Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain

2021 Barcelona Moto2 FP1 Result: Augusto Fernandez Back In The Spotlight

Submitted by Zara Daniela on

The weather in Catalunya wasn’t quite as cheerful as we’re used to but despite the cloud cover, it was warm and dry for the intermediate class’ first outing. After top rookie Raul Fernandez held onto top spot on the timing screens for most of the morning, namesake Augusto Fernandez took over at the top in the closing stages. Teammate Sam Lowes also showed solid early pace as he climbed into second position, a tenth of a second behind his colleague, while Remy Gardner also got ahead of his teammate to claim third.

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2021 Barcelona MotoGP FP1 Result: Home Sweet Home For Aleix Espargaro

Submitted by Zara Daniela on

The paddock’s return to Barcelona was greeted with a light and innocent cloud cover and the first session went to one of the home favourites, with Aleix Espargaro demoting Franco Morbidelli from the top of the timesheets in the final couple of minutes of FP1. The Italian settled for second by two hundredths of a second, while Pol Espargaro also made a great start on home soil to climb into third. Maverick Viñales and Johann Zarco completed the top five, with championship leader Fabio Quartararo sixth and four tenths off the lead.

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2021 Barcelona Moto3 FP1 Result: Garcia Brings It Home

Submitted by Zara Daniela on

The dust barely settled over the track in Mugello by the time engines were getting warmed up in Montmeló and the lightweight class were already back in action after a very difficult weekend. Sergio Garcia seemed to enjoy the return to familiar grounds, the Spaniard starting and ending FP1 at the top of the timesheets, two tenths of a second ahead of rookie teammate Izan Guevara. Filip Salac in third was the last rider within half a second of the leader, while John McPhee and Gabriel Rodrigo completed the top five.

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Barcelona MotoGP Thurday Round Up: A Changed Circuit, A Curious Crash, And A Strange Swap

Submitted by David Emmett on

Another week, another race track. We are a third of the way into the 2021 MotoGP season (probably, possibly, pandemic permitting), and things are starting to move fast. A third of the way now, and in three weeks' time, we will be at the halfway mark.

It is hard to overstate how important this part of the season is. Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello, Barcelona, and Assen are the guts of the season, the foundations on which championships are built. By the time we pack up for the summer break – a long one this time, five weeks between Assen and Austria, with Sachsenring taking place before Assen instead of after, its usual slot – we should have a very good idea of who is in the driving seat for this year.

What makes the triumvirate of Mugello, Barcelona, and Assen key? They are fast, punishing tracks that test man and machine. They are riders' tracks, where a fast rider can make the difference, but they also need a bike to be set up well in pursuit of a good result. There are no shortcuts at those three circuits, no relying on one aspect of the machine to get you out of trouble.

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Maverick Viñales Changes Crew Chiefs, Again - Esteban Garcia Out, Silvano Galbusera In

Submitted by David Emmett on

Maverick Viñales' lackluster 2021 season has caused another casualty. Today, Yamaha announced that his crew chief Esteban Garcia would be leaving his role with immediate effect, to be replaced by Silvano Galbusera. Galbusera was the easy choice, as the Italian veteran is already involved with Yamaha as the crew chief working in the test team, working with Cal Crutchlow to help develop the YZR-M1.

The change has perhaps been predictable. Viñales has been making veiled comments about his team making the wrong decisions during the weekend. After last Sunday's race at Mugello, Viñales criticized the decision to stick with the medium front tire instead of switching to the soft, with which the Spaniard had had a much better feeling on Friday.

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News Round Up: Miller Stays With Ducati, Silly Season Update, And Fans Back At Races Again

Submitted by David Emmett on

Five races into the 2021 MotoGP season, and with the Covid-19 pandemic abating in some places while flaring up in others, there are the first signs of movement in motorcycle racing. Teams, factories, and riders are starting to open (and in some cases, complete) negotiations for this year and beyond, and races are slowly starting to open up to fans.

Although for a variety of reasons, the moves have not been covered in separate stories, here is a quick round up of the latest news and speculation from around the paddock.

Jack Miller stays on with Ducati

As with so many other areas of life, the secret to signing MotoGP contracts lies in the timing. As a rider, you want to put pen to paper at the exact point your market value is at its highest. Coming off back-to-back race victories at Jerez and Le Mans, in the dry and in the flag-to-flag French Grand Prix, Jack Miller has timed his contract extension to perfection. Today, Ducati announced they had signed Miller up for the 2022 MotoGP season, to race in the factory Ducati Lenovo Team.

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Gordon Ritchie WorldSBK Blog: Test, Track And Race

Submitted by Gordon Ritchie on

Feels like a long time since we had any real racing, I am sure you will agree? We would have been well past the first round of any recent WorldSBK season by now but I am sure you don’t need me to remind you we do not live in normal times.

Being first out of the global gate compared to MotoGP, or almost any other major two wheel (or even four-wheel) hydrocarbon-based competition, was one of the attractions of modern day WorldSBK.

In most other years the majority of the Superbike paddock would have already recovered from post-Phillip Island jet lag back in Europe by now, just as MotoGP and F1 were getting ready to set their sights on round one. But, here we are in mid-March and still mired in the 2021 phoney war no-man’s land.

Particularly frustrating for all given that we have had enough pre-season rider reshuffles and new bikes on the blue horizon for us to feel the need to row out hard and fast to meet the latest WorldSBK dawn at full ramming speed. As it stands, WorldSBK will kick off in the high plateau of the Aragon region in Spain, between 21-23 May. I mean, we have to wait until very nearly the end of May to even get started…

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Marc Marquez Rides Again - Private Track Day At Barcelona

Submitted by David Emmett on

Marc Marquez took a major step closer to a return on Tuesday. The Spaniard rode a full-sized production bike - a Honda RC213V-S street bike - at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo. It was the first time he had ridden a big bike since pulling out of the Andalusian round at Jerez during his precipitate return after his first crash.

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MotoGP Paddock Packs Catalunya Circuit For World's Fastest Track Day

Submitted by David Emmett on

Nearly 41% of the MotoGP grid hit the track at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona on Wednesday, as the riders gathered together for what would essentially become the world's fastest track day. Nine MotoGP riders were joined by a handful of stars from Moto2, Moto3, and the WorldSBK paddock to get some track time, all on production machines.

The MotoGP stars on track included the Espargaro brothers, Pol and Aleix, both LCR Honda riders Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami, Ecstar Suzuki riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins, factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, and the Ducatis of Jack Miller and Johann Zarco. Bikes used included the Ducati Panigale V4S, Yamaha YZF-R1, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Aprilia RSV4, the Honda RC213V-S, and a Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade ridden by Repsol Honda rider Pol Espargaro. On track in other classes were Ana Carrasco, Remy Gardner, Raul Fernandez, Tito Rabat, Albert Arenas, and Jaume Masia.

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