Several interesting trends emerged in April in MotoGP, and they can dramatically change the face of the championship. First of all, we probably won’t see a new addition to Suzuki’s ranks in 2022. The plant’s management does not plan to subsidize the satellite in MotoGP. Most likely, the project will keep the 2 motorcycle format. And this opens up new perspectives for a range of Ducati and Aprilia transfers.

Team Suzuki Ecstar may keep the format in 2022 In 2022, subject to the conditions proposed by Dorna Sports, the number of Desmosedici prototypes should have been reduced to four (Factory Team and Pramac satellite). If Suzuki doesn’t give an expansion decision by the end of May, Ducati will have the option to keep 6 bikes on the grid (just as an inevitable circumstance). But Aprilia Racing, one way or another, will become a factory team and will become a full member of MSMA from January 1, 2022. And with all the wealth of choice, Noale has only one prospect: they need a satellite team to maintain contractual relations with the general promoter and IRTA. And this satellite will most likely NOT BE Gresini Racing, which has served the Aprilia factory project for the last 5 years.

Avintia Racing may leave the MotoGP paddock, making room for VR46 As Gresini Racing manager Carlo Merlini said in Portimao, after the death of Fausto Gresini, the project may reconsider its interests in MotoGP. Fausto insisted on remaining as the strongest independent team in the championship, and achieved his goal in December 2020. But with whom the team will go next, he never specified exactly. From many introductory notes, it was clear that the best option for Gresini Racing would be an Aprilia satellite. But Merlini says that now the best option for them is to move under the wing of Ducati – negotiations are already under way. Some insiders believe that through the mediation of Ducati, Gresini may field a “golden pair” of pilots in 2022 – Fabio Di Gianantonio and Enea Bastianini, who have already worked together in this team. At the same time, the Avintia Racing (Esponsorama) team will be finally torn apart: it will suffer the fate of the Aspar Racing Team, whose quota for places in MotoGP Avintia received in 2019. The same quota can be transferred to Dorna, for example, by Sky Racing Team VR46 … and this it will be easy!

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Sachsenring has traditionally been a magnet for motorsport fans. Most of them are Germans, whose motor culture has been inoculated since the 30s of the 20th century, and they are drawn to speed and spectacular races. Sachsenring holds a number of MotoGP attendance records – up to 223,000 per weekend. Now the situation is, of course, completely different. Lockdowns and restrictions in European countries due to Covid-19 again threaten the economy of large public events – festivals, concerts, shows, motorcycle races. In 2020, Germany was unable to host MotoGP due to the fact that without spectators, Sachsenring and the local promoter cannot earn money, and they have to pay a fee for the annual rights to the Grand Prix. They decided to skip the season to return in 2021.
MotoGP boss Carmelo Espeleta MotoGP boss Carmelo Espeleta is confident that this year he will manage to hold 18 stages, despite the high risk of canceling at least four overseas events out of 20 planned earlier. “We still want to host 18 Grand Prix. If it does not work out according to plan, we are ready to carry out some stages in a double format, as in Qatar. But we assess the situation every week and make new plans. In fact, there are many fallbacks – Plan B and Plan C. But the first thing we are striving for is that MotoGP will stop running with empty stands, ”said Espeleta after the presentation of the Spanish Grand Prix and a new contract, according to which Circuito de Jerez will be guaranteed to host the main national MotoGP race until the end of 2026. At the same time, Espeleta had to agree with the arguments of the Governments of Spain and Andalusia: the Spanish Grand Prix on May 1-2, 2021 will again be held behind closed doors. At the same time, Germany continues to cancel the stages of the IDM Superbike national championship, which was supposed to start on May 1-2 in Lausitz and continue on May 7-8 at Sachsenring – due to a lockdown, at least until May 19, any events considered “massive “will be canceled. But then … Which track is guaranteed to be the first to receive spectators?
“I think we can count on Mugello, but the main thing is Sachenring: we have already reached an agreement whereby Germany can open the doors to the audience. I hope to sell at least 10,000 tickets. But maybe there will be even more, ”said Espeleta.

