MotoGP

KTM was one of two brands allowed to start 2021 with a new engine design, but remained largely anonymous on the timesheets and through the speed traps. Double race winner Miguel Oliveira was KTM’s top rider on combined times, but was 1.3 seconds off the pace set by Ducati’s Jack Miller in 16th, while Binder

The six-time podium finisher joined the factory Honda team from KTM in the off-season and will partner Marc Marquez when the six-time MotoGP champion returns from injury. After high winds curtailed last Friday’s fifth day of testing, Espargaro had the 10th quickest time and was just 0.716 seconds off the pace on his first outing

Marquez broke his right humerus in a crash during last year’s season-opening Spanish GP at Jerez, and has been out of action since an aborted comeback a few days after surgery at the Andalusian GP. The Honda rider has had three operations on his arm, the latest coming in December, which finally moved his recovery

Miller ended the five-day Qatar pre-season test fastest on the combined times after setting an unofficial lap record of 1m53.183s as he began life as a factory Ducati team rider. The Australian was one of a handful of riders who completed a full race simulation during the test, demonstrating a strong pace of consistent mid

Much was expected of KTM during the 2021 pre-season after scoring three victories last year and being allowed to start the new campaign with a new motorcycle along with only Aprilia. But so far both the factory KTM riders and Tech3 duo Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona have flown under the radar, with Thursday’s session

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, testing was limited to just five days at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar ahead of the opening round of the season on 28 March. The final day of testing was disrupted by windy conditions, and featured very limited running. Miller set an unofficial lap record on Wednesday ahead of

On Thursday MotoGP announced it had come to an agreement with the Qatari authorities for the entire paddock present in the country to be offered the COVID-19 vaccine, following the region’s successful rollout amongst its population. The jab on offer is the Pfizer vaccine, which requires its two doses to be split by 19 days.

High winds around the Losail International Circuit had blown a lot of sand from the surrounding Qatar desert onto the track, with no one bothering to post a lap time in the opening hour of running. Petrucci ventured out in the second hour on his KTM, but only did two laps, the fastest of which

High winds left Losail circuit covered in sand for the final day of the Qatar pre-season test, with only five riders completing laps due to the conditions. Suzuki duo Mir and Alex Rins didn’t venture out at all during the eight-hour session, with the former admitting the lost day has proven to be problematic as

Vinales continued evaluating the 2021 chassis on Thursday, riding three different specs of Yamaha on his way to the top of the timesheets with a 1m53.244s. The eight-time race winner spent the first test focusing on his own riding style and was “surprised” at how good his long run pace was on the 2020 bike.

The entire MotoGP paddock will be effectively locked down in Qatar until the beginning of April following the Doha Grand Prix, with pre-season testing currently underway. The 2021 season will begin on 28 March with the Qatar GP, while a second round has been added following the postponement of the US and Argentine GPs as a

The six-time MotoGP podium finisher admitted last weekend that he was finding the Honda “stressful” as he hadn’t had a crash yet to understand the limits of the bike. That first tumble came on the penultimate day of testing when he slid off at Turn 1 on the third lap of his first run. Unscathed by

The one-time MotoGP race winner has had a difficult pre-season so far, ending the first test 1.5 seconds off the pace in 16th following two crashes on the last day, and was 20th on the opening day of the second outing on Wednesday after another tumble. Branding his Wednesday “a bit of a shocking day”,

Generally the last to hit the track in the opening test, Suzuki were among the first out on Wednesday afternoon, with Alex Rins topping the opening hour with a 1m55.791s. By the end of hour two, Aleix Espargaro had guided his Aprilia to top spot with a 1m55.049s, with his Honda-mounted brother Pol just 0.016s

By the time the Qatar Grand Prix rolls around, Espargaro will have had just five days of riding on the Honda this winter having spent the last four years on the KTM. After a solid opening test at Losail last weekend, Espargaro was just seven tenths off Miller’s record pace of 1m53.183s on the first

