MotoGP

Dorna Announce Financial Support Package For MotoGP Teams

Submitted by David Emmett on

Dorna has announced a financial support package for the Grand Prix teams. The independent MotoGP teams are to be given money for the months of April, May, and June, and payments are also to be made to the Moto2 and Moto3 teams.

Though no amounts are mentioned in the press release, Spanish daily AS.com is reporting that each of MotoGP's private teams - Petronas Yamaha, Red Bull KTM Tech3, Reale Avintia Ducati, Pramac Ducati, LCR Honda, and the Gresini Aprilia squad (still technically an independent team) - is to be given an amount of €250,000 per month for the three months of April, May, and June, with this amount to be paid whether any racing happens or not.

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Another One Down - Le Mans MotoGP Race Postponed Until Further Notice

Submitted by David Emmett on

The COVID-19 outbreak continues to wreak havoc on the 2020 MotoGP calendar. Today, Dorna announced that the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, due to be held on 15th-17th May, has been postponed until further notice.

As happened with Jerez, no new date for Le Mans has been announced. MotoGP, like all other international sports, faces a huge problem in putting together a calendar, in the face of uncertainty over how long restrictions on travel and events will continue. In large parts of Europe, the target date is currently April 30th, but that date looks likely to be extended. Despite positive signs that the spread of the disease is slowing, it is very far from being under control.

The postponement of Le Mans now makes Mugello the first race on the provisional calendar. But with the COVID-19 outbreak still widespread in Italy, the chances of the Mugello round taking place on the weekend of May 31st look slim.

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Andrea Iannone Handed 18-Month Doping Ban By FIM CDI, Will Appeal To The CAS

Submitted by David Emmett on

The International Disciplinary Court of the FIM has reached a decision at last. Andrea Iannone has been found guilty of having a banned substance in his bloodstream, and suspended from competition for 18 months. The ban is backdated to December 17th, 2019, meaning that Iannone will be eligible to compete from the 16th June 2021.

The ban of 18 months is a reduction from the maximum allowed by the rules of 4 years, and an acknowledgement that Iannone did not ingest the banned substance - anabolic steroid drostanolone - with intent. According to a press release from Aprilia the court accepted that drostanolone ended up in Iannone's urine sample due to food contamination.

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Guest Blog: Mat Oxley - Happy 24th MotoGP birthday to Valentino Rossi!

Submitted by Mat Oxley on

Valentino Rossi contested his first GP 24 years ago today, so we’re looking back at his first race and wondering when he will ride his last

Today is Valentino Rossi’s 24th grand prix birthday, marking the anniversary of his world championship debut on 31 March 1996.

On that day he finished sixth in his debut world-class outing, at Shah Alam, Malaysia’s first grand prix circuit. Winner of the 125cc race was countryman Stefano Perugini.

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Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta: "We Will Reschedule Races When We Know When The Season Can Start"

Submitted by David Emmett on

There is a desire for certainty in these uncertain times. Everyone involved in motorcycle racing is wondering what happens next, and when we will be able to start racing again. News websites are filled with countless interviews, news articles, and opinion pieces full of theories as to what the next race may be.

If there is one person in a position what the race might be, it is Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna, and the man who heads the organization which runs both the MotoGP and WorldSBK championships. Spanish sports daily AS.com spoke to Ezpeleta to find out where motorcycle racing stands in 2020.

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GPSpirit Video: Niki Kovács Interviews Simone Battistella, Part 2 - On Mental Strength

Submitted by David Emmett on

In part 2 of Niki Kovács' interview with Simone Battistella, the rider manager talks about how riders need to approach the enforced break caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Battistella tells Hungarian journalist and ex-racer Kovács what he is telling the riders he manages to do during this enforced period of inactivity, and the things they can do to prepare themselves for when racing returns.

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Jerez MotoGP Round Postponed - Calendar Updates Put On Hold

Submitted by David Emmett on

The start of the MotoGP season has been delayed once again. Today, Dorna and the FIM announced that the Spanish Grand Prix, to be held at Jerez on May 3rd, has been postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The postponement affects the MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3 classes, as well as MotoE. It also means the loss of the official IRTA test scheduled for the Monday after Jerez.

Unlike previous races, however, a new date for the Jerez round has not been announced. This reflects the reality of an ongoing, fast-moving situation, in which Dorna is dependent on too many external factors to be able to draw up a schedule which is likely to hold up over the next few months. Until the course of the global pandemic becomes clearer, any calendar is provision at best.

For a deeper dive into the problems facing Dorna as they attempt to assemble a new calendar, see this article posted last night.

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Coronavirus Update: The Challenges Facing MotoGP And WorldSBK In 2020 And Beyond

Submitted by David Emmett on

No news is good news, at least as far as the current outbreak of COVID-19, or the coronavirus is concerned. And for thirteen days – nearly two whole weeks – we went without a change to the calendars of either the WorldSBK and MotoGP calendars. Given the speed at which the world has changed over the past two weeks, that is almost an eternity in normal time.

The same could not be said for other motorsport disciplines. For two weeks, we have been inundated with cancellations and postponements. The Le Mans 24 Hours Endurance motorcycle race has been postponed until August. The Daytona 200 and Daytona TT flat track races were postponed until October. The Merzouga Rally has been canceled, the route of the Silk Way Rally changed. The Isle of Man TT was canceled, Supercross and MXGP had rounds canceled and postponed.

The TT wasn't the only iconic event to be canceled. F1 canceled Monaco, probably the most prestigious race on its calendar, and postponed the races at Zandvoort and Barcelona, joining the Bahrain, Vietnam and China races in being pushed back to the second half of the year. The Le Mans 24 Hours car race was put back until September.

Changing day by day

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GPSpirit Video: Niki Kovács Talks To Clinica Mobile Dr Michele Zasa About The COVID-19 Pandemic In Italy

Submitted by David Emmett on

Dr Michele Zasa is a familiar face in the MotoGP paddock. As medical director of the Clinica Mobile, he oversees the general health of all paddock denizens, from riders to mechanics to anyone who works full time in the paddock.

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Guest Blog: Mat Oxley - Why Ducati’s GP20 is the opposite of a smart phone

Submitted by Mat Oxley on

How Ducati’s free-thinking engineers have substituted MotoGP’s lower-tech spec electronics with an array of mechanical gadgets. Also, why holeshot devices should eventually be banned

A smart phone is a small box of electronics that replaces any number of physical and mechanical gadgets. It takes the place of a camera, a videorecorder, an alarm clock, a typewriter, a compass, a tape recorder, a radio and so on. The best smart phones are so clever that you’d need the back seat of your car to carry around all the bits and pieces they’ve made obsolete.

Ducati’s Desmosedici GP20 works very cleverly in the opposite direction. The machine features a number of mechanical gadgets that take the place of the little black boxes of tailormade electronics that Dorna regulated into history at the end of the 2015 MotoGP season.

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