Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Yamaha needs to invest more resources into fully getting on top of its electronics problems to stay competitive in MotoGP, believes Valentino Rossi. The 39-year-old, who recently signed a fresh two-year contract with Yamaha that keeps him racing until the end

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Jorge Lorenzo insists he is not “wasting a single minute” thinking about his Ducati MotoGP future despite a difficult start to the year. The Spaniard failed to finish the opening round of the season in Qatar after a brake failure, which

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. The Austin circuit is working to reduce the bumps in its track surface for next month’s MotoGP race following criticism by riders last year. Many riders pinned the blame on Formula 1, which also hosts its United States race at Austin,

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Amid renewed interest from MotoGP rival factories in Andrea Dovizioso, Oriol Puigdemont argues Ducati cannot afford for him to be tempted to jump ship – so needs to pay up It should come as little surprise that the likes of Honda

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa will use up the first of Honda’s five allocated private test days for the 2018 MotoGP season on Monday at Jerez. The pair, who finished second and seventh respectively in last weekend’s season opener in Qatar,

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Aleix Espargaro says Aprilia has to improve its MotoGP bike to keep him beyond the end of his current contract. Espargaro, who finished the Qatar season opener 19th, joined Aprilia for the 2017 season from Suzuki on a deal that runs

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Andrea Dovizioso has been in talks with Honda and Suzuki, Autosport has learned, while awaiting a firm offer from his current MotoGP employer Ducati. Dovizioso led Ducati’s first proper MotoGP title charge this decade last year – winning six races and

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Cal Crutchlow labelled MotoGP the “best motorsport event in the world” after the Qatar season opener featured an eight-rider battle for the win for much of the race. The LCR rider was in podium contention for much of the 22-lap race

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Marc VDS is moving towards a deal to replace Tech3 as Yamaha’s satellite MotoGP team from 2019, Autosport understands. Though Marc VDS has been supplied by Honda since its graduation to MotoGP in 2015, team boss Michael Bartholemy has previously expressed

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Ducati MotoGP team manager Davide Tardozzi says Andrea Dovizioso is “worried” about Honda rival Marc Marquez’s performance in the season opener in Qatar, despite having ultimately beaten him to victory. After three consecutive runner-up finishes at the track, Dovizioso withstood a

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Valentino Rossi says people were correct to question whether he was too old for a new two-year Yamaha MotoGP deal before his third place finish at the Qatar season opener. The 39-year-old announced a fresh contract in the run up to

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Jorge Lorenzo admits he was “lucky” to avoid serious injury as a result of the brake failure that caused his retirement from the Qatar MotoGP season opener. Ducati rider Lorenzo crashed out on lap 12, and he said his bike developed

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Maverick Vinales says he felt more comfortable with his Yamaha MotoGP bike during the Qatar season opener than at any point during the last six months. A difficult pre-season testing perid carried over into the first qualifying session of the season

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Marc Marquez said he would not have been able to sleep had he not attempted to overtake Andrea Dovizioso at the final corner in MotoGP’s season opener in Qatar. Having followed Dovizioso through past long-time race leader Johann Zarco with five

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Tech3 Yamaha rider Johann Zarco says he dropped out of contention for victory in the Qatar MotoGP season opener after an issue with his front tyre. Zarco converted his pole position into an early lead in Sunday’s race, and led until

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Andrea Dovizioso says he felt obliged to win the MotoGP season opener after finishing the previous three races in Qatar as runner-up. Ducati rider Dovizioso went into the season opener as favourite among a number of his rivals, based on his

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso took victory in a closely-fought first MotoGP race of the 2018 season in Qatar, beating reigning champion Marc Marquez’s Honda by just 0.027 seconds. Dovizioso and Marquez formed part of a 10-bike queue at the front of the

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales says the set-up changes he made on Saturday in Qatar rendered the whole of MotoGP pre-season testing “useless”. Vinales – who won in Qatar a year ago on his Yamaha race debut – continued to struggle for

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Johann Zarco has played down his chances of winning the Qatar MotoGP season opener despite taking pole position with a record lap in qualifying. The Tech3 Yamaha rider beat Jorge Lorenzo’s lap record from 2008 at the end of a thrilling

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso is a clear favourite for the MotoGP opener in Qatar despite qualifying fifth, according to his rivals. Dovizioso, who has finished second in Qatar for three years straight, topped first and second practice and the shorter FP4

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Tech3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco took pole position for the opening round of the 2018 MotoGP season at Qatar, establishing a new lap record by almost a quarter of a second. Zarco’s best laptime of 1m53.680s beat Jorge Lorenzo’s existing record set

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Tech3 Yamaha rider Johann Zarco set the pace in a largely meaningless third practice session for the MotoGP season opener in Qatar, while Valentino Rossi crashed. Lap times in the daytime session were well off the pace of those set on

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Maverick Vinales says his Yamaha had “trouble in all areas” during the first day of MotoGP practice in Qatar, and that his bike’s problems have not changed since testing. Vinales, who won on his Yamaha debut in Qatar last year, was

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. A revised schedule for the MotoGP season opener in Qatar means the two practice sessions that are held in daylight hours are being “wasted”, according to Cal Crutchlow. The schedule at the Losail circuit was changed for 2018 to bring it

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso set the pace in the opening practice session of the 2018 MotoGP season in Qatar, beating Valentino Rossi by just 0.061 seconds. Continuing his impressive form from the third and final pre-season test at the Losail circuit, Dovizioso

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Yamaha MotoGP boss Lin Jarvis has revealed Johann Zarco could be offered a factory-spec bike by the Japanese manufacturer for 2019. Tech3 Yamaha rider Zarco has been linked to several rival factories, namely KTM and Suzuki, off the back of a

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Valentino Rossi says part of the reason he chose to remain in MotoGP for two more years is his desire to avoid having to make a Michael Schumacher-style comeback. Yamaha announced on Thursday that 39-year-old Rossi is to remain with its

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Valentino Rossi will remain in MotoGP until at least the end of 2020 after signing a two-year contract extension with the factory Yamaha team. Although the Italian’s existing contract was due to expire at the end of 2018, he has been

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. Tech3 Yamaha MotoGP rider Johann Zarco believes victory is a realistic prospect in this weekend’s season-opening Qatar Grand Prix. Zarco stunned on his premier class debut 12 months ago when he led for the first six laps of the Qatar race,

Upgrade for free today You have only 5 articles remaining to view this month. KTM has revealed the livery for its RC16 for the 2018 MotoGP season, its second season in the premier class. The team’s launch took place at Salzburg Airport’s Hangar-7, which is owned by title sponsor Red Bull. KTM made its MotoGP