The final part of our Moto3 preview looks at the leading riders and teams in the series together with some rookie riders looking to make a big impact this year.
Leopard Racing KTM
Rider: Fabio Quartararo
Race Number: 20
Nationality: French
Date of Birth: 20/4/99
2015 Championship Position: 10th
Debut: Qatar 2015
Moto3 Races: 13
Highest Finish: 2nd Austin & Assen 2015
When the Grand Prix Commission amended the rules to allow the reigning FIM CEV Moto3 champion to move up to the full Moto3 World Championship regardless of their age it opened the door for Quartararo to race in the first three rounds of the 2015 season. He was still fifteen years old when he made his debut in Qatar coming off the back of an eleven race 2014 FIM CEV season where he won nine races and finishes second twice, totally dominating the series from start to finish. He was also the 2013 champion of the same series. It is no surprise therefore that many wondered if he could win the championship in his rookie season. He certainly showed he had the pace to mix with more experienced riders and qualified sixth on his debut and finished seventh.
Then in Austin he finished a magnificent second for his first podium and two races later at Jerez he took his first pole position. He couldn’t convert it into a win though and finished just off the podium in fourth. From a second pole position at Le Mans for his home race it actually looked like he would take a maiden win but with seven laps to go he high-sided coming out of the chicane. After two poor races (a retirement and a fourteenth) he took another great second place at Assen behind Miguel Oliveira, missing out on the win by just 0.066 seconds. It was a great ride that put him sixth in the standings at the time and showed his true potential as a racer, mixing it with the best in the championship in a breakaway group of seven for much of the race.
Unfortunately, from there everything went sour for the rest of the season. Two more retirements sandwiching an eleventh in Indianapolis were followed by a fourth place at Silverstone which flattered to deceive. Just when it looked like Quartararo’s season was about to have a second revival he crashed in practice at Misano, fractured his right ankle and was forced to miss the next five races. He attended the rounds at Motegi and Philip Island but withdrew from both after qualifying due to the pain he still felt. He returned for the season finale in Valencia but retired after ten laps.
For 2016, the young French rider leaves one successful team for another. Estrella Galicia helped Alex Marquez to the 2014 Moto3 title and raced Alex Rins for three seasons before he graduated to Moto2. Leopard Honda have to be considered the team to beat though after Danny Kent’s success last season and Quartararo will start the season as one of the favourites for the title provided he can match his pace with consistency.
Rider: Joan Mir
Race Number:36
Nationality: Spanish
Date of Birth: 1/9/97
2015 Championship Position: Not Classified
Debut: Australia 2015
Moto3 Races: 1
Highest Finish: Retired 6 laps
Mir raced for the Leopard junior team in the FIM CEV Moto3 championship in 2015 and won four of the opening six races. Unfortunately despite three more podium finishes he could on manage fourth in the standings behind eventual champion Nicolo Bulega, runner-up Albert Arenas and Aron Canet. Bulega and Canet both move into the World Championship with Mir so that battle for Rookie of the Year will be interesting. Mir did race in Australia for his debut last year but was involved in a four-rider accident on the after six laps to cut short his race. Of the three Leopard riders, he is the one with the least expectation on his shoulders which should allow him room to develop out of the spotlight. Of course, a good result in Qatar could change all that.
Rider: Andrea Locatelli
Race Number: 55
Nationality: Italian
Date of Birth: 16/10/96
2015 Championship Position: 20th
Debut: Mugello 2013
Moto3 Races: 32
Highest Finish: 7th Austin 2015
Locatelli may be the most experienced rider of the three Leopard boys but he’s only had one season on a poor San Carlo Mahindra in 2014 and last season on a Gresini Honda where he was constantly out-performed by his team-mate Enea Bastianini. He only finished in the top ten twice and in the points seven times overall which raises the question as to whether he has been brought in as a support for Quartararo or to be a title contender in his own right.
Red Bull Ajo KTM
Rider: Brad Binder
Race Number: 41
Nationality: South African
Date of Birth: 11/8/95
2015 Championship Position: 6th
Debut: Indianapolis 2011
Moto3 Races: 75 (including 5x 125cc)
Highest Finish: 2nd Germany 2014 & Malaysia 2015
The twenty-year-old South African made his debut in the final year of 125cc racing (2011) with five wildcard rides for RW Racing and Andalucia Banca Civica but failed to achieve any points. His rookie season in 2012 with RW Racing on a Kalex-KTM was unremarkable until the final three races where he scored points in all three and finished a remarkable fourth at the finale in Valencia. If ever there’s a time to pull off a result to put yourself in the shop window then it’s Valencia and Binder secured a move to Ambrogio Racing for 2013 where he raced a Suter-Honda for eleven rounds and then the team switched to Mahindra for the remaining six. He was in the points in all but four races (three were retirements) and with another fourth place, this time at Jerez, he finished thirteenth in the standings. He stayed with the team for 2014 and finally achieved his first podium with second place in Germany which was followed by third in Japan by the end of the season. He finished eleventh overall but had done enough to secure a ride with one of the top teams – Red Bull KTM. The team had just missed the title in 2013 with Jack Miller and put together a strong line up with Binder joined by Miguel Oliveira and Karel Hanika. Although a win still eluded Binder he scored four more podiums and finished sixth in the standings.
