Mauro Sanchini is currently the Sky Sport Italia commentator for MotoGP together with Guido Meda. On the eve of the first race of the third edition of the MotoE World Cup, we asked him what he thinks of the new electric class of MotoGP.
And so in the end ... to a person who has passionately loved motors for all his life, does he like electric motorcycles or not? The answer of Mauro Sanchini, 51 years old, from the Marche region, close to Romagna, a former winning rider, an unquestionable lover of two wheels, is one of those that make him "the Italians' favourite commentator": straightforward, direct, competent, as a motorcyclist. Therefore, if on the one hand, "Sankio" makes it clear that the bike must be as light as possible ("MotoGP bikes are already too heavy for me"), on the other hand, he quickly reaches an enthusiastic conclusion without prejudice: "in the end, I think the fun of seeing one more race prevails! And the races of MotoE are fun; they have their particular charm, with that whistling sound of the bikes that sound like jets and the rear tyre that skids and slides, making great smokes when accelerating. It's not like they're going slowly, the speed is at least 250km/h, they don't go for a walk". Full stop. No polemics, no purism, but skill and enthusiasm. The same elements that Mauro Sanchini puts into his commentaries: today he does them from the Sky "truck" alongside Guido Meda, as a child, he did them himself, in his helmet, self-commenting on his adventures with friends on a motorbike. And today, as then, he tends to empathize: “once - he laughed - a rider made a highside, and I fell off the armchair.”
In these first two seasons in MotoE, we saw a big gap in lap-time between the riders, but, at the same time, some rookies went very fast right away. So, is the MotoE easy or difficult?
"Riding motorcycles and taking them to the limit is always difficult, whether they are traditional or electric motorcycles. Going fast is never easy. As I said during the commentary of the MotoE, from a single-manufacturer championship, we expect that the gap between the lap-times is small and that the riders are close to each other. Even in the other classes of the World Championship, we see that there is not much difference in performance when the riders use the same material.
Instead, the MotoE showed that a significant difference could be made even with completely identical bikes. We have seen several riders much faster than others; I’m thinking of Matteo Ferrari, Dominique Aegerter, Jordi Torres and also to Mattia Casadei last year."
Why does this happen?
"This occurs because the MotoE is conceptually a very different bike from traditional ones, and riding it fast is not easy; you need to understand well how to use it. In addition, the riding style that each rider brings with him is also very important. Let me explain: a rider with very strong braking will hardly be fast immediately with the MotoE. Let me give you an example: Lorenzo Savadori. His riding style is characterized by powerful braking and by extensive use of the engine brake. On a 4-stroke motorcycle, the engine brake has a natural behaviour, intrinsic in the engine's characteristics, to which the riders are accustomed.
On the MotoE, on the other hand, the motor brake is completely different; in particular, it is adjustable on different calibrations, but it does not have a response similar to that of a traditional engine. If we combine this with the bike's weight (260kg ed) and the weight of the battery that loads the front, we understand how braking becomes a very critical phase with these bikes. On some occasions, the rear wheel blocks when a rider brakes hard and late. At that point, all the load is on the front wheel, and you can't load it any further, so you go long and wide, and you lose corner speed."
“And here we come to the second key point in riding the MotoE: smoothness. This bike, which is big and very heavy, must be ridden with the lines of a small bike. The lines that the riders do, thanks to the tyres, which have the same profile as those of MotoGP, and thanks to the low power, in practice, are the very smooth ones of Moto3. If a rider is too hard in braking, then he pays him in smoothness and speed at the corner’s exit, with the consequence of losing time.
Learning the right style to ride the MotoE to the limit is neither immediate nor intuitive. We saw strong riders in their respective Superbike championships coming and struggling with this bike in the first year. Matteo Ferrari, a rider with a very delicate and smooth riding style, immediately felt comfortable and was fast. Among the riders we have seen so far, Aegerter is perhaps the only one who has very strong braking, but he is also smooth in the corners. Indeed, he brings with him the experience of Moto2 in which he has raced many seasons, and he uses a lot his body, even with his head.
I repeat, it is not an easy bike to take to the limit, and the gaps between the riders prove it. In the first year (2019 ed), the level of the riders was very wide; there were young riders, some riders who returned to racing after retiring, but from the following year, the level among the riders was almost equal, but the gaps remained the same."
In MotoE, we have seen several young riders achieve excellent results; is it a category in which you can see if there are young riders who deserve to move into another category?
"As with all new championships, the results of the very first editions must be taken with a grain of salt. For various reasons, the results may not be 100% indicative of the qualities of a rider as it is now for Moto2, a consolidated championship.
That said, it is clear that whoever wins in a category shows that at that moment, he is doing something better than the others. Even if it is not a category that can uniquely define a rider's value, it still gives good indications. For example, Héctor Garzò (Tech3 E-Racing team rider in 2019 ed): showed off in MotoE, then he moved to Moto2 and is growing well there.
I believe the MotoE could be a springboard even if it is still a category to be well understood because it is not equivalent to a large displacement bike, but it is not even similar to a small one. Today if I were a MotoGP manager, I would think that a rider with the riding style of the MotoE wouldn't be good for the MotoGP. The transition from MotoE to Moto2 could be more natural. Over the years, we will see a technical evolution of the category, which at the moment is in an embryonic state, and together with this growth, we will see the riding style change."
If you could change one feature of the bike right away, which one would you choose?
"If I had a magic wand, I would immediately swap the battery for a lighter one. When riding a motorcycle, weight and balance are essential. If we could have the same bike but with a 30% lighter battery, we could already take a lot of seconds out of the lap time. But it would not only go faster; the trajectories would also change, the braking point would be closer to the curve, the bike would go to the apex quickly. In addition to a small weight, a smaller battery takes up less space, which can be used to adopt a different swingarm, a rear suspension with a link; all things that would allow you to go even faster.
On an electric motorcycle, the electric motor is practically irrelevant. The key element is the battery, and I am sure that development will focus there on the battery and weight reduction. On a motorcycle, when you take off some kilos, it's a whole other thing. I think that motorcycles must be light.
The bikes are fun to ride and to see racing on track when they are light. When a motorcycle is light, you can brake late, be smooth, open the throttle early, make the quicker and faster changes of direction, and have everything under control. Last but not least, a light motorcycle is less dangerous for the rider's safety."
What is your feeling? Does the public like the races of the MotoE?
“When there are fun races, people like them. I don't have numbers to base myself on; I have feelings from talking to people. When a championship is sole-manufacturer, it's nice because of all the riders and teams at the same level. Moreover, Energica has done a great job so far, ensuring that all the riders have excellent performances. They have always been ready with spare parts and support to the teams. Anyone who wants to make a team in MotoE could come and be immediately successful. The other side of the coin is that when a championship is single-brand, development is slower than in an open competition. There is obviously no exasperated pursuit of performance to win that pushes you to increase development.
From a television point of view, clearly, the interest is in MotoGP, a new category like the MotoE it is not yet able to attract the viewer by itself. Much depends on when the race takes place; for example, on Sunday morning, a part of the public following the MotoGP warm-up may stay connected and watch the race of the MotoE immediately after. As a broadcaster, we carry on the primary trend of the World Championship races, the audience of MotoE is still a niche, but over time it will undoubtedly find its space."
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