Provisional calendar just announced today
2021 Provisional FIM MotoGP World Championship Calendar
Date Grand Prix Circuit
28 March Qatar* Losail
11 April Argentina Termas de Rio Hondo
18 April Americas Circuit of The Americas, Austin TX
02 May Spain Jerez
16 May France Le Mans
30 May Italy Mugello
06 June Catalunya Barcelona
20 June Germany Sachsenring
27 June Netherlands Assen
11 July Finland** KymiRing
GP Date TBD To be decided Circuit to be decided
15 August Austria Red Bull Ring-Spielberg
29 August Great Britain Silverstone
12 September Aragón MotorLand Aragón
19 September San Marino Misano
03 October Japan Twin Ring Motegi
10 October Thailand Chang International Circuit
24 October Australia Philip Island
31 October Malaysia Sepang International Circuit
14 November Valencia Valenciana Ricardo Tormo
Reserve Grand Prix Venues:
Portugal Algarve International Circuit
Indonesia** Mandalika International Street Circuit
Russia Igora Drive Circuit
A lot of line up changes for next season (I think I captured most of them)...
Rossi to Petronas Yamaha from Factory Yamaha
Quartararo to Factory Yamaha from Petronas Yamaha
Crutchlow to Yamaha test rider from LCR Honda
Miller to Factory Ducati from Pramac Ducati
Bagnaia to Factory Ducati from Pramac Ducati
Dovizioso from Factory Ducati to "MotoGP sabbatical"
Zarco to Pramac Ducati from Esponsorama Ducati
Martin to Pramac Ducati from Moto2
Bastianini to Esponsorama Ducati from Moto2
Marini to Esponsorama Ducati from Moto2
P. Espargaro to Repsol Honda from Factory KTM
A. Marquez to LCR Honda from Respol Honda
Olivera to Factory KTM from Tech3 KTM
Petrucci to Tech3 KTM from Factory Ducati
Iannone to 4-yr competition ban from Factory Aprilia
Smith or Savadori to Factory Aprilia from Aprilia test rider
Sabbatical sounds like soft language for retirement. Does Dovi think any team will hold a seat for him? There are too many hungry young guns fighting for a ride for that, I think. He's immensely talented, but nobody takes a year off from the premier class and comes back successfully (prepared to eat crow if I'm wrong).
Dovi turned down an offer with Aprilia (as several other riders did). His plan is to sit out a year and return to MotoGP in 2022, but I don't think there will be any open seats in a year. I'd say he's as good as retired. :twocents:
He's been fairly quiet about it. His reasons mostly being about focusing on family.
That's cool and all, but there has to be some other large underlying issue. He's not dumb, he knows that he risks never returning. So whatever is going on, he's decided it's more important to take the year while potentially never getting a ride again.
Suzuki pull in Monster sponsorship. Yamaha is in shambles.
https://www.mcnews.com.au/monster-energy-take-up-suzuki-motogp-sponsorship/?fbclid=IwAR3BQwv28xcpTDQ1uMnrL_LiKqKBgNzdvQ-AuyDV99XzOniSg7koygWLG4c
True Yamaha is a mess, but both Yamaha and Suzuki will be Monster sponsored next year. Yamaha did not lose their backing
No Brno round next year due to track upgrade issues
Wonder how the sudden departure of Davide Brivio to F1 is going to impact the Suzuki team this season?
The 2021 season is already off to a bad start. The first test of the year in Sepang has been cancelled.
It's tough to say.
Renault axed their lead guy as they grew leaps and bounds performance wise. They also brought back probably the least recognized (superb) talent of the last 20 years to drive.
Davide must be a real talent. Either that or Alonso is about get screwed again by stepping into an under developed Alpine.
That said, I've always rooted for Suzuki in MotoGP. It's fairly late in the game for the departure to mean much. The program is well underway for 2021. Or so we would hope! It's not about how you apply the brake, it's about how you release the brake. This design philosophy is well known in motorsport, so we hope the transition is a smooth one.
Not good. COTA is postponed with no specific date provided. I'm betting that it gets axed again.
From Dorna today: "Unfortunately, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns and complications have resulted in the postponement of both the Argentina GP and the Americas GP until the last quarter of 2021."
