motogp Archives

OFFICIAL: Alex Marquez Switch To Gresini For 2023

Alex Marquez has officially made the switch to Ducati for the 2023 season.

The two-time World Champion will partner Fabio Di Giannantonio at the Gresini Racing team, replacing Enea Bastianini.
The announcement came ahead of Sunday’s action at the Motul TT Assen.

Marquez will replace Bastianini with the Italian set to be moving to either factory Ducati or Pramac Racing Ducati in 2023.

As the 2014 Moto3 and 2019 Moto2 winner, including 40 podiums and 12 race wins, the 26-year-old will venture into his fourth season in the premier class for the first time onboard a Ducati machinery.

“I’m happy to announce that I’ll be joining Team Gresini MotoGP, and I’m also very excited to be starting this new adventure: it was crucial for me to change to recover the same type of motivation I had when I first joined this class.

“This was the best option for me, with a team that helped write the history of this championship. I want to thank Nadia, Carlo and all the GR staff for believing in me. I still have half a season left to do my best before starting 2023 with top motivation,” said Marquez.

Meanwhile, Di Giannantonio is already having a bright start to his career in his rookie season, after claiming his first pole position and eighth place as the best result so far.

“I’m really happy to extend my partnership with this team, which is like a family to me. It’s great because we’ll continue on this learning curve, and we’ll be doing so with a Ducati – and that makes me very happy.

“Continuity is key in MotoGP in order to be able to work on myself to be the best possible. We have been working on this contract extension for a little while, and now we can finally announce it.

“Obviously the goals will be higher: we’ll be using this second part of the season to improve our results and then next year I really want to make that step up,” said the Italian.

Suzuki Finally Joins The Electric Revolution, Patent Reveals

The latest patent drawings have confirmed that Suzuki’s electric project is finally underway.

Patents drawing show a battery-powered prototype Burgman scooter is underway
The upcoming electric scooter is a 125cc-equivalent motorcycle.

While the company’s direction is still unclear, it looks like the Suzuki electrification project has begun, based on the latest patent drawings of an electric scooter.

Based on the drawings, the patent showcased what could be an electric version of the Burgman scooter. However, the scooter shown is not the 400; instead depicts the smaller 125cc version.

Understanding that the Hamamatsu factory has confirmed on leaving every two wheels competition on the planet, the electric project surely sets its focus on practicality instead of performance.

Moreover, one of the reasons behind Suzuki’s withdrawal from MotoGP is to shift the company funds towards the development of electric power; hence it’s not surprising that the latest patents reveal precisely that.

Nevertheless, the patent reveals a conventional battery-operated technology fitted underneath the bike’s traditional steel frame, similar to the Burgman 125.

However, while the petrol-powered model has the engine and transmission built into the swingarm, the electric model uses a more motorcycle-style layout with a chain-drive rear wheel and motor mounted in the frame.

Although Yamaha and Honda opted for removable/swappable batteries, Suzuki, on the other hand, opted for a fixed battery mounted inside a two-piece case that fills the under-seat area.

This means that once the battery is drained to the max, owners can only get it recharged instead of swapping it for a new one.

Nonetheless, the development is still early as Suzuki could improvise the electric scooter in the near future. We expect it could take some time before we can see a complete prototype in the works.

(Source: CycleWorld)

German GP: Quartararo Delivers Sachsenring Masterclass, Bagnaia Goes Down Again

Fabio Quartararo produced another masterclass display to win the German GP.

It was Quartararo’s third win of the season.
Francesco Bagnaia dramatically crashed out at the early stage of the race.

Bagnaia made a good start after securing the first pole at Sachsenring; however, it wasn’t enough to hold off current MotoGP champion Quartararo.

The Frenchman recorded his third win of the season to secure his championship lead with 172 points ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro (130 pts) and Johann Zarco (111 pts.)

Fellow Frenchman Zarco took his fourth podium at second-placed, followed by Ducati’s Jack Miller, who, despite being handed a long lap penalty, managed to come in third.

Nevertheless, it was a disastrous day for Ducati teammate, Bagnaia, who, despite starting the race at pole position, went down after just five laps.

It was the Italian fourth DNF this season, thus putting him further behind Quartararo in the championship standings with just 81 pts.

After the race, Bagnaia expressed his disbelief at what had happened.

“I’m trying to replay in my mind what happened, and I cannot explain my crash.

“For sure, if I crashed, it’s because I made a mistake. But in this situation, it’s very difficult to understand why.

“Looking at the data, it’s impossible to understand. I was angry like this because I can’t explain it. I’m very angry because when you crash and you know why it’s your mistake, normally I’m very self-critical.

“But today, the reason why I crashed is something I can’t explain. So it’s more difficult to understand, it’s more difficult to accept,” he said.

Mathematically, Bagnaia now needs to beat Quartararo by an average of over nine points per race to salvage his hopes of challenging the title, a daunting task over the remaining ten rounds.

MotoGP action will be back at the end of the week at the Dutch GP in Assen.