For 2016 the team are running two bikes rather than three and Binder is joined by a rookie team-mate so will have a great deal of support from the team for a title shot. I certainly feel the first win will come this year but can Binder succeed with riders like Bastianini, Quartararo and Navarro around him?
Rider: Bo Bendsneyder
Race Number: 64
Nationality: Dutch
Date of Birth: 4/3/98
Moto3 Races: 0
Bo dominated the 2015 Red Bull Rookies season with eight wins from thirteen races and he beat runner-up Fabio Di Giannantonio by 49 points. Unlike some of the other riders classed as rookies this season Bendsneyder is a true rookie having never raced at this level before (others have had wildcard rides) and it will be interesting to see if he has more success than Karel Hanika who came through the same route with Red Bull but failed to make a big impression on the world stage.
Sky Racing Team VR46 KTM
Rider: Romano Fenati
Race Number: 5
Nationality: Italian
Date of Birth: 15/1/96
2015 Championship Position: 4th
Debut: Qatar 2012
Moto3 Races: 70
Moto3 Wins: 6
Very few riders arrive on the world stage with as much immediate success as Romano Fenati. Fresh from finishing second in the Italian 125cc Championship in 2011 he qualified sixth on his debut in Qatar for the Team Italia squad on an FTR-Honda. He finished that race a magnificent second behind Maverick Vinales but nobody could predict the result of his next race at Jerez. He’d qualified in tenth place but after the lights went out he not only scythed through the pack to the lead but opened up a gap of over thirty seconds by the end of the race to win at a canter. With a maiden win in only his second race, it looked like Fenati would be a contender for the title. After those two magnificent races though it rarely clicked again for the young Italian. He finished second at Mugello and third at Misano but there were no more race wins and he finally finished sixth in the standings as Sandro Cortese took the title. He wasn’t even top rookie as Alex Rins pipped him to fifth place by five points.
Fenati stayed with Team Italia for 2013 (now backed by San Carlo) and it was the worst season of his career to date. His best result was fifth in Japan and after finishing tenth in the championship it looked like the light that had burned so brightly in Fenati’s first two races had flickered and died already. The ideal opportunity arose in 2014 however as Valentino Rossi started his own team to support the best young riding talent Italy has to offer and one of his first signings was Romano Fenati. The Doctor still believed in his talent and gave him the opportunity to prove his worth.
Over the last two seasons, Fenati has been incredibly inconsistent though. Blindingly fast and brilliant one minute but slow and anonymous the next. Like his team owner he’s built a reputation for qualifying poorly and working his way through the field although this tends to be from several rows further back than Rossi used to. Five more race wins have followed in those two years and fifth in the 2014 championship was followed by fourth last season. Now Fenati seems to be really good three races out of four and if he could just improve that consistency and qualify better then he’ll be a real contender for the 2016 crown. He managed his first pole position in Japan last season so he’s still making progress. It would be a fantastic story that should this be Rossi’s last season in MotoGP that he could also mentor Fenati to his first world title. It’s how the scriptwriters would do it.
Rider: Nicolo Bulega
Race Number: 8
Nationality: Italian
Date of Birth: 16/10/99
2015 Championship Position: 31st
Debut: Valencia 2015
Moto3 Races: 1
Highest Finish: 12th Valencia 2015
The reigning FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Champion made his debut in the last race on 2015 at Valencia and qualified a credible 16th before finishing in 12th place. He finished sixth in the 2014 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship with the Calvo team before switching to Valentino Rossi’s junior team in 2015. The sixteen-year-old beat Albert Arenas to the title by just four points despite only winning one race all season. He proved consistency is the key as he never finished lower than seventh and was on the podium in seven races (including the win) out of the twelve. If Bulega can continue to show the consistency he showed not just in his title-winning season but also his debut race throughout this year then he will be another strong contender for the Rookie of the Year title.
