2025 MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 Banter, Silly Season and General Discussion

[Everso Biggyballies]

Suppose its best to start a new thread for the year with a team / driver line up and a Calendar before moving on to news.

Of course the biggest change in lineup is the fact that Jorge Martin, the reigning Champion with the Pramac 2nd tier Ducati Team, was overlooked for the main works team (in favour of MM93) and ha chosen to move on from Ducati and take his #1 to Aprilia.

Other news over the close season was that the KTM busines in in huge amounts of doubt in terms of being around.... debts of 3.6 BILLION Euros. We are told the Moto GP Team isa separate entity not affected by the Parent company isues, and Red Bull and KTM eem confident the team will continue.

Other Team news, well not news but events going into the season is that Pramac has ditched Ducati a year before their contract was up and will now be a Yamaha Satellite team.

Pramac Racing will end its 20-year Ducati association by partnering with Yamaha for 2025 on a seven-year contract. As part of the move, Pramac will use full factory bikes from the Japanese marque while it will also receive long-term stability having ended its Ducati contract two years early. There had been increasing disagreement between Ducati and Pramac, and these came to a head just after Ducati decided to not promote Martin to its full works outfit from Pramac.

Pramac will therefore end Yamaha’s two-year stint without a satellite team, as it last worked with RNF Racing – which transformed into Trackhouse - who subsequently moved to Aprilia for 2022.

2025 MotoGP rider line-up:


Ducati:
Pecco Bagnaia, Marc Marquez

Gresini Ducati:
Alex Marquez, Fermin Aldeguer

VR46 Ducati:
Fabio Di Giannantonio, Franco Morbidelli

KTM:
Brad Binder, Pedro Acosta

Tech3 KTM:
Enea Bastianini, Maverick Vinales

Aprilia:
Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi

Trackhouse Aprilia:
Raul Fernandez, Ai Ogura

Yamaha:
Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins

Pramac Yamaha:
Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller

Honda:
Joan Mir, Luca Marini

LCR Honda:
Johann Zarco, Somkiat Chantra


2025 CALENDAR

The FIM MotoGP World Championship will feature a record-high 22 rounds in 2025 across 18 countries. Well to. be honest we have had a 22 race calendar before but cancellations etc has never seen it happen.....will this year buck the trend? Last year started at 22..... races in Argentina, Kazakhstan, and India were cancelled.


The calendar is headlined by one circuit’s debut and the return of another icon. The Czech Republic will return to the calendar with Brno to host Round 12 of the season. Hungary will make its debut, albeit not at the well-known Hungaroring. Instead, MotoGP will visit the all-new Balaton Park.

Thailand’s Chang International Circuit will open the 2025 calendar in place of the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar, which moves to Round 4.

Then a one-week gap between Thailand before heading to the Americas, first to Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina and then to Circuit of the Americas in the United States.

Round 5 of the season, in Spain, will begin a 12-round run of European races before the second fly-away swing to Japan, Indonesia, Australia, and Malaysia.

The season will conclude in Valencia with Portugal moving from the start of the season to the penultimate round.

One notable omission from the calendar is India. The Buddh International Circuit made its debut in 2023 but was cancelled this year after issues relating to the promoter and the circuit.

Round Date Event Circuit
1 February 28-March 2 Thai Grand Prix Chang International Circuit
2 March 14-16 Argentina Grand Prix Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo
3 March 28-30 Americas Grand Prix Circuit of the Americas
4 March 11-13 Qatar Grand Prix Lusail International Circuit
5 April 25-27 Spanish Grand Prix Circuito de Jerez
6 May 9-11 French Grand Prix Bugatti Circuit
7 May 23-25 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit
8 June 4-6 Aragon Grand Prix MotorLand Aragon
9 June 18-20 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
10 June 25-27 Dutch Grand Prix TT Circuit Assen
11 July 11-13 German Grand Prix Sachsenring
12 July 18-20 Czech Grand Prix Brno Circuit
13 August 15-17 Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull Ring
14 August 22-24 Hungarian Grand Prix Balaton Park Circuit
15 Spetember 5-7 Catalan Grand Prix Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
16 Spetember 12-14 San Marino Grand Prix Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
17 September 26-28 Japanese Grand Prix Mobility Resort Motegi
18 October 3-5 Indonesian Grand Prix Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit
19 October 17-19 Australian Grand Prix Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
20 October 24-26 Malaysian Grand Prix Petronas Sepang International Circuit
21 November 7-9 Portuguese Grand Prix Algarve International Circuit
22 November 14-16 Valencia Grand Prix Circuit Ricardo Tormo

[Everso Biggyballies]

Pre Season Testing.

Currently underway at Sepang in Malaysia. Next week more testing at Burinam in Indonesia.

Some news so far and sadly it is dominated by the Aprila track debut of Jorge Martin, who suffered a horrible , make that brutal highside for no apparent reason. It almost looks like he was not even on power.

