MotoGP

Bagnaia crashed out of last year’s European GP at the Ricardo Tormo circuit having qualified 17th, while he faded to 11th from eighth on the grid in the following Valencia GP. This followed a trend of poor form at the Spanish venue throughout the 2021 MotoGP championship runner-up’s grand prix career, with a broken collarbone

After wet conditions curtailed the top lap times in the first practice session, dry weather saw Jack Miller claim the fastest time of the day on his factory Ducati, beating Honda’s Pol Espargaro by just 0.012s after the Spaniard suffered a late fall in FP2. Francesco Bagnaia grabbed third place on the sister factory Ducati

The three-time MotoGP race winner joined Yamaha at the start of 2021 as its official test rider following his retirement from full-time competition at the end of last season. Crutchlow replaced three-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo in the role, the Spaniard having briefly returned to the marque with whom he won all three of his

The nine-time grand prix motorcycle world champion stands at the gates of his final MotoGP race in this weekend’s Valencia Grand Prix, as he gets set to call time on a truly glittering 26-season career. The 42-year-old will make his 432nd grand prix start this weekend having amassed 115 victories – 89 of which in

After 26 seasons of grand prix racing, having made his 125cc debut back in 1996, MotoGP legend Rossi will bring his illustrious career to an end this weekend in Valencia on his 432nd race start. Winning nine grand prix world titles – seven of which in the premier class – Rossi has tallied up 115

The Spaniard made a winning start to 2021 in the Qatar GP on the factory Yamaha, but struggled from that point on, with the relationship between both parties breaking down irreparably over the ensuing months. Vinales was dropped by Yamaha mid-season following a suspension from the Austrian Grand Prix after he was found to have

Mir emerged as the most consistent force of a chaotic 2020 MotoGP season, which saw nine riders win grands prix in a COVID-19-shortened 14-race calendar. The Suzuki rider won at the European Grand Prix in Valencia a week before he would be crowned world champion, but has struggled in 2021 in what turned out to

With the majority of the biggest prizes in MotoGP decided, focus will turn to nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi’s final race before retiring following an illustrious career. While Rossi will be hoping for a final flourish, with it marking his last chance to secure that elusive 200th career grand prix podium, the familiar frontrunners will

Petrucci will carry the colours of Tech3 – the squad with which he raced for in MotoGP this year – on his KTM 450 Rally bike as he makes a switch to cross-country rallying after a career spent largely in circuit racing. The 31-year-old has already completed a test on desert terrain under the watchful

Bagnaia was untouchable in Portugal on Sunday as he swept to a commanding win from a fifth consecutive pole position, in a race that was red-flagged following a nasty-looking collision between KTM riders Miguel Oliveira and Iker Lecuona. Fortunately, Oliveira escaped unharmed. Last year’s champion Joan Mir equalled his best finish of the season for Suzuki with

The LCR rider remained a factory-backed Honda rider for 2021 despite being moved out of the works team, but – like all Honda riders – has found the going tough this season. Registering six DNFs across the campaign so far and previously scoring a best finish of sixth in the wet French GP, having mustered

The Honda rider crashed during an off-road training session last Saturday and suffered what HRC described as a mild concussion. Having still been experiencing symptoms when he went for a check-up ahead of the Algarve Grand Prix, the decision was made to bench Marquez for MotoGP’s return to Portugal for a second time this season

Bagnaia made these comments in response to the incident involving Darryn Binder in Sunday’s Moto3 Algarve Grand Prix, in which the MotoGP-bound South African controversially wiped out title hopeful Dennis Foggia on the last lap while trying to overtake another rider. Binder – younger brother of double MotoGP race winner Brad – will make his

Miller was overtaken by the charging LCR Honda of Marquez on lap 12 of 23 in Sunday’s red-flagged Algarve race, but finally found a way through again on lap 21 when Marquez ran wide. The Ducati rider suffered several moments in the latter stages when he reclaimed third from Marquez, with the Spaniard right on

The outgoing world champion endured a torrid couple of races at Misano and COTA last month, and admitted he was “mentally collapsed” after the Emilia Romagna GP – which forced him to take a full week off from training. In Portugal last weekend Mir enjoyed his strongest weekend of the season, qualifying on the front