Rider: Andrea Migno
Race Number: 16
Nationality: Italian
Date of Birth: 10/1/96
2015 Championship Position: 19th
Debut: Barcelona 2013
Moto3 Races: 27
Highest Finish: 8th, Misano 2014
Although Migno had a couple of wildcard races in 2013 his first full-time ride came mid-way through 2014 when he replaced Australian Arthur Sissis at Mahindra Racing. He raced the last seven races and although he picked up an impressive eighth place at Misano he was outside the points or retired in the other rounds. The VR46 saw enough to sign him to support Fenati in 2015 and he did finish in the points in nine races but did little to show he has the credentials to win a race at this level. With the team expanding to three bikes in 2016 he keeps his seat but will be the one under most pressure out of the trio.
Gresini Racing Honda
Rider: Fabio Di Giannantonio
Race Number: 4
Nationality: Italian
Date of Birth: 10/10/98
2015 Championship Position: Not Classified
Debut: Valencia 2015
Moto3 Races: 1
Highest Finish: 23rd Valencia 2015
Another rider to make his debut at Valencia last season, Di Giannantonio has raced in the Red Bull Rookies series for the past two seasons. He finished eighth in 2014 but was the runner-up to Bo Bendsneyder in 2015 with three race wins. With his team-mate Bastianini expected to push for the title it may give him a chance to develop with the media spotlight on the other side of the garage. At the same time if Bastianini can show the bike is capable of winning races then Di Giannantonio will not want to be too far behind.
Rider: Enea Bastianini
Race Number: 33
Nationality: Italian
Date of Birth: 30/12/97
2015 Championship Position: 3rd
Debut: Qatar 2014
Moto3 Races: 36
Moto3 Wins: 1
Considered by some as the favourite for the 2016 Moto3 title Bastianini came on leaps and bounds in 2015. He stays with the Gresini team for a third year having finished ninth in his debut year with three podiums at Catalunya, Brno and Silverstone. Last season he finished third in the overall standings, won his first race at Misano and took the pole position four times. When he finished he was never lower than ninth and he only retired three times. Bastianini was the closest challenger to Danny Kent for much of the 2015 season until Miguel Oliveira took four wins and two runner-up spots in the last six races to surge to second in the standings. With Kent and Oliveira stepping up to Moto2 with the Leopard team it gives Bastianini a great chance for a first world title.
SaxoPrint RTG Peugeot
Rider: Alexis Masbou
Race Number: 10
Nationality: French
Date of Birth: 2/6/87
2015 Championship Position: 13th
Debut: France 2003
Moto3 Races: 159 (including 95x 125cc)
Moto3 Wins: 2
As the maximum age for riders in Moto3 is 28 years old and Alexis Masbou turns 29 in June this will be his last in the lower class. He made his debut way back in 2003 at Le Mans on a Honda in a wildcard ride and has raced 95 times on 125cc machinery and 64 times on the Moto3 machinery without ever moving up the ranks to 250cc or Moto2. From his first full season in 2005 when he raced a Honda for Ajo Motorsport to 2011 with WTR-10 Ten Racing and Caretta Technology he was largely a back-marker with the occasional good result. Not only did he race Honda, KTM and Aprilia but also Loncin and Malaguti as well. By the end of 2011 when the 125cc category was scrapped and replaced with Moto3 Masbou’s best result was a fifth place at Assen in 2005 (his rookie season) and apart from that he only finished in the top ten on four occasions.
He stayed with the Caretta team in 2012 and suddenly things were better for the French rider. With his improved performances in Moto3 perhaps he would have been better suited in the 250cc category all along. At the second race at Jerez, he equalled his best 125cc result with fifth which he did again at Catalunya before improving to fourth at Silverstone and a maiden podium with second at Sachsenring in Germany. After three poor races, he broke his leg in testing and did not race again that season but Masbou had shown finally that he belonged at this level.
For the next two seasons, he raced with Ongetta-Rivacold finishing eighth in the standings in 2013 sixth the following year. 2014 was more significant for Masbou though as he finally won his first Grand Prix at Bro, fending off Bastianini, Kent, Alex Marquez and Jack Miller who were all within 0.3 seconds of him. It was one of those great Moto3 races where the top sixteen bikes ran so close together that they all finished within two seconds of Masbou. In that race, Juanfran Guevara finished less than two seconds behind the leader and still didn’t score any championship points.
He moved to SaxoPrint-RTG Honda in 2015 and it looked like a dream move when he took pole position for the season opener in Qatar and won by 0.027 seconds from Bastianini with Kent third. The other two riders on the podium with him would see their seasons go from strength to strength but for Masbou that was as good as it got. He never finished higher than seventh for the rest of the year and never troubled the leaders. From everything going so perfectly in Qatar, it was surprising that in the end he finished only thirteenth in the standings.
As this is Masbou’s last season in Moto3 it will be interesting to see which rider we get. Will it be the Masbou that fought so hard for those wins at Brno and Losail or the Masbou that finished on the fringes of the top ten in an almost anonymous fashion? If he wants to secure a Moto2 ride for 2017 it will certainly have to be the former.