Updated 2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship Schedule (January 22):
Date Venue, Country
March 26-28 Losail International Circuit, Qatar*
April 2-4 Losail International Circuit, Qatar*
April 16-18 Algarve International Circuit, Portugal
April 30-May 2 Circuito de Jerez, Spain
May 14-16 Le Mans, France
May 28-30 Autodromo del Mugello, Italy
June 4-6 Barcelona – Catalunya, Spain
June 18-20 Sachsenring, Germany
June 25-27 TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands
July 9-11 KymiRing, Finland **
August 13-15 Red Bull Ring – Spielberg, Austria
August 27-29 Silverstone Circuit, UK
September 10-12 MotorLand Aragón, Spain
September 17-19 Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, San Marino
October 1-3 Twin Ring Motegi, Japan
October 8-10 Chang International Circuit, Thailand
October 22-24 Phillip Island, Australia
October 29-31 Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
November 12-14 Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Spain
Postponed Grands Prix to be rescheduled subject to the pandemic:
Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina
Circuit of the Americas, U.S.A.
Reserve Grand Prix Venues:
Mandalika International Street Circuit, Indonesia**
* Evening Race
** Subject to Homologation
Argintina's circuit has been destroyed in a fire.
Quote from: sav0r on February 06, 2021, 12:03:37 PM
Argintina's circuit has been destroyed in a fire.
As if there wasn't enough bad news already. Well that really sucks. So that round is definitely not happening.
I would say there are pretty good odds that these rounds don't happen in 2021 and we have a EU/Middle East-only season again:
October 1-3 Twin Ring Motegi, Japan
October 8-10 Chang International Circuit, Thailand
October 22-24 Phillip Island, Australia
October 29-31 Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
(TBA - Q4) Circuit of the Americas, USA
Racing starts this weekend! :nana:
Bradl will be subbing for MM93 who has decided to sit out the first 2 rounds in Qatar.
Moto2 should be exciting with 2 Americans in the mix! :patriot:
My son (five years old) and I are going to be watching F1 and MGP all weekend. Last weekend we watched the Sebring 12H. It's been very cathartic to have racing back.
My GP videopass was just renewed. Let the good times roll! I have a feeling I'm not going to get many weekend projects done until October.
I streamed it too. If the Ducati's can work out their tire issues they will be in great shape.
That Launch device was insane!
MM93 returning next weekend at Portugal.
Pretty great track for a return.
Fascinating manufacturers battle right now.
In Portugal there were 6 manufacturers in the top 7. Yamaha being the only repeat in there. Had Rins not crashed, there would have been two Suzuki's, but either way, amazing spread.
The last 3-4 laps of Moto2 was great! As ws the final lap of Moto3! :clap:
Beaubier has a new crew chief. American Racing has hired a very experienced veteran to work with #6. Stuart Shenton who worked with Schwantz, Spencer, Gibernau, Hopkins, and many others is now taking over. It's definitely going to help having a guy with 40 yrs experience in the paddock.
The Finnish GP has been cancelled. It will be replaced by the Styria GP in Austria so there will be two rounds at the Red Bull Ring like last year.
July 9-11 KymiRing, Finland **
Aug 6-8 Red Bull Ring, Austria
Austria gets two F1 races and two MotoGp races. Damn, it would be nice to be in that part of Europe.
Bummer day in Moto3 yesterday.
RIP Jason Dupasquier #50
Circuit of the Americas is back on the calendar Oct 1-3! :clap:
Quote from: Djg8493 on June 23, 2021, 01:46:27 PM
Circuit of the Americas is back on the calendar Oct 1-3! :clap:
Yep, and hotel rates are already ridiculous, many are sold out.
EDIT: while I was researching rates I went back to select one that I liked and it was sold out (this happened in less than an hour) :bang:
This weekend's Assen TT will feature an American on a Yamaha in MotoGP! :patriot: :cheerleader:
Gerloff is subbing for the injured Morbidelli (Although it sucks that he gets stuck with the same outdated 2019 bike that Franco has been dealing with)
Quote from: SoCal250 on June 23, 2021, 02:17:04 PM
This weekend's Assen TT will feature an American on a Yamaha in MotoGP! :patriot: :cheerleader:
Gerloff is subbing for the injured Morbidelli (Although it sucks that he gets stuck with the same outdated 2019 bike that Franco has been dealing with)
I didn't read that far, that is awesome news. Let's hope he does as well as he tested last year. I agree on the outdated bike, it will be interesting to see how he handles it compared to Mornidelli, I really thought he would have a better year.
