There will not be five MotoGP rounds in Iberia in the future, said Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta.
The Iberian peninsula consists of Spain and Portugal. As it currently stands, they have the highest number of MotoGP rounds of any region. They are:
Portugese Grand Prix at the Alrgarve International Circuit.
Spanish Grand Prix at the Angel Nieto Jerez Circuit.
Catalunya Grand Prix at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit.
Aragon Grand Prix at Motorland Aragon.
Valencia Grand Prix at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Spain has four GPs, in addition to three test sessions year round. Such monopoly by a single country has fans questioning the need and reasons.
However, in light of Liberty Media’s purchase and the new owner of MotoGP from 2025, there will be a shakeup in the championship’s schedule. It is because the company is aiming for more than one Grand Prix in the United States.
The United States is an important calendar as the country is a major motorcycle market, plus it is the sole representative of both the American continents after Argentina’s withdrawal.
On the other hand, the calendar is already nearly at its maximum of 22 possible rounds. This means certain venues will need to make way for one or two additional American rounds. As such, the ready candidates would be those in the Iberian peninsula, or more specifically, Spain in order to retain the Portugese GP.
This was confirmed by Ezpeleta when asked by GPOne.com, ‘Definitely, but not until 2027. We cannot have more than 22 Grand Prix per season and certainly in the future, there will not be five in the Iberian Peninsula’.
Apart from Spain, Italy is the other country to host more than one GP per year, namely the Italian GP at Mugello and San Marino GP at Misano.
Malaysian Moto3 rider Syarifuddin Azman @ Damok will deputise for injured Alberto Surra at the Rivacold Snipers Team over two races starting with this weekend’s Portuguese GP.
Fabio Quartararo opts for surgery after suffering arm-pump troubles during Sunday’s MotoGP in Jerez.
The Frenchman went from leading the race to finishing 13th place after severe arm-pump problems hit him at mid-race.
With his home race at French GP is coming up next, the factory Yamaha rider could not afford to waste time.
Despite no official details from the factory team, it is understood that Quartararo underwent the same surgery due to similar problems he suffered in 2019 while with Petronas SRT.
The rider also shared his excitement to return to the track ahead of the French GP scheduled next week.
According to reports, Quartararo undergoes a standard surgery by cutting the membrane around the muscle to allow more blood flow instead of completely removing the membrane, which is a more thorough procedure.
Sundays’ result saw Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia now leading the championship with 66 points, just 2pts ahead of Fabio Quartararo while another Yamaha rider, Maverick Vinales 3rd place with 50pts.
Fabio Quartararo shed some light on his decision to throw in the towel despite leading the first half of the race at the Spanish GP.
The factory Yamaha rider led the race ahead of Ducati’s Jack Miller before slowing down and losing his grip in the front row.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the 21-year-old Frenchman, who was brilliant at the early stage of the race, cruising his way ahead before succumbing to 13th place due to physical problems.
“I had a big issue with the arm. I suffered for six laps with pain, then I couldn’t do any more.
“I’m so sad for what happened because I was feeling really easy in front, I was P4, and I could overtake them.
“I was comfortable with the pace. We had an amazing pace this weekend and just had no more power in the arm,” he explained.
The arm-pump problem was not new for the rider, as Quartararo had to undergo surgery in 2019 when he was still with Petronas Sepang Racing Team.
“It was dangerous for me to ride for half a race, but I didn’t want to stop because I knew that maybe one or two points can be really important for the championship.
“I gave it all, and unfortunately, I had this issue,” said Quartararo.
Fabio Quartararo recorded his second pole position of the season after setting the fastest time in Jerez ahead of former teammate Franco Morbidelli.
The 21-year-old continued his quest for his third win of the season after dominating the last two race in Qatar and Portimao.
Now leading the championship with 61 points, Quartararo set the best lap of the weekend with 1 minute 36.755s improving his already impressive 1m 36.8s earlier in Q2.
It was an exciting battle for pole as Quartararo had to battle it out with Morbidelli, who advanced from Q1.
Ducati’s Jack Miller complete the front row after edging out teammate Francesco Bagnaia.
This is the Australian first front-row start of the season in an effort to grab his first podium after three rounds despite showing amazing speed during the pre-season test.
Takaaki Nakagami was the surprise package this weekend after clinching P5, making him the fastest Honda rider on the RC213V ahead of Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez, who will start at P13 and P14, respectively.
