The 18th round of the 2023 season marks the beginning of the final run to the end of the campaign, with three grands prix coming up to decide the fate of the championship. Pramac Ducati’s Martin trails reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia by 13 points coming to the Sepang round, and kicked off the weekend fastest […]
Tag: MotoGP
Rival complaint forces Aprilia to withdraw latest MotoGP clutch system
Maverick Vinales lamented on Thursday at the Malaysian Grand Prix that he could no longer use the latest starting system introduced by the Noale brand. “That is hurting us. But I can’t say anything more,” the Spaniard limited himself to saying. Asked afterwards by Aleix Espargaro, his team-mate, put his foot in his mouth: “Did […]
Marquez sees “no sense” in Honda snaring top MotoGP riders when bike is bad
With Marquez off to Gresini Ducati next season, Honda is in the midst of securing a replacement for its factory squad. Five-time MotoGP race winner Miguel Oliveira was its first choice, but HRC’s apparent unwillingness to sign a rider for longer than one year closed this door. This placed Fabio Di Giannantonio – who will […]
The “joker” in Bagnaia’s arsenal for his 2023 MotoGP title fight
A double victory in Thailand narrowed the gap between Pramac’s Martin and his factory Ducati counterpart Bagnaia, which started at 27 ahead of the Buriram event. But Martin was hit with an official warning for running underneath the mandated minimum front tyre pressure limit in the Thailand GP. Should he break this rule again – […]
World Superbike champion Bautista not expecting Pedrosa-style MotoGP wildcard at Sepang
Bautista moved to WSBK in 2019 with Ducati after losing his ride in MotoGP, previously serving nine years in the class riding Suzuki, Honda, Aprilia and Ducati machinery. The double WSBK champion will make his first MotoGP appearance since the 2018 Valencia GP this weekend in Malaysia as a wildcard with Ducati. Bautista hasn’t ridden the GP23 […]
Quartararo ‘told not to expect big change’ from Yamaha’s Valencia MotoGP test engine
Yamaha rolled out the first 2024 prototype engine at the Misano test in September, though it was met with a lack of enthusiasm from 2021 world champion Quartararo. He said at the time he expected much more than was offered, especially in terms of power, while the team contradicted this and noted that the test […]
Martin to let Ducati make call on taking Bastianini factory MotoGP spot in 2024
If it happens, this move would cause Enea Bastianini‘s departure, Bagnaia’s current team-mate and who, so far at least, has failed to meet the expectations at the factory team. That has been largely due to several injuries that derailed his first half of the season. After finishing third in the 2022 championship, riding a Desmosedici from […]
Why a Martin MotoGP title would elevate the achievement of Ducati’s kingpin
The Desmosedici is a prototype that has already broken most of the Bolognese constructor’s records and is sure to break some of the most important ones of all time. In fact, Jorge Martin’s win in Thailand last weekend was the 14th for an Italian bike so far this season, a figure that leaves it just […]
Mir “can’t afford” another MotoGP season with Honda like 2023
After Suzuki elected to quit MotoGP at the end of the 2022 season, Mir sought refuge at Honda for this year, signing a two-year deal to race for the factory squad. But the year has been miserable for the 2020 world champion, who has scored just 24 points from 17 rounds. His best result of fifth came […]
Why Binder is a class above in the KTM MotoGP stable in 2023
Last weekend in Buriram, Binder put in another strong showing for KTM with a brace of seconds in the sprint and grand prix (though was demoted to third in the latter for exceeding track limits on the last lap). It marked his fourth Sunday podium of the year and sixth sprint rostrum, including two wins […]