MotoGP

Aprilia runs its factory operation in conjunction with the Gresini Racing Team, having done so since its return to the premier class in 2015. But the Aprilia Gresini team will go forth in 2021 without its talisman leader Fausto Gresini, who tragically died last month following a lengthy battle with COVID-19. Aprilia is one of

As it is a concession manufacturer, Aprilia is one of only two manufacturers, after KTM, allowed to start the 2021 campaign with a completely new bike as COVID-19 cost-saving rules mean non-concession marques have to carry over their 2020 engines. Despite finishing last in the constructors’ table, Aleix Espargaro repeatedly stated the 2020 RS-GP was

Despite winning half of last year’s races, Yamaha failed to win any of the three championships on offer, with its 2020 M1 riders besieged by various issues with the bike, which led to wildly inconsistent form. After leading for much of the campaign, Fabio Quartararo faded to eighth in the standings over the final six

The nine-time grand prix world champion has been moved out of Yamaha’s works squad and placed into the satellite Sepang Racing Team on a factory contract. With his current deal only for the 2021 season, Rossi’s MotoGP future beyond this year is uncertain – with SRT boss Razlan Razali revealing this week that the Italian

MotoGP 2020 runner-up Franco Morbidelli says “nothing will change” between himself and Valentino Rossi as Petronas SRT team-mates as “nothing is as big as friendship”. Morbidelli’s mentor and nine-time grand prix world champion Rossi will continue his MotoGP career into a 26th season in 2021 with SRT after losing his factory Yamaha place to Fabio

Petronas SRT team principal Razlan Razali admits his squad appeared “more upset” at losing the 2020 MotoGP title than Yamaha was, but stresses this situation has been “addressed”. Fabio Quartararo was Yamaha’s leading rider for much of the 2020 season, with his three victories keeping him in the lead of the championship until the Aragon

Petronas SRT team director Johan Stigefelt doesn’t believe nine-time grand prix world champion Valentino Rossi will have less pressure on him as a satellite MotoGP rider in 2021. For the first time in his career, Rossi will not race a Yamaha in its factory colours after agreeing a one-year deal with SRT for 2021, but

Petronas SRT has become the latest MotoGP team to unveil the livery its 2021 challengers will race in the new season with revised line-up of Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi. The 2021 season will be SRT’s third in the premier class, with the Yamaha satellite team in its short tenure already a six-time race winner.

Valentino Rossi begins the next chapter of his illustrious MotoGP career as he makes his first public appearance with Petronas SRT at its team launch ahead of the 2021 season. Remarkably, 2021 will be Rossi’s 26th season in the grand prix racing – having made his full-time 125cc debut in 1996 – and his 22nd

Pol Espargaro admits the pressure to learn how to ride the Honda MotoGP bike in the Qatar test will be “high” without Marc Marquez present to use as a reference. The six-time MotoGP podium finisher joins the factory Honda squad from KTM in 2021, but will have just five days to get to know the

Petronas Sprinta Moto2 rider Jake Dixon has revealed the broken wrist he suffered in a crash during last year’s European Grand Prix put his racing career under threat. The British rider crashed during practice for the opening Valencia race last season and badly broke his wrist, which ruled him out for the rest of the

Honda team boss Alberto Puig says Marc Marquez “will still find a way to be Marc Marquez” when he makes his long-awaited MotoGP return from injury. Marquez has been out of action since his aborted comeback attempt at the Andalusian Grand Prix last July, just days after an operation on the right arm he broke

Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez made his first public press appearance since July last Monday at Honda’s launch event and offered an update on his injury situation. The Spaniard has been out of action since his aborted comeback attempt at the second round of the 2020 season at Jerez just days after surgery on

The Pramac Ducati MotoGP squad has pulled the covers off of its 2021 livery, which will be raced by its all-new line-up of Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin. This will be Pramac’s 19th season in the premier class as a standalone team (it did race in 2004, but in conjunction with the Pons team) and

League One English football club MK Dons will sport a special one-off shirt this weekend in its fixture against Oxford United celebrating Joan Mir’s 2020 MotoGP world championship victory. Mir ended a 20-year title drought for Suzuki last year when he won the 2020 MotoGP crown with a race to spare, having amassed one grand

Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez insists he “never thought I will not race again” during his injury layoff in 2020 after breaking his arm at the Spanish Grand Prix. Marquez broke the humerus in his right arm in a crash in the latter stages of the opening round of the 2020 season and wouldn’t

Tributes to double 125cc world champion and veteran team boss Fausto Gresini have flooded in from the MotoGP paddock following his death on Tuesday. Gresini was taken ill with COVID-19 just before Christmas and was hospitalised on 27 December in Imola, before being transferred to a specialist COVID care ward in Bologna. On Tuesday, the

Double 125cc world champion and veteran MotoGP team boss Fausto Gresini has died at the age of 60 in hospital in Italy after a two-month battle with COVID-19. The Italian was taken ill with the virus just before Christmas and was hospitalised on 27 December in Imola. As his condition worsened, he was transferred to

The factory Honda MotoGP team has unwrapped its 2021 challenger at an event with new rider Pol Espargaro and six-time world champion Marc Marquez. HRC’s 2021 factory launch event signalled Marquez’s first public appearance in Repsol colours since aborting his comeback from a broken arm during last July’s Andalusian Grand Prix. Marquez will be joined

Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez admits he doesn’t know when he will make his return to racing from injury, and confirms he will not ride in the Qatar test. The Honda rider broke his right humerus in a crash during last July’s Spanish Grand Prix, and has been out of action since making an

The LCR team has pulled the covers off Alex Marquez’s 2021 MotoGP challenger, as the 2019 Moto2 world champion joins the Honda satellite squad this season. Marquez was extracted from his Marc VDS Moto2 contract and placed at the factory Honda squad for 2020 after triple MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo announced his retirement during

Alex Marquez admits there was a stage in his rookie MotoGP season where he had to stop his world champion brother Marc giving him advice as it became too much. The 2019 Moto2 world champion stepped up to the factory Honda squad in 2020 and was meant to partner his six-time title-winning brother Marc Marquez

MotoGP team boss Fausto Gresini is once again in a critical condition and in a medically induced coma as he continues to battle COVID-19 in hospital in Italy. The double 125cc world champion and veteran MotoGP team boss was hospitalised with COVID-19 on 27 December, with his time in a specialist care unit in Bologna

Yamaha MotoGP team boss Lin Jarvis says 2020 championship runner-up Franco Morbidelli deserves a factory-spec M1, but it simply wasn’t possible to give him one for 2021. Morbidelli is the only one of Yamaha’s four riders in 2021 not to have factory-supported current-spec machinery, with the Italian remaining on the lesser ‘A-spec’ M1. This is

MotoGP launch season is in full swing, with Avintia, Ducati, KTM and Yamaha unveiling their 2021 liveries over the past week. One of the key changes for 2021 is in Yamaha’s factory team line-up, with Fabio Quartararo replacing Valentino Rossi, and joining Maverick Vinales. Both Vinales and Quartararo had a difficult 2020 season, despite winning

The MotoGP paddock will be subject to a strict lockdown protocol for the Qatar test and double-header to ensure the 2021 season can get underway safely. The COVID-19 pandemic has already forced MotoGP to alter its plans for the start of the 2021 season, with the Argentine and US Grands Prix postponed and a second

Yamaha has unveiled its factory MotoGP colours for the 2021 season with its revised line-up of Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo. For the first time since his return from Ducati in 2013, nine-times grand prix world champion Valentino Rossi will not form a part of the Yamaha’s factory line-up. Eight-time MotoGP race winner Vinales –

Yamaha MotoGP team director Massimo Meregalli feels he “believes in” Maverick Vinales sometimes more than the eight-time premier class race winner does in himself. Vinales enters his fifth season with the factory Yamaha squad in 2021 coming off the back of a largely difficult 2020 campaign. Though a winner at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix,

Yamaha will remain in the MotoGP world championship for another five years after agreeing a new deal with promoter Dorna Sports from 2022-2026. The 2021 season marks the Japanese manufacturer’s 60th year in grand prix racing, having made its debut in the world championship back in 1961. Yamaha has won 17 premier class riders’ titles

Maverick Vinales believes Yamaha can be “one complete team” in 2021 now seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi has left for Petronas SRT. Yamaha signed Fabio Quartararo to take Rossi’s place for 2021 at the start of last year, with the veteran Italian remaining a factory-backed rider with a switch to SRT. Vinales feels Yamaha