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The collaboration between Yamaha and MotoGP in providing mobility management for the championship began in 2005. Then, for Dorna, the Japanese factory supplied 25 light scooters in an exclusive color. The contract has already been renewed three times. In 2014, as part of the championship greening program, Yamaha began supplying the new EC-03 electric scooters to replace traditional combustion scooters. For several years, Dorna managers and employees rode these, but then returned to the traditional ones, with internal combustion engines!
Yamaha Nmax 125 is the official scooter of the MotoGP World Championship. Since 2021, a new contract has entered into force, according to which Yamaha will renew the MotoGP fleet with 25 NMax 125 scooters.

The advantage of a scooter with a gasoline engine is too obvious: you do not need to charge it every evening and monitor the charge level, so as not to accidentally end up “without wheels” at an unfortunate moment somewhere in the farthest corner of the circuit.

Petrol scooters with 125cc engine provide easy running and extreme efficiency, moreover, the engine power is enough to move along the service tracks of the autodrome with any height difference. This is extremely important, for example, for the quick movement of official photographers and Dorna media center staff during the weekends. Autodromo Internacionale do Algarve is just like that: there are very steep elevation changes, and the length of service tracks is 600 meters longer than the ring itself.

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The real reason for this wildcard is a kind of “backup” for Honda pilots, if this stage for them suddenly turns into a total failure.

Stefan Bradl became part of the MotoGP paddock again after Marquez’s injury – 10 races in 2020 For the HRC representatives, the first two races in Qatar were another fiasco. LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami had the worst performers since the start of their Premier Class careers – they didn’t score a point. Repsol Honda rookie Paul Espargaro has not yet had time to get involved in work and cannot fully “replace” Marc Marquez. Mark’s results in Portimao turned out to be higher than expected: he became the best driver in Honda – finishing 6th, earning the plant 9 points. However, he is not physically ready to fight for the victory and the podium. Plus, there may be some flashbacks in Jerez related to the events of July 2020, when Mark suffered his most serious injury there. What are flashbacks in motorsport?

These “bad memories” can affect Marquez’s performance in a purely psychological way, as was the case with Jorge Lorenzo in his relationship with TT Circuit Assen. After a high-speed highside in the free practice of the 2013 Dutch Grand Prix, Jorge began to experience a painful fear of racing at the TT Circuit Assen, and if it started raining there, he generally lost the ability to drive for the result – and this continued until 2016, when he said goodbye to Yamaha. Moreover, if the first year Jorge was silent about the reasons for the sharp decline in productivity, then in 2015 he admitted: yes, he constantly remembers the moment of the accident and the pain he experienced as a result of the fall, as well as after the operation, when he immediately wanted to return to duty … In that race, he finished 5th, however, after the finish he was literally removed from the motorcycle – he himself could not move because of the terrible pain in his left shoulder. The situation with Marc Marquez is akin to that of Lorenzo in 2013. The fact is that until the weekend in Jerez begins, no one is sure whether Mark can overcome this natural fear of new pain or not. a chance to work as a prize pilot for at least one more season.

To be on the safe side, Honda puts Bradl out. And Stefan will be wearing Team HRC (test team) colors, not Repsol Honda.

Stefan Bradl Testing the Honda RC213V Prototype After Marquez’s return to the Portuguese Grand Prix, Stefan Bradl was able to return to his direct job as a Honda test driver. But for all the time that he replaced Marquez, he has greatly increased his level, so he brought enough points to the piggy bank of the factory in 2020. Bradl also finished the first two races of 2021 in Qatar wearing glasses. In particular, he finished the Doha Grand Prix in 9th place. Of course, Honda could have exhibited Bradl in Portimao. But the choice in favor of Jerez is obvious: Stefan spent almost the entire winter here, preparing the prototype of Marc Marquez for the new season; here Bradl is doing quite well on the whole – he can really earn valuable points for Honda if the prize drivers fail. Worst season for Honda in MotoGP history

Honda suffered a crushing defeat in 2020 due to the absence of Marquez in the World Championship: the Japanese plant finished the season in the penultimate, 5th position in the Manufacturers’ Cup, behind only Aprilia. In a short season, the rest of the Honda drivers were able to bring the plant only 144 points. By comparison, in 2019, Marquez alone scored 400 points, and Honda’s total Constructors’ Championship reached 426 points – 105 points more than Yamaha and 108 points more than Ducati. According to the regulations, only one is taken into account in the Cup of Manufacturers – the best result of the plant’s representative at the end of the race. That is, if three pilots of the same brand climbed to the podium at once, only 25 points of the winner will still be counted. Well, if the fastest representative of the plant was 10th, then 6 points will be taken into account, regardless of how the others finished. At the moment, Honda has only 55 points in the piggy bank, and the plant closes the list of 6 manufacturers – a situation absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of the company, which usually fights for the Triple Crown in the championship – all three titles – in individual and team events, as well as the Cup manufacturers.

