MotoGP

Marquez hasn’t been defeated at the Sachsenring since his first season in the 125cc class back in 2009. Many had predicted prior to the weekend that he could keep the streak going and secure his first win since the arm injury that put him out of the 2020 campaign, as the track’s anti-clockwise nature of

The 2021 Aprilia MotoGP bike has proven to be the marque’s best of the modern four-stroke era, which began back in 2002, with Espargaro consistently scoring top eight results this season. Aprilia hasn’t had a front row start in the premier class since Jeremy McWilliams was on pole for the 500cc race in Australia, with

The French rider snatched top spot in Q2 at the Sachsenring with just under two minutes remaining to sit on provisional pole with a 1m20.236s lap. Pushing for a second lap, Zarco crashed at the Turn 5 left-hander, but held onto his pole as the rest of the field failed to find enough of an

Fresh from winning the Catalunya MotoGP last time out, Oliveira continued to grab the headlines with the fastest lap time in FP2 to take top spot by 0.220 seconds from Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo. FP1 timesheet-topper Marc Marquez, who remains undefeated at the Sachsenring in his MotoGP premier class career, faded to 12th place in the second

Dupasquier sadly succumbed to injuries sustained in a serious accident during qualifying for the Moto3 Italian Grand Prix. MotoGP held a minute of silence ahead of the Italian GP following Dupasquier’s death, while his Prustel GP team vowed to continue racing on in his memory. This weekend’s German GP is the home round for the

Quartararo rode the final laps of the Barcelona race two weeks ago with his Yamaha leathers open after an apparent issue – though an investigation by Alpinestars found no problems with his race suit. Suzuki rider Mir was critical of Quartararo throwing away his chest protector, saying at the time that the Frenchman endangered the

This weekend’s German GP marks MotoGP’s first visit to the country since 2019 after last year’s event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ducati’s Jack Miller set the initial benchmark with a 1m23.367s as the Italian marque comes to a track it hasn’t won at since 2008 and hasn’t stood on the

The biggest talking point coming into this weekend’s German Grand Prix was how Race Direction dealt with Fabio Quartararo’s suit drama, when the Yamaha rider’s leathers split open late on in the Catalan Grand Prix and ultimately netted him a three-second penalty post-race. PLUS: Why Quartararo’s Catalunya suit penalty highlights a wider issue in MotoGP

The six-time MotoGP world champion has been struggling with a lack of muscle and power in his right shoulder since returning to action in Portugal following a nine-month injury layoff. A winner at the Sachsenring across all classes since 2010, its quirky layout of 10 left corners and just three right should mean Marquez suffers

After a dramatic Catalunya MotoGP where Miguel Oliveira delivered the third premier class win of his career, and his first for the factory KTM squad, the title battle tightened up at the top as Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco secured second place to close the gap to leader Fabio Quartararo to 14 points. Quartararo had an

Honda currently sits fifth out six in the constructors’ standings after seven races in 2021 as all of its riders have struggled for form on the tricky RC213V. After a promising five days of testing in Qatar and displaying podium pace in both Losail races, Espargaro’s maiden Honda season has failed to deliver on that

A second race at the Red Bull Ring was added to the 2021 MotoGP calendar last month following the cancellation of the Finnish Grand Prix at the new KymiRing circuit. The Styrian Grand Prix was added as a replacement for 6-8 August, running one week before the Austrian Grand Prix to create a double-header in

The top four riders at the chequered flag in last Sunday-s 24-lap Barcelona race all elected to run the hard rear tyre, while Mir went for the medium option. Coming from 10th on the grid, Mir leaped up to fourth on the opening lap and conserved his tyres for much of the first half of

The Ducati rider has scored four podiums so far in 2021 and all of them have been second-places, with his latest coming in last weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix when he narrowly missed the win to KTM’s Miguel Oliveira. Now five years into his MotoGP career, Zarco is overdue a victory having come close on a

With the Red Bull Ring putting extreme demand on brakes, Brembo has designed a new system of ventilated carbon discs and pads using the larger 340mm brake discs, which have been upgraded with small holes to generate a ventilation that helps prevent rising temperatures and keeps it in the maximum working range of 700-800 degrees.