It's apparently SWSX is also that weekend...50K+ people heading to town for music... :metal:
Quote from: SoCal250 on June 23, 2021, 01:50:10 PM
Quote from: Djg8493 on June 23, 2021, 01:46:27 PM
Circuit of the Americas is back on the calendar Oct 1-3! :clap:
Yep, and hotel rates are already ridiculous, many are sold out.
EDIT: while I was researching rates I went back to select one that I liked and it was sold out (this happened in less than an hour) :bang:
Quote from: hayduke on June 24, 2021, 10:23:43 AM
Quote from: SoCal250 on June 23, 2021, 01:50:10 PM
Quote from: Djg8493 on June 23, 2021, 01:46:27 PM
Circuit of the Americas is back on the calendar Oct 1-3! :clap:
Yep, and hotel rates are already ridiculous, many are sold out.
EDIT: while I was researching rates I went back to select one that I liked and it was sold out (this happened in less than an hour) :bang:
It's apparently SWSX is also that weekend...50K+ people heading to town for music... :metal:
Well that sucks! No wonder. It's actually the Austin City Limits festival. SXSW was in March
Hotel rooms are hard to find close to downtown and very expensive. Rental cars are in short supply and double the normal price. Ugh. Maybe I won't go this year (even though I've had tickets since Nov 2019)
Another schedule change...
Australia is now cancelled, so a a second round at Portimao has been added for Nov
And Malaysia is moved up 1 week earlier.
Bummer about Australia. Everybody was predicting that cancellation a week ago, so it's not a surprise, and while the track isn't great there is a great racing heritage in Aus.
Portimao is a kickass track though, so it could be worse.
Yep there had been rumors going around that Phillip Island wasn't going to happen due to travel restrictions. You're right, not really a surprise. So no exploding seagulls this year.
I just hope nothing happens with Austin again (unless they want to move it 1 week earlier so it doesn't conflict with Austin City Limits)
2021 Thai GP cancelled
"A replacement event is currently under consideration and any updates regarding a possible substitute will be published as soon as available."
I would bet that Sepang gets cancelled too. Latest news is Malaysia has pandemic issues like Japan and Thailand. That will leave the US as the only flyaway event.
Crutchlow will ride for Petronas Yamaha at the next 3 rounds while Morbidelli recovers from his knee surgery.
Really strange seeing Crutchlow in Petronas leathers. Trying to get used it it.
But that's not as odd as seeing Pedrosa in the paddock again, and now wearing Red Bull KTM colors!
At Styria...Early race fireball in T3 and a subsequent red flag.
(sorry for the crappy photos, they're pics of the TV)
.
Yea, this was the same corner with all the drama last year. We were wondering if the wall affected visibility of the down bike on the track?
Classic post-race comment from Crutchlow about the Red Bull Ring; "...it's a shit track."
On a positive note, there were 5 different manufacturers in the top 5! That doesn't happen often.
It really isn't all that great of track. I think it's especially bad for bikes.
The drama and train wreck that is Vinales in 2021 continues. I wonder what the "unexplained irregular operation" actually was? Obviously pretty serious if they pulled a rider and bike from the grid!
from MotoGP.com
Yamaha suspends and withdraws Viñales from Austrian GP
Due to the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle in the Styria race, Viñales won't be riding at the Red Bull Ring
Yamaha regrets to announce that Maverick Viñales' entry to this weekend's Austrian MotoGP™ event has been withdrawn by the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team.
The absence follows the suspension of the rider by Yamaha due to the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend's Styria MotoGP™ race.
Yamaha's decision follows an in-depth analysis of telemetry and data over the last few days.
Yamaha's conclusion is that the rider's actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP™ race. The rider will not be replaced at the Austrian GP.
