Jorge Martinez is considering fielding a one man team in MotoGP in 2008, according to the MotoGP.com website. The boss of the Aspar team has been extremely successful in both 125 and 250, and having a rider in the premier class would be a logical move.

The rain that has been threatening Shanghai all weekend stayed away on Saturday, the day getting brighter and warmer, and the haze that obscured the view down the long back straight gradually drawing up its veil on a fascinating's day of practice. The morning's free practice session saw times improved by nearly 3/4 of a second, and set a benchmark for the kind of pace that will be necessary to win a race, with John Hopkins and Casey Stoner running consistent laps in the high 2:00 mark.

The rain that has been threatening Shanghai all weekend stayed away on Saturday, the day getting brighter and warmer, and the haze that obscured the view down the long back straight gradually drawing up its veil on a fascinating's day of practice. The morning's free practice session saw times improved by nearly 3/4 of a second, and set a benchmark for the kind of pace that will be necessary to win a race, with John Hopkins and Casey Stoner running consistent laps in the high 2:00 mark.

After Olivier Jacque badly gashed his arm in a crash during this afternoon's MotoGP Free Practice session, rumors have been flying concerning a possible replacement. At first, it looked like OJ could be out for several weeks, and probably a couple of races, after damaging muscles in his arm. However, after successful surgery, performed by the doctors of MotoGP's hospital-in-residence, the Clinica Mobile, the Frenchman's chances of recovery have greatly improved, after doctors succeeded in closing up the wound without requiring a skin graft.

It is almost universally accepted that after the withdrawal of the tobacco companies, sponsorship in MotoGP is currently at crisis levels, the withdrawal of Ilmor being the latest and most obvious example of its parlous state. The situation is so bad that virtually everyone involved in the sport is racking their brains looking for a solution. But the big question is, how did it get this way in the first place?

British weekly Motorcycle News has an interview with International Racing Teams Assocation and Tech 3 Yamaha boss, Hervé Poncharal which sheds an interesting light on how the present situation came about. He highlights two major causes:

Over the weekend of the Assen round of World Superbikes, Dutch regional newspaper Dagblad van het Noorden spoke to Ronald ten Kate, head of the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Superbike and Supersport team, about their plans to go to MotoGP. It's an open secret that these plans exist, but so far, Ronald ten Kate has refused to be pinned down on specifics. However, the Dutch paper was rather more successful.

The announcement the MotoGP world has been expecting since Ilmor withdrew from racing after the Qatar season opener has finally been made. Today, Mario Illien, Ilmor GP Team Principal, and Steve Miller, Managing Director, announced that the current GP team will be scaled down to a "skeleton crew", and switch the focus of the team to engine development. The pair cited problems raising sufficient sponsorship to make racing a "viable option", and announced that most of the Ilmor GP Team staff will be released from their contracts at the end of May.

Crash.net is reporting that Ilmor will make an official announcement about their future on Monday. As we reported earlier, it seems inevitable that what will be announced is a permanent withdrawal from MotoGP, at least as an official manufacturer. Ilmor was 6 million Euros short of the funds required to carry on running the factory team, but with such an obvious development deficit, that money was very hard to come by.