MotoGP 2021: First half vs second half performance
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If Francesco Bagnaia had been able to match his 143 points over the second half of the MotoGP season during the opening nine rounds then, all else being equal, it would have been enough to pip Fabio Quartararo to the title by eight points.That’s no surprise given the Italian’s near perfect end-of-season run where – aside from falling from the lead in Misano – he scored 116 out of a possible 125 points in the over events.”ad_However, another Ducati rider made an even bigger second half improvement than Bagnaia’s +34 points; rookie Enea Bastianini.Riding an aging GP19 for Avintia, Bastianini scored just 27 points by the end of the Dutch TT, round 9 of 18. But Bastianini then almost trebled that haul with 75 points between Styria and Valencia, including two podiums, for a first half vs second half increase of 48 points.Related Rossi, Marini win 100km dei Campioni race at MotoRanch Podium for Jack Miller in Australian Superbike finaleThat also allowed the young Italian to progress from 16th in the world championship after Assen, to 11th after Valencia. His climb of five positions was the biggest made by any rider completing the full 18-round season and second only to fellow rookie Jorge Martin, who gained nine places in the standings after missing four races due to injury in the first half.But what might Martin have potentially achieved without the Portimao injuries?If the Spaniard had been able to equal his 88 points scored during the second half of the season in the first, it would have given him 176 points for the year and put him fifth in the world championship, a few points from Factory Ducati’s Jack Miller and just ahead of his own Pramac Ducati team-mate Johann Zarco.Related Casey Stoner: I miss being ‘let loose’ in MotoGP qualifying Joan Mir: If I see Suzuki wants the same thing I do, I’ll stayZarco was among the riders to suffer most during the second half, ‘losing’ 71 points relative to his first half performance and slipping from second to fifth in the world championship as a result. Had the Frenchman repeated his first-half form he would have closed the year with 244 points, enough for third in the world championship ahead of Joan Mir.But the rider with the biggest drop in points over the second half of the season, without missing a race, was Miguel Oliveira.The KTM star scored 85 points up to and including Assen, helped by 2-1-2 finishes in Italy, Catalunya and Germany. Such scorching form was enough to see Oliveira tipped as a potential title contender. Instead, he scored just nine points over the remaining nine rounds, a drop of 76 points. Oliveira tumbled down the standings from seventh to 14th as a result.”4Replacing him as top KTM was team-mate Brad Binder, the South African scoring 31 points more during the second half, helped by a brave slicks-in-the-rain Austrian win, to rise from ninth to sixth in the final classification.Suzuki’s Alex Rins made a similar increase (33 points), largely by cutting down on the string of race mistakes in the first half. Team-mate and reigning champion Mir had the most consistent season points-wise, with a variation of just 6 points (one DNF in each half) on his way to third.The first/second half score similarity also underlines that the mid-season arrival of the GSX-RR’s ride-height device didn’t provide the boost in points Mir would have hoped for. Although, like Bagnaia and Miller, he did at least gain a championship place at Zarco’s expense.”5The biggest points swing between the first and second half was for Maverick Vinales (-84), who split from Yamaha in Austria and then raced for Aprilia in five of the final nine rounds…MotoGP 2021: First half vs Second half points Round 9PointsRound 18Points 10-181st/2nd half points diffFinal Points1Fabio Quartararo156Fabio Quartararo122-342782Johann Zarco122Francesco Bagnaia143342523Francesco Bagnaia109Joan Mir10762084Joan Mir101Jack Miller81-191815Jack Miller100Johann Zarco51-711736Maverick Viñales95Brad Binder91311517Miguel Oliveira85Marc Marquez*92421428Aleix Espargaro61Aleix Espargaro59-21209Brad Binder60Jorge Martin886511110Marc Marquez*50Maverick Viñales*11-8410611Takaaki Nakagami41Enea Bastianini754810212Pol Espargaro41Pol Espargaro*591810013Franco Morbidelli*40Alex Rins66339914Alex Rins*33Miguel Oliveira9-769415Alex Marquez27Takaaki Nakagami35-67616Enea Bastianini27Alex Marquez43167017Danilo Petrucci26Franco Morbidelli*7-334718Jorge Martin*23Valentino Rossi27104419Valentino Rossi17Luca Marini27134120Luca Marini14Iker Lecuona26133921Iker Lecuona13Danilo Petrucci11-1537* Missed some events.
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