As this clip show, brutal.

As said a horrible knock on the head and personally surprised no concussion. Im sure he would have seen a few stars. He did suffer other injuries though to hand and foot, both requiring surgery, so it put an early end to his running at Sepang and will likely put him out of Burinam tests next week out as well. Certainly a setback and not the best start but not the end of the world. .

Aprilia Statement:
".....fractured the head of the fifth metacarpal in his right hand, in addition to suffering a closed fracture of the third, fourth, and fifth metatarsals in his left foot."

"Jorge underwent a CT scan and an MRI at the hospital, which did not reveal any other injuries. However, due to the fractures in his hand and foot, "Martinator" will remain in the hospital overnight before travelling tomorrow to Europe for surgery."

Others suffered from crashes as well.... Aprilia's season start worsened when Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez A crash early on during the opening day wrote off Fernandez's Aprilia RS-GP and left the rider himself with what was quickly confirmed as a fractured metacarpal in his left hand and a fractured little toe in his left foot.

While the toe was of little concern in terms of being fit to ride, the hand fracture means Fernandez will not ride in the rest of the test.

On the good news front Yamaha with their new engine and approach (Committment might be a better word) Fabio Quartararo ended up fastest on day .his and other Yamaha riders' pace was surely flattered by them riding in the shakedown before the test, Quartararo's laptimes still caught the eye.

He led the timesheets from very early on by a considerable margin, then once surpassed by Alex Marquez's 2024-spec Ducati swiftly reclaimed the top spot by around two tenths of a second.

Full day 1 times.
FULL TIMES
1 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) 1m57.555s
2 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 1m57.606s
3 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) 1m57.738s
4 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) 1m58.035s
5 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) 1m58.114s
6 Joan Mir (Honda) 1m58.115s
7 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) 1m58.265s
8 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) 1m58.298s
9 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) 1m58.332s
10 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) 1m58.371s
11 Pedro Acosta (KTM) 1m58.396s
12 Brad Binder (KTM) 1m58.507s
13 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) 1m58.552s
14 Alex Rins (Yamaha) 1m58.652s
15 Luca Marini (Honda) 1m58.704s
16 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) 1m58.763s
17 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) 1m58.947s
18 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 1m59.207s
19 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) 1m59.597s
20 Augusto Fernandez (Yamaha) 1m59.676s
21 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) 2m00.299s
22 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) 2m01.298s
23 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) 2m01.321s

Im playing catch up on the news (I know this is a day or so behind. ) Yet to see if the Yamaha pace was genuine or whether now the rest of the pack have all played catch up and put Yamaha back in the pack.....

[DoubleFart]

Might as well just give Marquez the title now. Bagnaia isn't consistent enough to win the title against a Marquez who will be top 3 every race given that Martin and the Pramac riders aren't on Ducati's any more.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Might as well just give Marquez the title now. Bagnaia isn't consistent enough to win the title against a Marquez who will be top 3 every race given that Martin and the Pramac riders aren't on Ducati's any more.

Marquez was. one of the more erratic rider out there this year although he. settled down a bit at the end. I just STR constantly reading of him falling off, usually in practice and qualy but often in the race a well. But yeah it could be that he is less inconsistent than Bags, who without doubt threw away the championship. 11 Sunday wins in less than 20 races and he still didnt take the title. Only 5 have scored 11 seaon wins or more in history

[Everso Biggyballies]

Missed out on mentioning that VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio has become the third MotoGP rider ruled out of the pre-season test at Sepang after the first day of action.

Di Giannantonio, one of just three riders in the field entrusted with a latest-spec Ducati this season, crashed twice during the first day of testing. But while his crash during the actual eight-hour timed portion of the day was inconsequential, and he went on to finish the day seventh-fastest, he then had another fall while on a practice start outlap.

It seems he was faffing about..... the TV cameras missed it but an eyewitness said Dig was attempting a wheelie on his way to the grid when he fell. He was diagnosed with a left collarbone fracture , and is flying back to Italy to be operated on.

It seems unlikely he will be fit for Burinam next week.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Whilst VR46 are missing Dig, Morbidelli picked up the reins for the team and on last year's. bike ended up topping day 2. ahead of Quatararo. With Martin and Dig out of action Ducati and Aprilia called in their test riders Lorenzo Savadori and Michele Pirro, to gather data on their new bikes.

Morbidelli leads Quartararo on Day 2 of Sepang MotoGP test

His lap was three tenths quicker than what Quartararo managed on Wednesday, and would have been good enough to secure a front-row spot for last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Mind you it seems that he set the time early in the day and most spent the day doing long runs and not qualy sims, so lets see how things pan out when the works Ducatis move on to some quick laps. Late running was also hampered by a bit of drizzle.

Quartararo finishedjust a tenth behind in second, having also set his best time early in the morning.

Quartararo was followed by the Gresini duo of Alex Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer, with the latter again finishing as the fastest of the three rookies.