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The first thing that has already been said: Valentino Rossi has successfully negotiated with the Saudi prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Saud on the creation of a joint project, the goal of which is a grandiose MotoGP promotion in Saudi Arabia. Conversely, a global advertisement for a future Formula 1 / Moto Grand Prix street circuit project in Jeddah.

A new view of Jeddah: a Formula 1 and MotoGP racetrack in the city center – a project in the very near future Read about what Saudi Arabia has planned there in Formula 1 and MotoGP here. The project is more global than Indonesia’s partnership with Gresini Racing. A kind of competition has also emerged: if the Indonesian Racing Team within Gresini is a plan for the junior Grand Prix classes (Moto3 and Moto2), then the Saudi prince needs everything at once – a presence in all three classes, including MotoGP. Less makes no sense. Cooperation with VR46 Racing is ideal: a name, a successful history and … Ducati! Here’s the fun part. Carlo Merlini, manager of Faenza-based Gresini Racing, said late last week that he was less interested in the partnership with Aprilia Racing than in signing a contract with Ducati. But Valentino Rossi can seize the initiative and take away from Gresini the quota for 2 remaining free Desmosedici. Here the priority will be for the one who pays in advance.
Hi guys! Everything is fine with us. The chronology of events is as follows. On March 26, Rossi held talks with the prince about a new partnership. Nobody knows exactly what it was about. But following the meeting, a contract was signed, according to which the high-tech media holding of Their Highness – Tanal Entertainment Sport & Media suddenly became the official sponsor of Sky Racing Team VR46. It was a month ago. After the Doha Grand Prix, Rossi returned to Italy. But from the airport I went … no, not to Tavuglia, but to Bologna, or rather, to Borgo Panigale. And what is in Borgo Panigale? That’s right, the headquarters and the Ducati factory! Most likely, Rossi agreed on everything with the Saudis and knocked out the necessary budget from them to open a full-fledged garage in the Royal class. While this is an assumption. And everyone will be expecting a big announcement.

We are talking about a budget of 10 million euros for the season; but this is only MotoGP, and there is also the Sky Racing Team VR46 project in Moto2, plus, you can very quickly revive the team in Moto3. She had to be exchanged for Luca Marini’s place in Avintia, if you remember. But if everything is exactly as it seems, the puzzle is added: Dorna and Ducati give Sky Racing Team VR46 the Avintia quota for 2 Desmosedici prototypes, VR46 enters MotoGP already in 2022; at the same time, Rossi announces the return of the teams to Moto3 and Moto2 under a new commercial name associated with Saudi Arabia and new partners. Such a new partner for VR46, instead of Sky, will be Tanal Entertainment, which is directly linked to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the operator of the Saudi Vision 2020 construction in Jeddah.

Sky Racing Team VR46 is rapidly approaching MotoGP If Rossi himself cannot get to the start of MotoGP in 2022, he will be happy to be the most famous team manager in the history of motorsport, especially since there is good money behind it. In this case, it will not be difficult to pair Enea Bastianini with Luca Marini. First of all, because Ducati intends to continue working with the Moto2 champion. Italian insiders are confident there will be a big announcement at Mugello. And that’s bad news for Gresini Racing. Merlini does not manage the capital of the Gresini family, and besides, there are not so many of them. He needs to find a budget to negotiate with Ducati. But the family is not sure that they are ready to pick up the banner that fell after the death of Fausto. In this case, Gresini will have two options: to leave the Royal class and focus on the lower grades, as the Aspar Racing team did before; or agree to Aprilia Racing’s proposal to continue the partnership by becoming a Noale satellite in 2022. This scenario is a complete reversal of the hypotheses voiced last week regarding the VR46’s chances of becoming an Aprilia satellite. But that was only a hypothesis, especially since it was not known about Rossi’s visit to Ducati.

