MotoGP vs Superbike and the untenable comparison of lap times at Balaton Park

Hordes of enthusiasts and (clumsily) a few insiders often, and unwillingly, take part in a game. When MotoGP and Superbike race on the same track within a more or less short time frame, people immediately compare the lap times between the two worlds. Categories, bikes, tires, diametrically opposed conditions, but it doesn’t matter: it’s a game, it tickles the imagination, even if it mostly leads to unhealthy thoughts based on decontextualized evaluations that undermine the very nature of any kind of analysis.

In this little game, you take the PDFs of the various practice or race sessions from the aforementioned championships and simply list the times. MotoGP did X, Superbike did Y, sparking assessments that aren’t worth much. Analyses, by definition, must be contextualized. Merely reporting the lap times is a simple exercise in typing.

Moreover, these comparisons, taking place weeks (if not months) apart, inevitably can’t be “direct.” Setting aside the ill-timed exercise of a comparison for its own sake, these data are studied as if they were aseptic, unaffected by external factors such as weather conditions and the like. Video game stuff, basically. MotoGP, for example, last weekend at Balaton Park encountered a... slow track. The riders themselves said so, unable to tweak the 2025 times (Grand Prix held later in the calendar), facing conditions that weren’t conducive to improvement. Grip was lacking partly due to sporadic showers during the week, and partly because the asphalt itself (even though in some spots it had new “patches”) was deteriorating. Plus, the Pirelli rubber laid down by Moto2 and Moto3 isn’t suited to MotoGP, whereas Superbike (which raced in optimal conditions) runs on Pirelli tires over... Pirelli rubber!

That said, what can a lap-time comparison between the two realities offer other than a mere early-summer diversion? Over the weekend Marc Marquez took pole in 1'36"785, while Nicolò Bulega in Superbike set a 1'38"094 (which would have placed him seventh in MotoGP Q2, behind... Lecuona!). Then, across three hard-fought races (Lecuona himself was competitive that weekend), with record pace he stopped the clocks at 1'38"230 in the (short) Superpole Race (1'38"569 in Race 2), while the fastest MotoGP lap on that occasion was 1'37"901 in the Sprint by Marc Marquez again, and 1'38"313 at the end of the “long” race. In short, they’re close—though for the reasons explained above.

In fact, the only constant across the two weekends was the presence of Iker Lecuona. With the Ducati Panigale V4 R Superbike he ended a less-than-stellar Superpole (setup issues later resolved for the races) with a best of 1'38"878, then improved directly in the Superpole Race (1'38"423) and Race 2 (1'38"648). Meanwhile, with the Ducati Desmosedici GP26 MotoGP he stopped the clocks at 1'38"024 in Q2, then ran between 1'38"854 in the Sprint and 1'39"261 in the long race. In short: overall better with the V4 R than with the D16. Which says it all about the reliability and truthfulness of these comparisons at a distance.