Jorge Lorenzo puts on another masterclass in riding to win the Catalan GP.
Marc Marquez led the race briefly before his 2019 teammate won back the lead.
Valentino Rossi finishes the race in third place for the third time in a row.
Jorge Lorenzo once again gave Ducati something to regret about after he won the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya in flawless style. The Spaniard won the race by over four seconds to secure his second consecutive win.
Marc Marquez came home in second place to extend his championship lead, while Valentino Rossi secured third place for the third race in a row.
It was not all smooth for Lorenzo, he messed up the start which let Marquez take the lead into the first corner. Andrea Iannone of Suzuki Ecstar too made a fantastic start and slotted into second place on the opening laps, pushing Lorenzo back to third place.
Lorenzo had pace and grace and kept his composure to get past Iannone and Marquez into turn one on the second lap. From there on he simply disappeared ahead and opened a comfortable lead.
His Ducati team mate Andrea Dovizioso found himself in a comfortable third place behind Marquez, but the Italian ran out of luck and crashed out on lap nine – his third DNF of the season which put another massive dent in his title aspirations.
Rossi inherited third place after Dovizioso crashed out, but by then the leaders had already opened up a 3.2 second gap. The gap between the two up ahead though remained under one second for most of the race but Lorenzo looked impervious, setting 1:40.0 second lap after lap. In the end though, Marquez simply could not respond and eventually finished 4.479 seconds behind from Lorenzo, who now draws level on points with teammate Dovizioso in the championship standings.
Rossi came home in a lonely third place but made it yet another podium finish to remain second in the standings, with Cal Crutchlow of LCR Honda Castrol enjoying a fantastic ride to finish as top independent rider in fourth place. The Brit was locked in a battle with Dani Pedrosa but got the better of the Spaniard. Dani rounded out the top five.
Maverick Vinales opening lap woes continued, with the rider finishing the first lap down in P10 after starting fourth. The Spaniard later managed to salvage sixth at the end of the race, holding off Johann Zarco, but the two traded blows throughout the race.
Danilo Petrucci crossed the line in eight place, with fellow Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista finishing seven seconds further back in ninth place.
Despite a brilliant start, Iannone slipped back and the Italian came home in tenth place. Pol Espargaro picking up his fourth straight P11 finish, with Scot Reding and Karel Abraham were the only other riders to finish the race in P12 and P13 respectively.
Bradley Smith went up to as high as eight place on the opening laps of the race, but was taken out by Takaaki Nakagami on lap 14, both riders are okay.
Mika Kallio of Red bull KTM Factory Racing, Tom Luthi and Aleix Espargaro and Xavier Simeon also crashed out early in the race. All riders are okay.
Malaysian Hafizh Syahrin was enjoying a good race and looked like he could earn a top 10 finish, but he crashed on the exit of turn four.
Alex Rins difficult weekend continued in the race, and the Spaniard retired on lap 12. Jack Miller and Tito Rabat both had to retire their bikes too with Rabat’s Ducati catching fire.
The next race in the calendar is set to take place at the classic Assen circuit, where Lorenzo will be looking to extend his championship points and Marquez will be looking to keep Rossi at bay. Rossi is currently in second place in the standings, but the Doctor has often been the master of the TT Circuit Assen.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) took his second MotoGP win of the season in front of his home crowd.
Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, and Dani Pedrosa all crashed out whilst fighting for second place.
Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) took the crash as an advantage by finishing on the podium.
This year’s Spanish GP certainly did not disappoint the hundreds of thousands of fans congregating at the Circuito de Jerez. In front of his home crowd, Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda secured his second win of the year and also the championship lead with a very significant gap. (more…)
MotoGP 2017 rookie Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was quick to get under the spotlight for the first three rounds of the season.
Following a great start in Qatar where the Frenchman actually led the race before crashing out, Zarco finish the Argentina GP and Americas GP in fifth position.
The 27 year old rider is looking to take his Yamaha M1 to his first ever MotoGP podium this weekend in Jerez for the Gran Premio Red Bull de España.
It’s only his rookie season in MotoGP after being crowned the Moto2 World Champion last year and Johann Zarco was quick to get under the spotlight for the first three races. Following an incredible first race in Qatar where the Frenchman blitzed through the MotoGP veterans before crashing out while leading the race, the 27 year old rookie riding for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad finished an amazing Fifth in both Argentina GP and also Americas GP. (more…)
