Yamaha commits five more years to MotoGP from 2022

HRC's 2021 factory launch event signalled Marquez's first public appearance in Repsol colours since aborting his comeback from a broken arm during last July's Andalusian Grand Prix.Marquez will be joined by 2013 Moto2 world champion Espargaro, who joins from a four-year stint with KTM from 2017-2020 and marks HRC's third different factory team rider in as many years.Honda reported two ...Keep reading

Marquez was extracted from his Marc VDS Moto2 contract and placed at the factory Honda squad for 2020 after triple MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo announced his retirement during the final race weekend of 2019.Despite an initially difficult start to his rookie season, Marquez would turn into one of Honda's leading lights, scoring the Japanese marque's only podiums with a brace of seconds ...Keep reading

The 2019 Moto2 world champion stepped up to the factory Honda squad in 2020 and was meant to partner his six-time title-winning brother Marc Marquez before he was ruled out of the campaign through injury after the Spanish Grand Prix.Alex Marquez would score Honda's only podiums of the season with a brace of seconds in France and Aragon.The younger Marquez brother had to field constant ...Keep reading

The double 125cc world champion and veteran MotoGP team boss was hospitalised with COVID-19 on 27 December, with his time in a specialist care unit in Bologna nearing two months.Gresini was placed in a coma early in the new year, but was brought out of it in January as his condition showed signs of improvement.An update towards the end of January from the Gresini team noted his condition ...Keep reading

The COVID-19 pandemic has already forced MotoGP to alter its plans for the start of the 2021 season, with the Argentine and US Grands Prix postponed and a second Qatar race added, as well as round three now taking place in Portugal.February's Sepang test was also cancelled due to the escalating virus situation in Malaysia.Despite the pandemic entering a second wave of infections across ...Keep reading

Morbidelli is the only one of Yamaha's four riders in 2021 not to have factory-supported current-spec machinery, with the Italian remaining on the lesser 'A-spec' M1.This is despite winning three of Yamaha's seven grand prix victories last year and finishing the campaign as its top rider in second place in the standings, 13 points off title-winner Joan Mir and four places clear of Maverick ...Keep reading

Vinales enters his fifth season with the factory Yamaha squad in 2021 coming off the back of a largely difficult 2020 campaign.Though a winner at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Vinales only scored two further podiums and ended up sixth in the standings as the leading 2020 M1 rider - with Franco Morbidelli on the lesser 'A-spec' Yamaha just 13 points from the title in second.Vinales in the ...Keep reading

Three-time MotoGP race winner Quartararo steps up to the factory Yamaha squad from Petronas SRT for this season in a straight swap with SRT-bound Rossi.During their seven years together at the factory Yamaha squad, Rossi and Lorenzo developed a fierce rivalry, which led to a wall being erected in the garage to split their teams and culminated in a bitter fallout while contesting the 2015 ...Keep reading

Yamaha signed Fabio Quartararo to take Rossi's place for 2021 at the start of last year, with the veteran Italian remaining a factory-backed rider with a switch to SRT.Vinales feels Yamaha has lacked unity within its ranks "for the last three years" and, now there is no longer the division within the garage of having "Valentino's team" and "my team", believes the Japanese marque can be more ...Keep reading

For the first time since his return from Ducati in 2013, nine-times grand prix world champion Valentino Rossi will not form a part of the Yamaha's factory line-up.Eight-time MotoGP race winner Vinales - who joined Yamaha from Suzuki in 2017 - remains with the squad, with three-time race winner Quartararo making the step up from Petronas SRT.Yamaha's livery is largely similar to that it ran ...Keep reading

The factory Ducati outcast has joined Tech3 for 2021 after signing directly with KTM, and will ride as a factory-supported rider at Herve Poncharal's squad.The double MotoGP race winner signed with KTM before it demonstrated its race-winning form during the coronavirus-truncated 2020 season, but says he knew KTM's potential following the step forward it had made with its RC16 in 2019.When ...Keep reading

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MotoGP has implemented a freeze on engine development for 2021, with all but KTM (as it lost concessions in 2020) and Aprilia (because it still has concessions) racing this season with last year's motors.Normal update regulations outside of aerodynamic fairings and engines will still apply, but the stability in the rules will likely mean bike development won't be ...Keep reading

Eight of 2020's 14 grands prix were won by riders at satellite teams, with Fabio Quartararo and Petronas SRT team-mate Franco Morbidelli responsible for three each, while Tech3's Miguel Oliveira won twice.Both Oliveria and Quartararo were riding factory-supported machinery, while 2020 runner-up Morbidelli was on what Yamaha dubs its 'A-spec' M1 - which is essentially a 2019 bike.In 2021 ...Keep reading

Due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, MotoGP's six manufacturers agreed on a total freeze on development of homologated parts for the 2020 season, with those restrictions on engine and aerodynamic updates remaining in place for 2021 for all non-concession runners.KTM started 2020 as a concession manufacturer due to its lack of dry MotoGP podiums previously, but lost that status ...Keep reading

KTM scored three wins across its fourth year in the premier class last season, with Binder securing the Austrian marque's first MotoGP win in just his third race at the Czech Grand Prix.PLUS: Why Binder was destined to lead KTM in MotoGPTech3's Miguel Oliveira - who is now Binder's team-mate at the factory squad - added two more to this tally at the Styrian and Portuguese GPs.Though it ...Keep reading

This season will mark KTM's fifth in the premier class having made its debut back in 2017, and will be its third supplying machinery to Tech3.Last year proved to be a banner season for KTM, with rookie Brad Binder securing the marque its maiden MotoGP victory at the Czech Grand Prix, with Miguel Oliveira adding two more to its tally with Tech3 at the Styrian and Portuguese GPs.PLUS: Why ...Keep reading

Marquez broke his right humerus in a crash during the latter stages of last year's Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez and immediately underwent surgery to have a plate fitted to the bone.He attempted a comeback just days later at the second Jerez race, but had to abandon it after qualifying as the strain of his efforts damaged the metalwork.PLUS: The true Marquez blunder that caused lasting ...Keep reading

In 2016, Dorna signed a five-year agreement with MotoGP's independent teams running from 2017-2021 safeguarding the signed-on outfits for that duration and ensuring (among other things) increased financial support.The IRTA was founded in 1986 and has acted as a voice for grand prix racing's teams in MotoGP's decision-making process.This latest agreement will continue to strengthen Dorna's ...Keep reading