MotoGP 2022

[Gerard C]

El Diablo training at Rocco's Ranch. En route for a second title?

[GORDON STREETER]

2022 MotoGP World Championship - Final rider line-up ?


Factory Teams
Repsol Honda:
Marc Marquez (End of 2024)
Pol Espargaro (End of 2022)

Monster Yamaha:
Franco Morbidelli (End of 2023)
Fabio Quartararo (End of 2022)

Lenovo Ducati:
Jack Miller (End of 2022)
Francesco Bagnaia (End of 2022)

Suzuki:
Alex Rins (End of 2022)
Joan Mir (End of 2022)

Aprilia:
Aleix Espargaro (End of 2022)
Maverick Vinales (End of 2022)
Lorenzo Savadori (End of 2021)

Red Bull KTM:
Miguel Oliveira (End of 2022)
Brad Binder (End of 2024)

Independent Teams
Gresini Ducati:
Fabio di Giannantonio* (End of 2022)
Enea Bastianini (End of 2022)

After splitting from Aprilia, Gresini returns to satellite status. Both riders will use GP21s.

WithU RNF Yamaha Team:
Andrea Dovizioso (End of 2022, Yamaha contract)
Darryn Binder* (Yamaha contract, end of 2022, option for 2023)
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha contract, end of 2021)


With Rossi retiring, Morbidelli released from the second year of his SRT contract to join the Factory team in place of Vinales, Petronas withdrawing as title sponsor and the Sepang circuit no longer involved in team ownership, the 'reborn' RNF squad will run Andrea Dovizioso on a Factory-spec M1 for 2022 with Darryn Binder stepping up from Moto3 as his team-mate.

Tech3 KTM:
Remy Gardner* (KTM contract, end of 2022)
Raul Fernandez* (KTM contract, end of 2022)
Danilo Petrucci (KTM contract, end of 2021)
Iker Lecuona (KTM contract, end of 2021)


LCR Honda:
Alex Marquez (HRC contract, end of 2022)
Takaaki Nakagami (HRC contract, end of 2021 'and beyond')

Pramac Ducati:
Johann Zarco (Ducati contract, end of 2022)
Jorge Martin (Ducati contract, end of 2022)

Both riders on the latest GP22s.

VR46 Ducati:
Luca Marini (end of 2022?)
Marco Bezzecchi* (end of 2022?)

Valentino Rossi's team gets its own grid places for 2022, effectively taking over the Avintia Ducati spots. VR46 will use Ducati machinery, with Luca Marini on the latest GP22 and rookie Marco Bezzecchi on the GP21.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

El Diablo training at Rocco's Ranch. En route for a second title?

Motocross is always a popular training method for MotoGP riders, both before and during the season. Flat track is also a common way for the riders to get themselves tuned into riding a motorcycle. And at Rocco’s Ranch, a stone’s throw away from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, France’s first premier class World Champion enjoyed both.

[S griffin]

Can't wait for the season to start. So many questions to be answered. Can Marquez return to his previous heights? He seems to have recovered from that vision problem at least. Can Fabio do it again? He has every chance to do that. However I wouldn't be surprised to see another new champion come the end of the year

[GORDON STREETER]

Alex Rins was one of the MotoGP riders having a day out at my local track (Almeria) a couple of weeks back, this is him riding a GSX-R1000R on the day

[justracing]

Great pic Gordon, did you take this? and thanks for the entry summary above.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by justracing

Great pic Gordon, did you take this? and thanks for the entry summary above.

No it's not one of mine, there were a lot of "snappers" up there with dustbin sized lenses
Obviously the list that I uploaded may not be 100% correct but it gives a very good idea as to who is riding in the teams.
I still have reservations about Marquez, although his official site 3 days ago states "Marc Marquez has been cleared to make his on-track return with the new Honda RC213V and the Repsol Honda Team at the Sepang Test on February 05 2022, the nerve damage to his right eye was the same as he suffered in 2011 when he was off a racing motorcycle for 4.5 months.
Fortunately after two months of total rest Marquez was cleared to make a motocross return earlier this month, that then led to a track day at Portimao on an RC213V-S to test his vision at high speeds followed a few days later by an outing on a CBR600RR at Aragon."
So we will wait in anticipation!

[justracing]

Impressive background information!

[GORDON STREETER]

This years MotoGP Ducati livery

[S griffin]

I see they’ve gone for a darker red. Reminds of the livery Ferrari went for in their 1000th race a couple of years ago

[GORDON STREETER]

I hope the Yamaha will go as good as it looks this Year

[GORDON STREETER]

Gardner and Fernandez surely have their work cut out for them at KTM
In a little over a month, everyone’s favourite motorcycle racing series will once again open up another season of adrenaline-pumping, butt-clenching, nail-biting racing. The 2022 MotoGP season, scheduled to open in Qatar on March 6, 2022, is shaping up to be one of the most epic seasons yet. With several racers stepping up to the big leagues, new teams in the mix, and of course, a new defending champion.

[GORDON STREETER]

This is the bike that the Aprilia team will be using this year. The team led by Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales will show their RS-GP on February 10.
I just hope that it will be competitive and Vinales can show some of his old form.

