Moto GP 2024

Author
Discussion

hiccy18

2,738 posts

69 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
Brivio is rumoured to be wanting Rins and Mir on the '25 Trackhouse bikes. Aprillia could end up with four strong riders, there's so many out of contract it's rich pickings for an understood winning bike. I suspect Marc won't mind being at Pramac with a GP25 and full factory support, so Martin to Ducati seems obvious except for the marketing angle. Bestia could do well to jump before he's pushed, but Aprillia are in no hurry.

Zarco

18,061 posts

211 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
Yazza54 said:
FourWheelDrift said:
I think Bastianini will jump there first before he's demoted, also to put one over Martin who's been sniffing the Aprilia seat for months and if Gigi does go with Marquez, Martin loses any factory ride he's after. Leaving just the Repsol Honda seat that Mir has hinted he wants to be highsided from rather badly.
I just don't think Bastianini is the man they need

They've done the business with the bike, they still make mistakes as a team at times but the fundamental issue they have is they lack a prolific winner of races and championships
Aprilia will want an Italian though. They probably need to demonstrate they are not making silly mistakes / have reliability issues before they can attract a top tier rider anyway.

Freakuk

3,210 posts

153 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
The latest spin suggests Pramac will stay put, so Fermin on one bike. I suspect Ducati will move Marc to the 2nd seat in Pramac and give him a factory bike, or will they supply Gresini with one?

Aleix going opens up the possibility of Enea moving there which is probably their best option (Italian), however Jorge is Aleix's best friend so that would be the logical choice....

We also have the personal sponsor issues with Marc to consider as that will probably block his move to a factory seat, so I would imagine he will go to Pramac (assuming they remain with Ducati) and whoever jumps to Aprilia the other will get the factory GP25.

sclayto2

967 posts

211 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
Confirmed, Aleix is retiring at the end of the year.

Watch it here

If you think he is emotional, probably best you don't watch it!

LF5335

6,229 posts

45 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
Freakuk said:
The latest spin suggests Pramac will stay put, so Fermin on one bike. I suspect Ducati will move Marc to the 2nd seat in Pramac and give him a factory bike, or will they supply Gresini with one?

Aleix going opens up the possibility of Enea moving there which is probably their best option (Italian), however Jorge is Aleix's best friend so that would be the logical choice....

We also have the personal sponsor issues with Marc to consider as that will probably block his move to a factory seat, so I would imagine he will go to Pramac (assuming they remain with Ducati) and whoever jumps to Aprilia the other will get the factory GP25.
Ducati don’t get to tell Marquez where he rides. He doesn’t have a factory contract. He tells them what he wants and where and either they agree or don’t. Then Marquez decides whether to accept the terms offered or go elsewhere.

Krikkit

26,673 posts

183 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
Zarco said:
Krikkit said:
Never say never with the new cost-cutting measures coming in 2027
There's no cost cap in MotoGP.
Yep, but the new regulations are tightening up on spending areas and will make them cheaper

Zarco

18,061 posts

211 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
Zarco said:
Krikkit said:
Never say never with the new cost-cutting measures coming in 2027
There's no cost cap in MotoGP.
Yep, but the new regulations are tightening up on spending areas and will make them cheaper
I think you'll find those that have the money, will just spend it elsewhere. Has always been the same in motorsport.

Johno

8,477 posts

284 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Zarco said:
Krikkit said:
Zarco said:
Krikkit said:
Never say never with the new cost-cutting measures coming in 2027
There's no cost cap in MotoGP.
Yep, but the new regulations are tightening up on spending areas and will make them cheaper
I think you'll find those that have the money, will just spend it elsewhere. Has always been the same in motorsport.
Having listened to a lot of discussions on the new regs, your point remains absolutely valid. Those that have the most resources will spend them.

Given the engine regs keeping the stroke, the power will be 30-40bhp less, so aero will be less abundant, but we won't have the creamer peaky 800 type engine we saw before. Aprilia wanted to keep to 1000'ss apparently and I'd guess for 2 main reasons, costs to develop a completely new engine and the advantages are reduced against those factories with more money to spend.

The 850's appear to mean a drive toward a more torque biased engine, which will have less top end and therefore aero will become more of a balance and likely towards corner speeds and stability. Especially given the restriction to 5 gears versus 6 currently, as the ratio spread could be a wheelie reducer on it's own.

I'm encouraged that the new regs are a step in the good direction. Many are estimating there will be trickle down impacts to WSB likely as well.


Yazza54

18,786 posts

183 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Johno said:
Having listened to a lot of discussions on the new regs, your point remains absolutely valid. Those that have the most resources will spend them.

