It’s easy to forget that, particularly when factory teams are involved, motorsport is generally a team competition. Individual drivers and riders obviously want the glory of a world title for themselves, but for car and bike manufacturers, the team title is above all a valuable marketing tool.
The most obvious example of this was the 2003 World Rally Championship, when Citroen told Sebastian Loeb to back off in Wales Rally GB to ensure that Citroen took the manufacturer’s title, in the process ensuring that Petter Solberg beat Loeb to the drivers title. I think it’s probably fair to say that Loeb’s over that disappointment now though.
What we’re seeing this year is that having two racers performing well – though perhaps not leading their championship – is paying dividends for the teams.
Like in Formula 1, where the leading driver in each team is effectively irrelevant; the order of the top three teams is determined by the points scored by their second driver.
Ferrari are leading, with their 73 points split 38 to Massa and 35 to Raikkonen. Nice and even. Good. You win. In second, BMW have championship leader Kubica on 42 and Heidfeld on 28, totalling 70. Then come McLaren with Hamilton on 38, but Kovalainen on 15, making just 53. Without an experienced second driver, McLaren are looking pretty much out of contention for the constructors title.
The second rider is proving an interesting beast in MotoGP too. The factory Yamaha team (142 + 94 = 236 points) is deservingly well in the lead, with Honda (135 + 48 = 183 points) equally deserving of second, even if Nicky Hayden is letting the side down a bit.
It’s third and fourth in the team standings where we see the real benefit of having a couple of good riders on form. Consistent results from Edwards (69 points) and Toseland (53 points) give Tech 3 Yamaha 122 points. That’s one ahead of the factory Ducati team, where Stoner’s respectable 92 points are rendered impotent by Melandri struggling to only 29.
The best example remains the WRC though: for a third year, Citroen’s Dani Sordo is single-handedly making Ford’s attempt to take another manufacturers title much simpler than it should be.
