An early start to a new season for Eugene Laverty.
The Valencia Test is a great opportunity to see the new MotoGP bikes stripped of their liveries. Note how Marc Marquez has redone his helmet to match his Honda RC213V.
Get used to seeing the running Michelin man, the French tire-maker will be the spec-tire provider for the 2016 season and onwards.
Casey Stoner is set to make some form of return to MotoGP. The Australian is to switch back from Honda to Ducati, taking on a role as test rider for the Italian firm. There is a chance that Stoner could also be given one or more wildcard rides on Ducati’s MotoGP bike.
The news comes after a series of rumors and stories, starting with the German language website Speedweek, and culminating with unofficial confirmation from Israeli TV MotoGP commentator Tammy Gorali.
We thought the MotoGP drama would subside at Valencia, but the final race of the season proved it would not go quietly into that good night.
David, Neil, and Tony talk about both the on-track and off-track shenanigans that occurred in Spain. The guys leave no stone un-turned as they examine Marquez’s pace, Rossi’s surge to the front, and Lorenzo’s Championship victory.
We also talk about the Moto3 Championship, and the drama behind the scenes for Danny Kent. This is surely an episode you do not want to miss if you are a Grand Prix racing fan.
As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
The 2016 MotoGP season got underway this morning, as the sound of MotoGP bikes out on track echoed round the amphitheater of the Valencia circuit, chasing away much of the bitterness and recriminations left hanging there in the wake of the 2015 season showdown.
With new bikes, new tires, new electronics, and new and old riders on new and old bikes, there was much to look forward to. It felt like MotoGP had a future again.
With new tires and new electronics, many teams had chosen to forego too many changes to their bikes, but there were still some novelties out on track. Honda had brought a 2016 bike, complete with a new engine.
Factory Yamaha had an intermediate version of their 2016 bike, complete with fuel tank moved to the rear of the bike. Despite Gigi Dall’Igna’s assurances yesterday that they would be testing nothing new to concentrate on the Michelins, Andrea Dovizioso confirmed that he had tried a new chassis.
At Suzuki, they spend the day working on adapting to the tires, and gathering more data for the 2016 bike. Engineers in Hamamatsu are getting that ready for the Sepang test – at least, that is what Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaro are hoping – a bike that will produce more horsepower and have a fully seamless gearbox.
There was some shuffling of faces and equipment in the satellite teams, with bikes being wheeled from garage to garage, and a few riders moving along with them.
This is our third story about the KTM RC16, in I don’t know how many weeks, but the Austrian brand just dropped off a bunch of high-resolution images of its MotoGP race bike in the company’s media gallery, and we feel obligated to share them with you because they’re just that good.
While the MotoGP paddock is in Valencia right now testing machines, electronics, and riders for the 2016 season, KTM is busy looking farther down the road with their plans to join the premier class in 2017.
The KTM factory team is being cagey about how many resources it is devoting to the MotoGP project, though we do know that KTM is building a dedicated facility for the MotoGP project in Mattighofen and hiring top-level talent right and left for the effort.
So far KTM’s hard work has brought out a machine that visually looks like a lot like the Honda RC213V, and smart speculation pegs the power plant between the fairings as being very similar as well: a 90° V4 with a “screamer” firing order.
KTM is of course using a steel trellis frame design and WP suspension, and numerous more subtle changes abound. Reportedly KTM is keen to hire MotoGP suspension gurus to help add to the knowledge already found at WP – could we see a new brand come into MotoGP to rival standard-bearer Öhlins?
While we ponder all that, there are 22 ultra high-resolution photos for you to ogle over, after the jump.
They say that truth is stranger than fiction. The more pressing question is how to distinguish between the two.
Narratives are easily created – it is my stock in trade, and the trade which every sports writer plies – but where does stringing together a collection of related facts move from being a factual reconstruction into the realms of invented fantasy?
When different individuals view the same facts and draw radically opposite conclusions, are we to believe that one is delusional and the other is sane and objective?
Most of all, how much value should we attach to the opinions of each side? Do we change our opinion of the facts based on our sympathy or antipathy for the messenger?
That is the confusion which the final round of MotoGP has thrust the world of Grand Prix racing into. What should have been a celebration of the greatest season of racing in the premier class in recent years, and possibly ever, was rendered farcical, as two competing interpretations of a single set of facts clashed, exploded, then dragged the series down into the abyss.
Bitterness, anger, suspicion, fear, all of these overshadowed some astonishing performances, by both winners and losers. Looked at impartially, the Valencia round of MotoGP was a great day of fantastic racing. But who now can look at it impartially?
It went all the way down to the final race of the season – in many ways the final lap of the final race – but now the 2015 MotoGP Championship season is over, and Jorge Lorenzo is the 2015 FIM MotoGP World Champion.
You have to consider 2015 as a tumultuous season for the Movistar Yamaha rider, as Lorenzo’s season only came into its own in the latter stages of the championship. But, the Spaniard was arguably the fastest rider of the season, carrying not only the momentum but also the most race wins to the end of the season.
This year certainly wasn’t Lorenzo’s most dominant win, with a slew of equipment issues plaguing the Spaniard, which added to him chasing teammate Valentino Rossi all the way into the Valencia GP, but 2015 was certainly Lorenzo’s most hard-fought season.
After the dust settles on the “Sepang Clash” we think even fanatical Rossi fans will have to agree that Lorenzo is a worthy world champion with his on-track performances – we just don’t expect them to come to that conclusion right away.
There is nowhere left to hide. On Sunday, it is time for the men and women of Grand Prix racing to stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, and lend their eyes a terrible aspect.
Much is at stake: a Moto3 title that really should have been wrapped up by now; a MotoGP title rendered complicated by the impetuosity of youth and old age; and just sheer thirst for glory in Moto2.
Glory is what is at stake in all three classes, what young men and women dedicate their lives and sacrifice their bodies and their time to chasing. Sweet victory is there for the lucky few, the bitter draught of defeat for the rest.
It looked like the cards had already been dealt ahead of Sunday’s race when the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Valentino Rossi’s request to have his three penalty points suspended.
Then Rossi came out swinging on Friday and Saturday, not his usual eight or ninth times, and a struggle to make it through to Q2, but strong pace from the outset and competitive times.
“I’ve been impressed with how fast he’s going,” Nicky Hayden said of Rossi after qualifying today. “He’s looked very solid. We know he’s a nine-time champion because he’s fast on Sunday, but he’s come out of the gate, might not be breaking track records, but compared to a normal Friday, Saturday, he’s looking strong.”
Then came qualifying. Rossi had earned passage to Q2 by right, and had told us on Friday he would be treating qualifying the same as he had every weekend, pushing hard for a fast lap. Rossi seemed to have the upper hand going into Q2, especially as Jorge Lorenzo was clearly suffering with nerves.
He forgot to take off a tear off in the pits, then spent long seconds trying to sort it out with his assistant, before finally leaving the pits in a bit of a fluster. Not a good omen, we all thought.
Marc Marquez had to settle for 2nd on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Jorge Lorenzo broke the pole record with a time of 1’30.011 to claim his first pole position at the Valencia Circuit.
Dani Pedrosa took the final place on the front row.
