the Iwata bike has, as yet, failed to reach the top step of the podium further demonstrates this.
ELECTRONICS UPGRADE NEEDED
It's not that the M1 is not competitive (the Doctor's five podiums and Vinales's three prove that it is) but it needs an electronics upgrade that is slow in coming.They should receive something useful in time for today's grand prix, but until this is tested by the factory riders, it's impossible to know whether this will help them take that final step forward.
Ducati does not have these problems, able to count on a GP18 that is (perhaps) the best bike out there. Both Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo have won with the Desmosedici, and Danilo Petrucci has reached the podium, but bad luck and mistakes have weighed heavily on the standings.
So Rossi is 46 points behind Marquez, and Vinales 56, Dovizioso has 77 to make up, three more than Lorenzo. On paper, the Ducati men have what they need to fight Marquez, but they'll also have to be more consistent in terms of results.
Absurdly, we might define Ducati and Yamaha as best of enemies in the fight against Marquez.
With 250 points still to assign, anything can still happen, but chipping away at Marquez's advantage won't be easy.
Consider this: the Spaniard's worst result on the Honda this season (when he hasn't made a mistake) has been second place. If he carries on in a similar vein, his rivals will have little chance of closing the gap...