OFFICIAL: Jack Miller To Leave Ducati At The End Of 2022, Signs Two-Year Deal With KTM

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing has confirmed Jack Miller will race alongside Brad Binder for the 2023 and 2024 MotoGP season after signing the Australian on a two-year deal.

Jack Miller has signed a two-year deal with Red Bull KTM.
The Australian will race alongside Brad Binder for the 2023 and 2024 season.

Jack Miller will leave the factory Ducati seat after two seasons after failing to register himself as a serious title contender with Francesco Bagnaia.

Miller will now replace Miguel Oliveira at KTM, with the latter set to return to Tech3 KTM as Raul Fernandez is expected to make the jump the Aprilia’s newly established satellite team, RNF Racing.

Despite only turning 27 in January, Miller has more than a decade of GP experience, including nine victories and almost 30 podiums in both Moto3 and MotoGP.

The Australian will also link up again with Francesco Guidotti, whom he has worked with for three of his eight years in MotoGP.

Catalunya GP: Aleix Espargaro Makes Dramatic Blunder, Fabio Quartararo In Control Of Title Race

Fabio Quartararo recorded his second win of the season after a sensational display at the Catalunya GP, but all eyes were on Aleix Espargaro as the Aprilia rider believed the race was over despite with a lap to go.

Fabio Quartararo wins his second MotoGP race of the 2022 season.
The Monster Energy Yamaha rider now leads the championship with 22 points clear of Aleix Espargaro.
Aleix Espargaro’s mental lapse in the final lap cost him a podium.

Fabio Quartararo continued his march towards defending his title after securing his second win of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.

Despite starting at P3, the Frenchman quickly led the race into turn one, which saw Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami crashes out, taking Alex Rins and Francesco Bagnaia with him.

Quartararo’s kept widening the gap after every lap before crossing the chequered flag 6 seconds ahead of Espargaro.

However, what could be a great result for Espargaro quickly turned awry as the Spaniards slowed down his machine with one lap to go.

While the initial reaction was his RS-GP suffered technical problems; instead, Espargaro thought the race was over and begin to wave to the fans.

However, as soon as Luca Marini came through, Espargaro realised his mistake and got back on track to finish fifth eventually. Due to his late blunder, Martin and Johann Zarco took second and third place, respectively.

MotoGP: Espargaro Takes Pole In Front Of Home Crowd

Aprilia’s Alex Espargaro secured a superb pole position in front of his home town Catalunya as the Spaniard smashes the lap record for the second time on board the RS-GP 22.

Espargaro continues his run of form to secure the pole at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Spaniard claimed a new lap record of 1m 38.742s.

Already in his 13th MotoGP season with the RS-GP, Espargaro continued his fine form in Q2 after setting a new lap benchmark in FP3 to take pole ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha).

Bagnaia came close to claiming his third position in four races this season, but he ended the lap just 0.031s short.

Meanwhile, Quartararo will begin his title defence at the third spot in an effort to stay ahead of the championship standings.

Pramac’s Johann Zarco did well to claim the 4th spot and will start ahead of Mugello pole winner Fabio Di Giannantonio as the Italian continued his impressive single lap momentum as he did last week.

Jorge Martin completed an all-Ducati second row in sixth place.

However, it was a disastrous session for factory Ducati seat favourite Enea Bastinini, as the young rider failed to progress past Q1 and will start 14th.

Yamaha To Introduce Seamless Transmission On The YZF-R1

Yamaha might just introduce the MotoGP-style seamless transmission on the R1.

the seamless transmission has long existed in the MotoGP since 2011.
the YZF-R1 could be the first street-legal motorcycle to adopt the seamless transmission technology outside of MotoGP.

The Japanese marquee has filed a new patent in the form of a seamless gearbox for its road-going motorcycles in the future.

The technology has existed in MotoGP since 2011, with Japanese rival Honda debuting the first generation, followed by Ducati and Yamaha in 2013.

Aprilia and Suzuki took some time to develop their own after returning to the championship in 2015. Still, once they managed to do so, the two outfits were able to overcome a lot of time and placed themselves among the elite.

Despite the development in track racing, the technology has yet to find its way on the street, which says a lot about the system’s complexity.

Not to mention the cost of developing such technology.

However, Yamaha’s latest patent could prove that they have found a way to integrate the system and make it cost-effective for the R1.

The seamless transmission offers tons of benefits on the road, but it mainly delivers better performance, stability, and conservation of the rear tyre.

According to reports, Yamaha could also introduce an ‘automatic mode’ to help improves riders’ comfort.

The seamless transmission could also be transplanted into touring and naked bikes.

OFFICIAL: Fabio Quartararo To Remain With Yamaha Until 2024

Fabio Quartararo has penned a two-year deal with Monster Energy Yamaha for another two years, thus ending all the speculation regarding his future with the team.

Quartararo decided to remained with Monster Energy Yamaha after agreeing a two-year deal with the Iwata outfit.
The new agreement will saw the Frenchman remain with Yamaha through the end of 2024.

Quartararo has shown consistency and great skills ever since his moved from Petronas Sepang Racing Team (SRT) and claimed his maiden MotoGP world title in his very first season with the factory team.