The Yamaha rider struggled to seventh in Saturday’s qualifying at the Algarve GP and couldn’t make much inroads from there, despite feeling like he had pace to match race winner Francesco Bagnaia. Quartararo would run as high as sixth, but got stuck behind the Pramac Ducati of Jorge Martin and couldn’t overtake owing to the

Bagnaia’s 2021 title hopes came to an end late on in the previous Emilia Romagna GP when he crashed out of the lead, with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo emerging from the Misano weekend as the world champion. The Ducati rider put those demons behind him to qualify on pole in Portugal with a new lap record

Not since his final Moto3 race in Valencia back in 2017 has Mir actually qualified on the front row for a grand prix – though did start third at last year’s Styrian GP after a penalty for Johann Zarco promoted him from fourth. Enjoying a strong weekend in Portugal so far, Mir carried this into

The Ducati rider claimed his fifth consecutive pole position with another flawless qualifying performance to take top spot by 0.104s from team-mate Jack Miller. For a second straight round it was a tricky qualifying for world champion Fabio Quartararo, who could only manage seventh place on the factory Yamaha after a set-up change failed to

Despite clear skies bathed in bright sunshine, conditions were cold for the third 45-minute session of the Algarve weekend. This meant lap time improvements on the combined order were few and far between for most of FP3. Suzuki’s Joan Mir was the first major improver on the combined order, the 2020 world champion moving up

The factory Yamaha rider celebrated clinching the 2021 riders’ world title by topping both Friday practice sessions at Portimao – a circuit he won at back in April – edging Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia by 0.132s at the end of FP2. Jack Miller on the sister factory Ducati claimed third place in both Friday practice sessions,

Suzuki’s Joan Mir set the early pace in FP2 with a 1m41.495s, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami edging ahead of him with a 1m40.985s just over six minutes into the session. Moments later Nakagami’s team-mate Alex Marquez moved to the top of the order with a 1m40.862s, which put him ninth on the combined times which

Nine-time grand prix motorcycle world champion Rossi will call time on his illustrious 26-season career at the conclusion of next week’s Valencia finale, but is likely to end his final MotoGP season without a podium. Rossi hasn’t won a grand prix since Assen in 2017 and his appearances on the rostrum have declined in recent

The Yamaha rider made history in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix two weeks ago when he became France’s first MotoGP world champion after finishing the Misano race fourth while main rival Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of the lead late on. The 22-year-old also ended a drought for Yamaha dating back to 2015 when Jorge Lorenzo

The 2021 campaign enters its home stretch this weekend with the Algarve Grand Prix, before the Valencia GP next week brings the curtain down on the season. Yamaha’s Quartararo has already been crowned world champion, after finishing fourth in the previous Emilia Romagna GP, while Bagnaia crashed from the lead to seal the Frenchman his

Quartararo clinched the 2021 crown in last week’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to become France’s first MotoGP world champion and end Yamaha’s drought extending back to 2015. The Yamaha rider won five times across 2021 with two rounds still remaining, and is the only rider to have scored points in every grand prix so far.

Honda issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon noting Marquez crashed during an off-road training session and suffered a concussion last Saturday. Still feeling unwell, he has been advised to miss this weekend’s penultimate round of the 2021 MotoGP season in Portugal. The brief statement from HRC read: “This past Saturday Marc Marquez, while preparing for

Fabio Quartararo sealed the 2021 MotoGP world title last time out at Misano after championship rival Francesco Bagnaia crashed out while leading. It meant regardless of where the French rider finished he sealed a maiden world crown with two rounds to spare.  Marc Marquez won the Emilia Romagna GP, leading a Repsol Honda 1-2 from

The Sepang Racing Team will withdraw from all three classes of the MotoGP world championship at the end of the 2021 season and will be rebranded as RNF Racing. RNF will continue to operate in just the MotoGP class only, with Razali and current SRT team manager Wilco Zeelenberg at the helm. It is understood

Look at Quartararo’s results from 2021 – five wins and five other podiums, scoring points in every single race – and his title win looks like a just end to a fantastic campaign for the Yamaha rider. But take a step back and observe Quartararo’s path to the 2021 world title, it further highlights just