[GORDON STREETER]

The Suzuki team will be using the same 2 riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins as before. Last year the bikes (although they were as usual very good towards the end of the race) didn't perform as well as the previous year where they were the champions.
Hopefully they will be up the sharp end again this year

[GORDON STREETER]

After having their struggles well documented last season, the new year offers Honda a fresh start as they approach the coming season with cautious optimism. While there were highlights, namely the return of Marc Marquez to the top step on three occasions, 2021 proved a largely underwhelming year for a side that has often set the standards in MotoGP, but a return to form seems to be on the cards. However a completely "new" bike may or may not come up with the goods for Honda, but no doubt having spent a fortune on it they could spring a surprise and run away from the opposition like they did for a few years especially if Marquez is fit and can regain his previous amazing form.
I haven't seen a picture of the new bike in it's colours but this is one of Stefan Bradl testing it at Jerez

[GORDON STREETER]

So bring it on

[S griffin]

At least we shouldn't have any duplicate races this time

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by S griffin

At least we shouldn't have any duplicate races this time

Hopefully not, there are 2 that are within striking distance for me, the one in May is about 300 miles in Jerez and 230 miles in November in Valencia. I don't know yet what one I might go to but it could be the latter as it's nearer for me and it will be cooler being further north and later in the year, also it's the last one of the season !

[Dani Filth]

been to Valencia MotoGP twice already .. it's a nice venue

[justracing]

Not MotoGP but we got roasted at Jerez in 1990 for the F1 GP, it's along way from anywhere!

[GORDON STREETER]

Test times from Sepang day 1, interesting but I think I'll wait until Sundays test is all over until I make any sort of comment
1
Aleix ESPARGARO

Aprilia Racing

APRILIA

1'58.371

2

Maverick VINALES

Aprilia Racing

APRILIA

1'58.384

0.013

3

Alex RINS

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR

SUZUKI

1'58.471

0.100

4

Enea BASTIANINI

Gresini Racing MotoGP

DUCATI

1'58.638

0.267

5

Johann ZARCO

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1'58.946

0.575

6

Fabio QUARTARARO

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

YAMAHA

1'59.002

0.631

7

Joan MIR

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR

SUZUKI

1'59.067

0.696

8

Marc MARQUEZ

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1'59.287

0.916

9

Pol ESPARGARO

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1'59.353

0.982

10

Marco BEZZECCHI

Mooney VR46 Racing Team

DUCATI

1'59.468

1.097

11

Cal CRUTCHLOW

Yamaha Factory

YAMAHA

1'59.558

1.187

12

Takaaki NAKAGAMI

LCR Honda IDEMITSU

HONDA

1'59.634

1.263

13

Raul FERNANDEZ

Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'59.682

1.311

14

Brad BINDER

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'59.784 49

1.413

15

Alex MARQUEZ

LCR Honda CASTROL

HONDA

1'59.913

1.542

16

Miguel OLIVEIRA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'59.945

1.574

17

Jorge MARTIN

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1'59.949

1.578

18

Luca MARINI

Mooney VR46 Racing Team

DUCATI

1'59.966

1.595

19

Francesco BAGNAIA

Ducati Lenovo Team

DUCATI

2'00.027

1.656

20

Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO

Gresini Racing MotoGP

DUCATI

2'00.047

1.676

21

Franco MORBIDELLI

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

YAMAHA

2'00.107

1.736

22

Jack MILLER

Ducati Lenovo Team

DUCATI

2'00.177

1.806

23

Andrea DOVIZIOSO

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP

YAMAHA

2'00.342

1.971

24

Remy GARDNER

Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing

KTM

2'00.470

2.099

25

Darryn BINDER

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP

YAMAHA

2'00.818

2.447

26

Sylvain GUINTOLI

Suzuki Test Team

SUZUKI

2'01.390

3.019

27

Lorenzo SAVADORI

Aprilia Racing Test Team

APRILIA

2'04.385

6.014

-
Takuya TSUDA

Suzuki Test Team

SUZUKI

[GORDON STREETER]

The 2022 Honda is a radical evolution from its predecessor as it seeks to create a bike with better rear traction.
This has seemingly made the bike more rear-biased, with Marquez admitting on Saturday after two crashes that he doesn’t understand the front end of the new bike right now and is having to “sacrifice” his strong point of corner entry.

[GORDON STREETER]

The two-day Official MotoGP Sepang Test has come to a conclusion and at the end of proceedings, Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) has become the fastest-ever rider to lap the Malaysian circuit. The ‘Beast’ set a scorching 1:58.131 on Day 2, beating Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) by a slender 0.026s as we witness 18 riders separated by just 0.8s.

Very heavy afternoon rain disrupted the action in Sepang as the factories only got a few hours in the morning to continue their testing programmes. Some riders ventured out in the wet conditions, but as expected, the timing screens remained unchanged from the early flurry of rapid laps.

[GORDON STREETER]

These are the final times for day two (click to blow up) the second and final MotoGP pre-season test will be held at Indonesia's new Mandalika circuit from February 11-13, where rain is also forecast.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

These are the final times for day two (click to blow up) the second and final MotoGP pre-season test will be held at Indonesia's new Mandalika circuit from February 11-13, where rain is also forecast.

Wet season from Nov - March its a bit predictable to be wet on a regular basis in Feb.

I guess the key is how good is the drainage at Mandalika. If the standing water from a deluge drains well the track will dry quickly. If it doesnt.....
I recall Sepang, running in March for F1 changed to Oct but cant remember if that was weather related or if they delayed from March to allow drainage improvements on the track to be carried out.
Also traditionally it is 'more likely' to be wet at the end of the day rather than early.