Decisions regarding the future races will be taken after a more detailed analysis of the situation and further discussions between Yamaha and the rider.
This Vinales saga is really something. The behind the scenes stuff must be wild. The dude looked to be primed for a WC at some point.
Apparently, this is the current assumption as to why he was suspended. I'm sure there's more to the story, although we may never know the full extent of it because a lot of it will likely remain within the team. :pop:
"...on the final lap, the OnBoard images show Viñales causing the bike to hit the rev limiter on the exit of Turn 8 before he pulled into pitlane, where again he hit the rev limiter on his YZR-M1 on two occasions. In coming into pitlane on the last lap, Viñales didn't cross the line to finish the race."
The guy needs to grow up.
Word is that after Vinales was doing so well at the beginning of the race that when it was red flagged he told his team not to change anything because the bike was good. However, they installed a new clutch and changed the rear tire against his wishes. Then at the start of the warm-up lap for start #2 Maverick stalled the bike and was forced to start from the rear of the field.
His father even called out the team in some post-race tweets. Angel said the behavior of Yamaha "was shameful" and that they were trying to sabotage his son's bike because he is leaving.
Today's rumor is that Vinales is probably going to be suspended for the rest of the season
Austria 2 was a crazy race! Pretty exciting :clap:
I missed yesterday's race! Hope to see the next race on 8/29. I don't have a DVR. If I miss the race when it's broadcast, that's it I don't get to see it.
Quote from: Hawaii-Mike on August 16, 2021, 01:49:08 PM
I missed yesterday's race! Hope to see the next race on 8/29. I don't have a DVR. If I miss the race when it's broadcast, that's it I don't get to see it.
Mike, check Youtube. Races are usually posted there.
Epic race for sure. One for the history books.
Quote from: SoCal250 on July 21, 2021, 02:16:41 PM
2021 Thai GP cancelled
"A replacement event is currently under consideration and any updates regarding a possible substitute will be published as soon as available."
I would bet that Sepang gets cancelled too. Latest news is Malaysia has pandemic issues like Japan and Thailand. That will leave the US as the only flyaway event.
Dorna just announced that the Malaysian GP has been cancelled. That leaves Austin as the only remaining flyaway race, which puts it in big jeopardy of being axed too. Not good!
From Motorsport.com:
"
At present, the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin is still set to go ahead on October 3.
However, the COVID situation has reached a dire juncture Austin, with latest reports stating Austin has broken the record in the region for most patients in intensive care units with COVID-related illness."
From MotoGP.com:
"
MotoGP™ will return to Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from the 22nd to the 24th of October, the weekend previously scheduled for the Malaysian GP, for a second Grand Prix at the classic Italian track."
Remaining Rounds:
29 August United Kingdom - Silverstone
12 September Spain - Aragon
19 September San Marino - Misano
3 October United States - Circuit of the Americas
24 October San Marino - Misano
07 November Portugal - Algarve
14 November Spain - Valencia
TBA TBA
Quote from: SoCal250 on August 13, 2021, 12:38:00 PM
Today's rumor is that Vinales is probably going to be suspended for the rest of the season
Vinales is done at Yamaha. Yamaha has ended his 2021 contract and parted ways.
Yamaha will have a couple Brits racing at the next round. Crutchlow will be riding Vinales' bike at the British GP and Jake Dixon will fill in for Morbidelli on the SRT bike.
Big news announced yesterday from Yamaha.
Dovi has been signed to replace Morbidelli from the Misano #1 race in mid-Sept until the end of the season on the satellite team...And for 2022!
Morbidelli will move up to the Factory team to fill the Vinales vacancy
Round 13 update:
Jake Dixon will be on the SRT Yamaha again in Aragon this weekend as a teammate to Rossi. Dovi will step in starting the following week.
Crutchlow will fill the empty Factory seat alongside Quartararo. It sounds like Morbidelli may not be back until the following weekend at Misano.
Vinales will return to the grid, this time on an Aprilia
Portugal is crazy close so far!
Separation between P1 & P2 after FP3 is 0.001
And #1 to 3 is 0.025
Top 20 spread is roughly 1s. And that's with ambient temps in the low 60s, low track temps, and wind.