The 23-year-old is also on the right track to retain his world title as he currently leads the 2022 season with 8 points advantage.

“I am really happy to announce to all of you that I will stay with Yamaha for two more years. In the past, moving up to MotoGP with Yamaha and later to the Factory team were no-brainers. Yamaha believed in me from the very beginning, and that is something I do not take lightly. But that being said, this new agreement was a big decision. I’m at a great point in my career, so I took a bit more time taking this decision to be sure.

“I believe in the Yamaha MotoGP project, and I feel Yamaha are truly motivated. And now that we have officially confirmed our decision to continue on this path together, we can fully focus on the current season. I want to say ’Thanks!‘ to the people around me, who always help me and support me, as well as to the fans who are cheering me on. I really do appreciate all the support.” he said.

Meanwhile, Monster Energy Yamaha Team Principal, Lin Jarvis shared his joy over the commitment shown by Quartararo this season.

“We are very happy to have reached an agreement with Fabio to continue with the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team for 2023 and beyond. We brought Fabio into the Factory team last year knowing he is a special talent, but he even exceeded our expectations. One doesn‘t often come across a rider of his calibre. He was already showing his talent and speed in his two years with the SRT satellite team in 2019 and 2020, but when he made the step up to the Factory team, we could really see him growing stronger and maturing as a rider.

“In Fabio‘s first season and a half we‘ve booked many successes: 6 race wins, 14 podiums, 6 pole positions, and the 2021 MotoGP World Title. These results have come from a strong team effort from the rider, his crew, our engineers, and all team staff working together with a positive ‘can-do’ spirit. With Fabio we know he will always put in 100% of his best effort, and we have assured him that Yamaha will do the same and we will invest in future developments so that together we can challenge for the MotoGP World Championship Titles for years to come

MotoGP: Marquez withdraws to undergo fourth surgery

Marc Marquez announces withdrawal from 2022 MotoGP season to undergo fourth surgery on right arm at the Mayo Clinic.

(more…)

Alex Rins Slams Takaaki Nakagami: ‘He’s The Dirtiest Rider On The Grid’

The recently concluded Italian GP had witnessed Ducati’s Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia claiming his first win at the Mugello.

While the result was a much-needed boost for the Italian, Suzuki’s Alex Rins, on the other hand, suffered his third attempt in a row of failing to secure a point.

It was a disastrous day for the Spaniard as he was forced to retire after a collision with Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.

The incident also ignited Suzuki to submit a formal request to the Race Direction to investigate the incident and punish Nakagami. However, Race Direction decided it was just a ‘normal’ racing incident.

In a fiery outburst, Rins slams the Japanese rider during an interview with DAZN.

“Nakagami can’t do what he did. He’s a super aggressive rider. I think he’s the dirtiest rider on the grid.

“On the lap before the accident, I put the bike in front of him between turns 10 and 11.

“Usually, whoever puts the bike in front has the position, like [Johann] Zarco did with [Marco] Bezzecchi, who passed him and took the position.

“‘Taka’ kept accelerating, and as we went forward, he touched me and threw me [to the ground]. I think it was a very dangerous move, and luckily no one was going behind otherwise, I don’t even know what would have happened,” he said.

MotoGP will be back in action this weekend at Catalunya.

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motogp

Alex Marquez has officially made the switch to Ducati for the 2023 season.

The latest patent drawings have confirmed that Suzuki’s electric project is finally underway.

Fabio Quartararo produced another masterclass display to win the German GP.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing has confirmed Jack Miller will race alongside Brad Binder for the 2023 and 2024 MotoGP season after signing the Australian on a two-year deal.

Jack Miller has signed a two-year deal with Red Bull KTM.

The Australian will race alongside Brad Binder for the 2023 and 2024 season.

Fabio Quartararo recorded his second win of the season after a sensational display at the Catalunya GP, but all eyes were on Aleix Espargaro as the Aprilia rider believed the race was over despite with a lap to go.

Aprilia’s Alex Espargaro secured a superb pole position in front of his home town Catalunya as the Spaniard smashes the lap record for the second time on board the RS-GP 22.

Yamaha might just introduce the MotoGP-style seamless transmission on the R1.

the seamless transmission has long existed in the MotoGP since 2011.

the YZF-R1 could be the first street-legal motorcycle to adopt the seamless transmission technology outside of MotoGP.

Fabio Quartararo has penned a two-year deal with Monster Energy Yamaha for another two years, thus ending all the speculation regarding his future with the team.

Quartararo decided to remained with Monster Energy Yamaha after agreeing a two-year deal with the Iwata outfit.

The new agreement will saw the Frenchman remain with Yamaha through the end of 2024.

Marc Marquez announces withdrawal from 2022 MotoGP season to undergo fourth surgery on right arm at the Mayo Clinic.

Pecco Bagnaia takes sensational Italian GP win in Mugello for Ducati ahead of defending MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo.

Malaysian-owned RNF Racing MotoGP team swaps to satellite Aprilia machines supply for 2023 and 2024.

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