Rider: John McPhee
Race Number: 17
Nationality: British
Date of Birth: 14/7/94
2015 Championship Position: 11th
Debut: Valencia 2010
Moto3 Races: 65
Highest Finish: 2nd Indianapolis 2015
John’s debut was back at the end of 2010 as a wildcard on a Honda run by KRP alongside Taylor Mackenzie. He qualified 31st and was the last runner over the line in 22nd behind his team-mate but at least, he’d arrived on the world stage. The next season he had three more rides for Racing Steps Foundation KRP on an Aprilia this time and scored points at Silverstone (15th) and Valencia (14th). In 2012, he had a few more wildcard rides with Racing Steps before he replaced his current team-mate Alexis Masbou at Caretta Technology on a KRP-Honda.
When Caretta retained McPhee for 2013 he became a permanent rider in the Gran Prix class. He rode alongside Jack Miller on the FTR Honda and with five finishes in the points he secured 19th in the standings. The highlight of the season was a great seventh place finish from 22nd on the grid to finish just 0.007 seconds behind team-mate Miller and 0.116 seconds behind Romano Fenati in fifth.
In 2014, he joined the SaxoPrint-RTG team and is now about to start his third season with them. The first year he rode alongside Efren Vazquez who finished fourth in the standings and his experienced appeared to help John as he improved over the course of the season to finish thirteenth overall. He equalled his best finish at the time of seventh in Germany before showing how much he loves Motegi with a fourth place finish near the end of the season. He was in the leading pack right to the end after qualifying a magnificent third on the grid and finished 0.188 seconds from Brad Binder in third and only 0.672 seconds from the race win. It’s a shame when a four-man battle for the lead has to leave someone off the podium and it was McPhee who lost out. He followed up that great result with fifth place at Philip Island to show that he has the ability to finish near the podium on the right machinery.
Last season started well with fifth in Qatar and sixth in Austin but from then the best he would get would be two tenth place finishes before round ten at Indianapolis. For one reason or another the team just couldn’t get it together as his new team-mate Masbou was suffering even more. Indianapolis was the scene for McPhee’s great gamble though which saw him take his first podium with second place behind Livio Loi. Rain before the race left most riders opting to start on wet tyres however as the track would clearly dry McPhee changed to dry tyres on the grid. Unfortunately it was too late to start from the grid like Loi who had changed his earlier and McPhee had to start from the pit lane. It was still enough to allow him to pass the entire field when they came in to change to wet tyres though as the length of time it took cost most riders around a lap in time. The three riders who had gambled the most – Loi, McPhee and Oettl – finished on the podium. That result gave McPhee renewed confidence and in the remaining eight races he finished in the top ten five times. He grabbed pole position at Philip Island and Valencia at the end of the season to show his potential and should go into 2016 with high expectations.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda
Rider: Jorge Navarro
Race Number: 9
Nationality: Spanish
Date of Birth: 3/2/96
2015 Championship Position: 7th
Debut: Aragon 2012
Moto3 Races: 29
Highest Finish: 2nd Aragon & Valencia 2015
Navarro was Rookie of the Year in Moto3 last season even though he had raced in twelve previous races. Three of those were wildcard rides in 2012 and 2013 that led to two retirements and a 22nd place finish (for Bradol Larresport Honda at Aragon in 2012 and MIR Racing at Jerez and Valencia in 2013). In 2014 he replaced Livio Loi as the Belgian was sacked from Marc VDS Racing and finished in the points four times in nine races as he got to grips with the series.
He improved as the season went along last year. Signed by Estrella Galicia to partner Fabio Quartararo on the Honda his twelfth place finish at the opening round in Qatar was his lowest finish of the season. There were four retirements but in every other race he finished inside the top ten. At Aragon, he took his first podium as he narrowly lost out to Miguel Oliveira by 0.193 seconds for the win. That set in motion a chain of impressive results though as he finished the season with third in Japan, fourth in Australia, third in Malaysia and another second place finish at Valencia where he was once again beaten by Oliveira but this time by 0.198 seconds. Jorge’s strong finish to 2015 means he must be considered one of the front-runners for the 2016 Moto3 title.
Rider: Aron Canet
Race Number: 44
Nationality: Spanish
Date of Birth: 30/9/99
Moto3 Races: 0
Canet has yet to race in the full World Championship but finished third in the 2015 FIM CEV Junior Moto3 World Championship. Although he finished behind Nicolo Bulega and Albert Arenas in the standings he did miss two races at Jerez that may well have cost him the title. He won four races and was on the podium in every other race apart from two retirements. With many looking at Bulega and Joan Mir for the Rookie of the Year title Canet could be a dark horse.