The first brothers to do this at the top level were Juan Carlos Salatino and Eduardo Salatino at the Argentine 500cc Grand Prix in 1962, with the siblings finishing second and third behind winner Benedicto Caldarella. The only other time this feat has been achieved was at the City of Imola Grand Prix in 1997,

Morbidelli was Yamaha’s top rider in 2020, winning three races and finishing runner-up in the world championship despite riding what was essentially the 2019 M1. Despite his efforts, Morbidelli was not given factory machinery for 2021 and remains on the ‘A-spec’ bike. Initially worried that this would disadvantage him relative to his factory rivals, despite

Reigning Moto2 world champion and Avintia Ducati rider Enea Bastianini says it was “not that important” to be the fastest MotoGP rookie after the first Qatar test. Bastianini steps up to the premier class this season with Ducati and Avintia, joining Moto2 runner-up Luca Marini, Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori as MotoGP rookies

Aprilia is one of only two manufacturers allowed to start 2021 with a completely new bike amid a range of cost-saving measures introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has made changes that Espargaro says have made its RS-GP “quite different” to ride even though it’s not a major revolution. The Spaniard has been testing

Suzuki test rider Sylvain Guintoli revealed on Saturday that he was already trying a prototype version of the Japanese marque’s 2022 engine at the first Qatar pre-season test last weekend. Engine development for all manufacturers apart from Aprilia is banned for the 2021 season as part of COVID-19 cost-saving measures, with all except Aprilia and

New factory Yamaha signing Fabio Quartararo topped the test outright as he got work evaluating the M1’s new chassis, though wasn’t totally sold on it just yet. Ducati debuted a new aero concept, with Jack Miller going second fastest overall, while Aprilia made encouraging steps forward with its all-new RS-GP after Aleix Espargaro ended the

The double Moto2 world champion returns to factory status as a rider in 2021 after being promoted from Avintia to Pramac aboard full works Ducati machinery. Zarco ended the opening two days of the Qatar pre-season test 0.416 seconds off the pace in sixth on the combined timesheets and was second-fastest Ducati runner. He says

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all official pre-season testing has been confined to the Losail International Circuit and the riders will have just five days of running before the opening two rounds at the circuit. Only KTM and Aprilia have been able to build completely new bikes for 2021, with COVID cost-saving restrictions meaning Ducati,

The six-time MotoGP podium finisher made his debut on the RC213V on Saturday in Qatar, and made a lap time improvement of 1.2 seconds on Sunday to 12th with a 1m54.673s. Espargaro noted on Saturday that both the KTM he rode for four years and the Honda are similar in terms handling – but felt

The three-time MotoGP race winner made his on-track debut on Saturday at Losail as a factory Yamaha team rider and ended the day down in 15th, having completed the most laps of anyone with 69. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant testing has started later than normal this year, with February’s Sepang test cancelled. Quartararo was

Aprilia and KTM are the only manufacturer’s allowed to start 2021 with totally new motorcycles, with the former unveiling its redesigned RS-GP on Thursday. Espargaro and team-mate Lorenzo Savadori have already been testing the bike since last November, with Espargaro completing a further 57 laps on Saturday in Qatar on his way to the top

Saturday’s first of five test days at Losail marked Espargaro’s debut on the RC213V, with the six-time MotoGP podium finisher completing 68 laps across the day having been one of the first to take to the track in the seven-hour session. Espargaro ended the day 1.2 seconds off the pace of his Aprilia-mounted brother Aleix

The eight-time MotoGP race winner endured a torrid 2020 campaign on his M1, with a sole victory at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix the highlight of a campaign of wild inconsistency. With the 2021 regulations staying frozen in regards to engine development for most as part of COVID-19 cost-saving measures, Yamaha has had to focus

Four rookies will start the 2021 campaign this month in Qatar (although Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori already has three races under his belt from last year), with a day of running at Losail ahead of the official test allowing them to experience their first laps on a MotoGP bike. Typically, Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Avintia duo

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all five days of MotoGP testing for 2021 have been confined to the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, while the opening two rounds of the campaign will also take place there. Yamaha has typically always gone well at both the Qatar test and grand prix in recent years, and