Jake Dixon after his MotoGP outing: “Cal Crutchlow is a challenge”

Honda’s MotoGP works rider Joan Mir has been struggling with a mysterious illness for months and missed the Grands Prix in Austria, Japan, Indonesia and Australia. Mir and the team led by MotoGP chief medical officer Dr Angel Charte had decided that he needed to take a break to get to the bottom of the cause of his illness. The 2020 world champion was given the all-clear for Sepang, but had to retire from the main race due to dizziness and was again unable to compete in Qatar last weekend.

The leading motorbike manufacturer put forward Jake Dixon as a replacement rider; he competes full-time for Honda Racing Corporation in the World Superbike Championship. The Englishman was – let’s say – deeply annoyed when Honda brought in his team-mate Somkiat Chantra as a replacement for the Japanese Grand Prix instead of him, despite the fact that he had been performing significantly better in the production-based World Championship.

Ahead of the Qatar weekend, Dixon had hardly any MotoGP experience; the now 30-year-old had only stepped in for the injured Italian Franco Morbidelli at the 2021 races at Silverstone and Aragon with the then Yamaha satellite team, Petronas SRT.

Jake Dixon performed better than expected

At the Lusail Circuit, Dixon put in a decent performance and demonstrated a steep learning curve. In a field reduced to just 18 riders – Yamaha had withdrawn its quartet due to the conflict in the Persian Gulf – he qualified in 17th place on the grid and was, after all, faster than Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Although he crossed the finish line last in both races, some of his lap times were astonishing. After all, it’s worth remembering that Dixon rode this bike for the very first time on Friday during FP1!

“The team really helped me between sessions to understand how to ride the bike,” explained the seven-time Moto2 GP winner. “They have all the information and gave me the right advice; that was very good. It might sound silly, but they told me which gear to be in and how to handle the bike. I was opening the throttle too early in the corners and little things like that – in the truest sense of the word. For example, not using the front brake in some corners to maintain cornering speed. It was mainly about confidence.”

Cal Crutchlow provided support

Honda had assigned Cal Crutchlow to Dixon as a riding coach and mentor in the Arabian desert. “Cal is a challenge,” Dixon said with a smile about his compatriot. “He means business and has helped me a lot, because he’s ridden this bike himself this year. He has so much experience in MotoGP; he understands the whole situation. Although he was critical of me, he also praised me at the same time. For example, he said: ‘You have to be satisfied with being so close to the front.’ But he also said it would be silly of me to cling on to the bike like that. Still, he said that’s normal; you need time – which I didn’t have. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and took it as it came.”

“You can tell these lads are flying,” Dixon explained. “And you could tell they’re on top of things and know their bikes inside out. With every lap, I learnt how the bike behaves and how it reacts when I do certain things. But it was good; it was fun. The bike runs well, really well. But what I feel and say might not be entirely accurate. That’s why I told the team to do whatever they think is right, based on their experience and knowledge.”

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Marco Bezzecchi gewinnt das Rennen

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Marc Márquez und Raúl Fernández

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Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Raúl Fernández

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