The Portuguese rider struggled at the start of 2021, as the RC16 didn’t get on well with Michelin’s generally softer front tyre allocation in the early rounds. Failing to crack a top 10 from the first five races, a new chassis transformed Oliveira’s fortunes last week at Mugello as he scored second before going on

The Petronas SRT rider made genuine steps forward with his Yamaha at Barcelona following a tough start to 2021, with Rossi making it through to Q2 for only the third time this season. Though a crash left him 11th on the grid Rossi was confident of a strong showing in the race. However, his choice

The Yamaha rider ended the grand prix with his suit opened and without his chest protector, resulting in a three-second time penalty dropping him to sixth, having already lost third to a three-second time penalty for a track limits violation. Quartararo had no explanation for why his leathers came undone and said Alpinestars was looking

Quartararo’s leathers came open with around five laps of Sunday’s race to go and he completed the grand prix with his suit opened and without his chest protector. This would gain him a three-second time penalty some hours after the race, dropping him to sixth having already lost third to a three-second time penalty for

Most of the field remained at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya circuit for the second in-season test day of 2021, though Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro sat it out due to some swelling in his arm – a legacy of recent arm-pump surgery. LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami led the opening hour of running with a 1m40.648s, the Honda rider

The Yamaha rider’s race suit somehow opened fully in the later stages of Sunday’s Barcelona race, leading to many riders to question the safety of his decision to continue racing. Quartararo was later handed a three-second time penalty, dropping him from fourth – having already been penalised for a track limits offence in the race,

The six-time MotoGP world champion was one of the only riders to opt for the soft rear tyre for Sunday’s Barcelona race, as he felt “today it’s time to take a risk” as he saw “no meaning” to just “burn fuel”. Marquez ran in the podium battle in those early laps having started 13th, but

In the latter stages of Sunday’s 24-lap Barcelona race, Quartararo’s Yamaha leathers split open with around five tours to go and he was seen discarding his chest protector at Turn 3 while trailing eventual winner Miguel Oliveira. Quartararo continued to the chequered flag with his suit fully open, but was not initially penalised despite the

KTM struggled in the early races of 2021, but a chassis update and new fuel supplier propelled the Austrian marque back to front-running status over the last two grand prix – Oliveira claiming his first win as a factory team KTM rider. Jack Miller used the power of the Ducati to grab the holeshot off

In a snippet of an interview with DAZN released by the network on Friday, Vinales – when asked how he would approach his future – was quoted as saying: “Calmly, very calmly. I don’t want to make a mistake again”. He added: “I want to make a good decision, really take the path that best

Last year’s Catalan GP ultimately came down to who best preserved their rubber, with Morbidelli dropping out of the podium battle late on due to a severe drop in grip. All riders are expecting a similar race to last year’s to pan out on Sunday, with Morbidelli admitting the choice of hard or medium rear

No rider since Marc Marquez during his dominant 2014 season has scored five poles in a row, while no Yamaha rider since Jorge Lorenzo in 2010 achieved that feat before Quartararo ended that drought with a 1m38.853s in Q2 at Barcelona. Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro set the initial benchmark at 1m39.834s, though this was immediately bettered

Vinales is now working with ex-Valentino Rossi crew chief Galbusera after a tough run of form since winning the opening Qatar GP – according to Vinales – led Yamaha to ditching the Spaniard’s former chief mechanic Esteban Garcia. The Yamaha rider says the main goal of Friday was to find front confidence, which he feels

MotoGP hasn’t had a quiet week off between the Italian and Catalan Grand Prix. KTM put rider market pieces into place for 2022 by extending factory rider Brad Binder’s contract until 2024 and promoting Moto2 championship leader Remy Gardner to Tech3, while Pramac re-signed Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin. But the most significant move came

FP1 was the MotoGP field’s first chance to sample the revised Turn 10 layout, which the Barcelona circuit revamped earlier this year. Generally a low-grip circuit, lap times tumbled across the opening 10 minutes of the session and top spot changed hands a number of times. Aleix Espargaro set the initial pace with a 1m42.318s