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Jaon Mir, driver of Team Suzuki Ecstar became MotoGP champion in 2020, and teammate Alex Rins is close to becoming vice-champion. Factory team Suzuki took the team title at the end of the season, having lost the Manufacturers’ Cup on the last weekend of the season. In November 2020, Suzuki’s official project could set an all-time record for all the company’s participation in the FIM Grand Prix World Championship by taking the Triple Crown. Suzuki has been participating in the Moto Grand Prix since 1960, and in the 80s and 90s the company’s pilots fought for dominance in the series when 2-stroke technology reached its peak of technological development. Suzuki had one of the fastest prototypes with a 2-stroke 500cc engine: the RGV brought Suzuki the title in 2000 with Kenny Roberts Jr. on board, and in 2001 Roberts also fought for the title. But then the sunset came for Hamamatsu. The transition to 4-stroke engines turned out to be a disaster, since the plant chose not the most successful direction in development for many years, which led to the collapse of the project and withdrawal from the championship for several years. In 2014, it was decided to return with a fundamentally new prototype – the Suzuki GSX-RR, based on the engine technologies that the plant had been practicing since the 90s of the XX century: a 4-cylinder in-line engine was taken as the basis of the engine of the new prototype – and this helped make a coup.

Suzuki intends to continue the battle for all three trophies for the next 5 years! Photo: Team Suzuki Ecstar drivers – Joan Mir and Alex Rins; factory project managers – Ken Kawayuchi and Shinichi Sahara; official developer and test driver of Suzuki – Sylvain Guintoli

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We are talking, first, about a monetary fine and a pit lane start for John McPhee and Jeremy Alcoba for a fight after the Doha incident, as well as a pit lane start for Darrin Binder and Dennis Onju for a dangerous FP2 ride in Moto3; secondly, about the deprivation of pole position and the best lap of Francesco Bagnai and Maveric Viñales in MotoGP. As for McPhee and Alcoba, there are no particular differences of opinion: they got off easily for a fight on the air, in addition, they had to publicly apologize and shake hands with each other. Both qualified in Portimao on the 1-2 lines and could fight for the victory, but lost everything due to intemperance. McPhee has been punished enough – he has not earned a point and has seriously rolled back in the Moto3 general classification. Alcoba managed to snatch a couple of points at the finish line. Onju and Binder paid more or less justifiably for interfering with other pilots’ fast laps. Here, the discussions do not differ too much in judgments: guilty, what to do! .. But Vinales was so depressed by his transfer to the 12th position that after the race he created a conflict situation in the social network and eventually lost his Twitter account. Banyaya, of course, was also very upset that he was deprived of a new lap record, but Ducati decided to accept the situation “as it is” and come to terms with the tough decision of the Directorate. In addition, the fact that the pilot did not notice the flag, which really was – is proven. Vinales was deprived of a fast lap for hitting the green, and this happened automatically, thanks to the triggering of sensors installed by Dorna Sports at the entire circuit – it is impossible to find fault with the work of the Stewards! Banyaya complained that the passage under the yellow flags and, as a result, the cancellation of the lap time – a) did not threaten anyone and anything, b) that he simply did not see the yellow flags and / or the signal on the light panel. Aleš Espargaro, the second oldest and most experienced MotoGP pilot after Valentino Rossi, is confident that the Directorate and the Steward Panel acted quite right. Unlike most MotoGP representatives, Espargaro believes that the Directorate is still acting too softly and loyally towards the Premier class pilots.

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The Portimão podium was the fourth in a row for Remy Gardner, the third in a row since the start of the 2021 season. Gardner Jr. immediately showed a desire to fight, at least for a place in the top three, but also for a victory with Sam Lowes. This season from the very beginning in some way echoes the historical events of 1986-87.

Wayne Gardner with his son Remy at the Phillip Island Circuit starting straight, 2018 Wayne Gardner leads the World Championship Moto Grand Prix in the Royal 500cc class. May 4, 1986, winning the Spanish Grand Prix at the Jaram circuit. Wayne had every chance of winning that championship, but Eddie Lawson, like Sam Lawson (even the names of these riders are consonant!), Had an incredible winning streak, winning 7 out of 11 Grand Prix held that year.

