Yamaha signs new deal with Andrea Locatelli
The announcement follows the news that Locatelli’s team-mate and 2021 champion Toprak Razgatlioglu will leave Yamaha at the end of the current season to join rival marque BMW. A replacement for Razgatlioglu is yet to be revealed, but a new two-year deal with Locatelli means Yamaha will have at least one rider with experience of […]
The MotoGP implications of Razgatlioglu’s BMW decision
Razgatlioglu’s future announcement comes just weeks after he tested a Yamaha MotoGP bike, fuelling speculation that the Turkish rider could be in line for a grand prix move with the Japanese marque. It was a test attended by Yamaha senior management, though during the Americas Grand Prix weekend Lin Jarvis suggested Razgatlioglu’s signing would be […]
Why MotoGP races have become so chaotic
The extremely close field that currently exists in MotoGP, and the difficulty to overtake generated by the aerodynamics of the current bikes, explain the increase in aggression at the start of the races and, with that, the higher number of accidents. Properly interpreted, statistics are capable of reflecting the reality as if they were a […]
Razgatlioglu joins BMW after Yamaha departure
The news was made official on Monday afternoon, hours after the shock announcement that the Turkish rider will part ways with Yamaha at the end of the current season. Razgatlioglu’s hiring is expected to boost the fortunes of BMW, which has been unable to take the challenge to Kawasaki, Ducati and Yamaha since it returned […]
Razgatlioglu to split with Yamaha after 2023 World Superbike season
Razgatlioglu has been a mainstay on the WSBK grid since his debut in 2018 with the Kawasaki-backed Puccetti squad, with which he took his first wins in the series in 2019. For 2020, Razgatlioglu moved to Yamaha and ended its title drought dating back to Ben Spies in 2009 when he clinched the championship by […]
Bagnaia suffers partial ankle fracture but set to be fit for Italian MotoGP
The reigning MotoGP world champion clashed with Maverick Vinales in the French GP last Sunday and underwent checks at the medical centre at Le Mans which didn’t detect any injury. But having felt pain in his right leg since the crash, Bagnaia has since undergone checks at Misano’s medical centre which revealed «a small partial […]
Why Bautista’s current dominance will be giving WSBK headaches
In front of 32,000 adoring Spanish fans, Bautista lived up to pre-weekend predictions of being the favourite, securing all three wins in effortless fashion. It means he’s now won 11 of the 12 races so far held in 2023, and has given him a healthy 69-point championship lead. Bautista is always keen to explain that […]
The unwarranted Bagnaia backlash risking wider problems in MotoGP
His title-winning campaign was partly overshadowed by a drink-driving offence in Ibiza during the summer break of the 2022 season. Then at the San Marino Grand Prix, Bagnaia made a clunky defence of his use of a Dennis Rodman tribute helmet. But the latest Bagnaia-centred controversy following the French Grand Prix has been a wholly […]
Bagnaia clarifies «out of context» quotes following Le Mans MotoGP controversy
The world champion was taken out of last weekend’s French Grand Prix after an early collision with Maverick Vinales while the pair battled for third place, while moments later at the Dunlop chicane there was a scary crash involving Luca Marini and Alex Marquez. Only 13 riders made it to the chequered flag at Le […]