Given the engine regs keeping the stroke, the power will be 30-40bhp less, so aero will be less abundant, but we won't have the creamer peaky 800 type engine we saw before. Aprilia wanted to keep to 1000'ss apparently and I'd guess for 2 main reasons, costs to develop a completely new engine and the advantages are reduced against those factories with more money to spend.

The 850's appear to mean a drive toward a more torque biased engine, which will have less top end and therefore aero will become more of a balance and likely towards corner speeds and stability. Especially given the restriction to 5 gears versus 6 currently, as the ratio spread could be a wheelie reducer on it's own.

I'm encouraged that the new regs are a step in the good direction. Many are estimating there will be trickle down impacts to WSB likely as well.
Yes I hope they slow WSB down too, they're too close on pace these days and it feels like it's gone a little bit away from the original ethos of superbike racing. Should be easy enough to do with a little less power and slightly harder tyres or something along those lines.

MotoGP has to be the pinnacle not just of technology but laptimes too.

rodericb

6,836 posts

128 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
WSB has pretty much always been 1 or 2 seconds a lap slower. There has been the odd circuit where they're closer, and I think there was some circuit in spain where the WSB bike had the lap record a few years ago.

https://www.autosport.com/motogp/news/motogp-set-t...

Johno

8,477 posts

284 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
WSB run close at certain tracks for single lap pace, race pace is often significantly slower. Broadly due to tyres more than anything else.

Given WSB is allowed more fuel then MotoGP and run shorter races, the smallish gaps in lap time are understandable. The suggestion is likely to be to move the WSB regs more towards superstock, which is understandable.

If you look at how well they are managing to balance performance in the Supersport category recently, could be seen as a testbed for Superbike in the future.

Marquezs Stabilisers

1,306 posts

63 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Johno said:
Having listened to a lot of discussions on the new regs, your point remains absolutely valid. Those that have the most resources will spend them.

Given the engine regs keeping the stroke, the power will be 30-40bhp less, so aero will be less abundant, but we won't have the creamer peaky 800 type engine we saw before. Aprilia wanted to keep to 1000'ss apparently and I'd guess for 2 main reasons, costs to develop a completely new engine and the advantages are reduced against those factories with more money to spend.

The 850's appear to mean a drive toward a more torque biased engine, which will have less top end and therefore aero will become more of a balance and likely towards corner speeds and stability. Especially given the restriction to 5 gears versus 6 currently, as the ratio spread could be a wheelie reducer on it's own.

I'm encouraged that the new regs are a step in the good direction. Many are estimating there will be trickle down impacts to WSB likely as well.
I've not seen the bit about the number of gears reducing, although the number of engines they're allowed is.

Regarding Aprilia needing a serial winner of races and championships, there aren't too many of those on the grid. Mir, Rins, Olivieira and Vinales have won a handful of races between them, Fabio has committed to Yamaha. Alex Marquez has two world titles to his name and two sprint wins, he could be a (very) left field choice. There's nobody at KTM Aprilia will be able to afford - Acosta will be tied down or offered huge money.

Basically leaves them Marc or Jorge?

hiccy18

2,738 posts

69 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Mir is a double world champion, Rins in his final couple of seasons at Suzuki seemed to have found the consistency that had often escaped him.

Freakuk

3,210 posts

153 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Binder is having a mare today...

epom

11,729 posts

163 months

Friday 24th May
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Anyone can get the knee down bounce

Freakuk

3,210 posts

153 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Freakuk said:
Binder is having a mare today...
Managed to redeem himself luckily

dibblecorse

6,905 posts

194 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Freakuk said:
Binder is having a mare today...
Bunny hopping round corners never works !!!!

Yazza54

18,786 posts

183 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Cracking lap from Aleix

It's clear that the KTMs and Aprilias seem to have an edge at catalunya

Hoping Marc can get into Q2 tomorrow as he has decent race pace. Understandable how it can be difficult when they go to a circuit that's less favoured by ducatis and all the others come into the mix more. Looked like Martin rolled off in front of him on a good lap, but Marc appears to lose a lot in sector 2 from what I've noticed.

Gas1883

359 posts

50 months

Friday 24th May
quotequote all
Mav doesn’t half frustrate me , just when you think it’s clicked , we seem to go back to the old mav , I so wanted him to succeed , but I just don’t think he will ever be consistent enough , i can see 2 new riders as a aprilia next season , works team

FourWheelDrift

88,794 posts

286 months

Saturday 25th May
quotequote all
Hero to zero.