What about the works Ducatis?

Despite the less conducive conditions in the afternoon, Bagnaia was able to climb up to fifth with a 1m57.652s flier in the final 30 minutes. MM93 on the other hand was very low key.... 14th with a time that was 1.2s off the pace of Morbidelli.

Honda’s Joan Mir was another rider to make a late improvement, jumping to sixth when with a time of 1m57.791s.
That dropped Pedro Acosta's KTM down to seventh, with Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Olivera cfinished eighth.

3rd and final day of this weeks Sepang test tomorrow.


Full Day 2 results:

[Everso Biggyballies]

Season starts this weekend with the Thailand GP

Unfortunately Jorge Martin will not be racing. As we know from testing Jorge suffered a horrible highside and his injuries, broken bones in his right hand, required surgery. Surgery was successful and he was hard at work completing his recovery in time for Thailand.

All looking good. UNTIL......It seems Jorge thought it would be good for his recovery to the injuries to his right hand, and to get into shape, by riding a supermoto at Alcarras in Spain. He crashed. Worse still he badly injured the other (good) arm.
Part of the statement from Aprilia outlining his injuries and his replacement for Thailand::
".....a complex fracture of the radius and a broken scaphoid. Both bones have been pinned and screwed by surgeons, but he won’t race at Buriram, where his place will be taken by Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori."

Apparently its the first time a reigning champion will have missed the opening round of a MotoGP season through injury since Kenny Roberts going into the 1979 season.

As it happens, Kenny (Roberts) managed to win the title in 1979 despite having missed the opening round. But he didnt have a full house of Ducatis to deal with.

So about as far from the perfect start to his defending the title as he could get

Best wishes to Jorge for a full and speedy recovery.. Will he make it for round 2 inb Argentina on the 17th March? Who knows but hopefully his recovery will not this time include racing a motocross bike.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Season starts this weekend with the Thailand GP

Unfortunately Jorge Martin will not be racing......... Will he make it for round 2 in Argentina on the 17th March? Who knows

Confirmed : No, Jorge wont be fit for Argentina

Jorge Martin has been ruled out of next month’s Argentina Grand Prix as well as this weeks Thailand GP, after breaking his hand in a training accident while recovering from his testing injury and surgery.

MotoGP doctor Angel Charte revealed on Thursday that Martin’s recovery from a left hand fracture has been “slow” and he will sit out the Argentina GP on 14-16 March, having already been forced to skip this weekend’s season-opener in Thailand.

This means that Jorge will have to wait until at the least the third round of the season, the US GP at Austin on 30 March, to make his race debut with Aprilia.

Bummer. That takes out much of the season's interest now.

[erwin greven]

Anyone watching MotoGP/Moto2 and Moto3? I started to watch a few races last season and this season i want to follow it more intensively.
In particular Moto 2 with Zonta van der Goorberg and Collin Veijer.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Anyone watching MotoGP/Moto2 and Moto3? I started to watch a few races last season and this season i want to follow it more intensively.
In particular Moto 2 with Zonta van der Goorberg and Collin Veijer.

I have been watching them, but it lost a bit of the draw with Jorge Martin having to miss the first few races of the year with his testing injuries, and the fact that it is still a Ducati Cup.... with the downside that with one exception it has been all about MM93. ie MM on a works Ducati is proving to be quite the package. Bagnaia is trying but.....

I think last year I was more intense with my viewing because the title was so up and down, and maybe because it was less about who rode best it was more who made the fewest mistakes that came through at the end.

[DoubleFart]

I'm not watching as I can't afford TNT Sports.

There's plenty for me to watch on there - MotoGP, Rugby, Football, Snooker, Cycling... I just can't find that money ATM.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Jorge Martin's luck goes from bad to worse on his return to Moto GP at Qatar over the weekend.

Sadly we wont be seeing Jorge racing again for some time by the sounds of it... mid season the perhaps ambitious forecast.

He went down in the race in what looked on TV to be a straight forward drop, although he did seem troubled moving from on his knees after.

Sadly there was a complication and in his drop as he was hit by another bike, broke a number of ribs and punctured a lung....

The bone-breaking crash on Lap 14 of the latest race at the Lusail International Circuit occurred when Martin’s bike fell from beneath him.

Martin was subsequently hit by VR46 rider Fabio di Giannantonio on his Ducati.

The initial diagnosis was six fractures, but that has since been updated to 11 busted ribs and a collapsed lung (pneumothorax).

The 27-year-old has a drainage tube inserted in his right side, according to a report.

Martin will be bedridden in Qatar for at least a few more days before continuing his recovery at home in Spain.

Full story:https://speedcafe.com/motogp-news-2025- ... -time-off/

Martin wrote on Instagram: “Thank God, this could have been much worse. I’ll try to keep you updated.”

A clip of the incident.

Wishing Jorge a full and speedy recovery, plus wishes for better luck than he has experienced to date this year.