Eddie Lawson (Yamaha # 1) and Wayne Gardner (Honda # 2), 1987 Sr. Gardner lost the lead to Lawson at the next stage, they went 1-2 until the final in Misano. Obviously, Lawson prevailed in the championship, like Sam Laws this year: even the fall and loss of points at the race in Assen did not stop Eddie – he became the champion, Gardner Sr – the vice-champion. But the desire to take the title remained, and Wayne took the Premier Class title in 1987.

A father should be proud of his son. But could it be otherwise? Wayne turned Remy into the person we know: in total, the investments that the Gardners had to make in Remy’s future exceeded 2.5 million euros. When Remy first got on a motorcycle at the age of 4 and started showing good results in Australia, Wayne immediately decided that they would not achieve anything at home. Wayne sold everything he had, borrowed more money and moved with his son to Europe. By the time Remy Gardner made his Moto3 debut, Wayne had already spent about 2 million euros. The family received their first “cashback” only in 2021, when Remi signed a contract with Ajo Racing.

Remy Gardner, Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 Remy Gardner started from the front line and snatched 3rd place in a fight with American Joe Roberts. Thanks to a run to the podium, Gardner took the lead in the Moto2 general classification with a 6-point lead over Portuguese Grand Prix winner Raul Fernandez, team-mate in Red Bull KTM Ajo.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Double Podiums in Portimao: Fernandez vs. Gardner There is a long and very tense title fight going on because unlike in 1986, Gardner will have more than one real competitor. He understands this well: “I have become the leaders of the championship – this is an incredible feeling, because this is the first time in my life. But to be honest, I expected more from today’s race – said Remy Gardner. – Considering how I conducted the qualification, I had a good chance of winning. But I’ve made too many unforgivable mistakes. So it was a tough day. And it became especially difficult because of the heat: at some point I began to worry that I would not be able to finish above the TOP-5. Therefore, I am glad to be on the podium and congratulate Raul on his first victory: it seems that now we will often intersect not only in the Red Bull KTM Ajo box, but (hopefully) in the closed park after the finish! “

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Generations of journalists don’t change as often as generations of motorcycle racers. Some journalists started working in MotoGP back in the 80s, but the old guard is dropping out, and there are fewer veterans in the press center. And since 2020, the number of professional journalists has been artificially limited due to covid restrictions. Finally, in 2021, starting with the Portuguese Grand Prix, Dorna Sports decided to return about a fifth of the print and electronic media. And among them there are only a few who are used to dealing with paper protocols. Dorna has calculated how much of the printed matter has to be produced (and half is disposed of after each step): to print all the protocols, rounds and bulletins, Dorna employees made an average of 20,000 copies; these protocols were laid out in special trays on the information board, from where journalists and team representatives took them and took them with them for research; often, immediately after reading, bulletins and minutes were sent to the trash can; however, 1 ton of paper passed through printers and copiers over the weekend.

In addition, from the Portuguese Grand Prix, Dorna is completely moving to online accreditation. After all, all those admitted to the paddock, one way or another, receive their own identification code, install a special application on their smartphone, which is a pass to the MotoGP stages. The only thing that will remain in printed form is the stickers for parking passes for cars, stickers for scooters and badges, by which guards and marshals can identify all visitors to the stage.

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From the race partner Marc Marquez was brought out by a technical problem with the rear brake – it just stopped working. Paul, who uses the rear brake a lot when cornering, decided to pull out. “We don’t yet know what happened to him and why, but after a couple of laps the rear brake just disappeared. Because of this, I drove to the safety zone a couple of times, lost several positions and no longer saw any reason to continue the fight, “said Espargaro after the race. Then, after the end of the stage, at a press briefing, Paul added: “If we had a leak, its appearance on the track could lead to dangerous consequences for others. Knowing this, I tried to return to the pit lane. Unfortunately, we were unable to understand the nature of this problem. This happens in races. We look forward to returning to Jerez and showing our best. In addition, Stefan [Bradl] managed to carry out a number of important tests and prepared a lot of important information for our engineers. “

Repsol Honda acknowledged that what happened to Paul Espargaro was an unfortunate coincidence that does sometimes happen in technical sports. The team has no complaints about the pilot. In the very first race of the season – the Qatar Grand Prix, Espargaro immediately entered the TOP-10 and finished his debut MotoGP stage 8th. Portuguese Grand Prix MotoGP Results MotoGP Championship Positions After Portuguese Grand Prix

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