Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales heads into tomorrow’s first qualifying session of the season as the man to beat after topping the final free practice in Qatar. The Spanish rider failed to improve on his Thursday effort of 1m54.316s, though still shot to the top of the FP3 timesheets with a last-gasp lap of 1m54.834s, edging Suzuki’s […]
Pramac Racing’s Scott Redding began Friday’s running in Qatar with the fastest time in a frantic second free practice session. The British rider has been struggling all winter with a lack of front-end confidence on his Desmosedici GP16, though this seemingly isn’t an issue anymore. Fitting a set of fresh soft Michelins to his Ducati in […]
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso feels he is one of the quickest riders in the field in Qatar despite finishing Thursday’s first practice down in a lowly 11th. The Italian rider has regularly been the top Desmosedici runner throughout the pre-season, and has also typically gone well at the Losail International Circuit in the past. Dovizioso spent much […]
Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales praised his new YZR-M1 and team after easing to the top of the timesheets in this evening’s first free practice session in Qatar. The Spaniard comes into the first round of the 2017 season having finished fastest in all four official pre-season tests, and picked up from where he left off in […]
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow confessed following today’s opening free practice session of the 2017 season that he wasn’t riding at his best as a result of an early mechanical problem. The British rider’s RC213V unleashed a cloud of smoke and a dribble of oil at the start of the 45-minute session, forcing him to pull off at […]
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Bo Bendsneyder topped a crash-filled second free practice session from an incredibly windy Losail International Circuit. The Dutch rider went to the top of the timesheets midway through FP2 with a 2m07.956s, though this was some five tenths slower than what he managed earlier this evening, something that can be attributed […]
Yamaha new boy Maverick Vinales carried on his dominant winter testing form in this evening’s opening practice, topping the timesheets by over half a second from Marc Marquez. Vinales topped all four winter tests in preparation for his Yamaha debut, and was quick from the off in FP1, going two tenths clear of the field. […]
CarXpert Interwetten’s Tom Luthi kicked off the 2017 Moto2 World Championship top of the time sheets in FP1, with Takaaki Nakagami just a fraction off in second. The Swiss rider shot to the top of the pile early on with a 2m00.422s on the soft Dunlop rear tyres, and remained largely unchallenged until the end […]
Schedl GP’s Philipp Oettl ended the first free practice session of the 2017 season top of the pile on his KTM, with Leopard Racing’s Joan Mir close behind. . The German rider found himself a nice piece of clear track right at the end of the session, and used that to maximum effect to guide […]
The MotoGP World Championship is to get an extra practice session should wet weather arrive following their one scheduled outing this evening. 2017 is the first year the prospect of racing in Qatar in the wet has been a realistic one, after safety officers Franco Uncini and Loris Capirossi suggested that racing on a wet surface […]
The 2017 MotoGP World Championship is upon us, and what a tantalising year of racing we have in prospect in all three classes. Last year was one of the sport’s most unpredictable and dramatic, with a record nine different riders taking victories for four different manufacturers. This was made possible by new rules aimed at […]
Thailand is keen to bring the MotoGP World Championship to the country for next season, according to the Bangkok Post. The Chang International Circuit, which opened its doors in 2015, has been staging a round of the World Superbike Championship since then and has been received incredibly well by the bike-mad locals each year. Dorna […]