Mugello, Italy

2025 Provisional MotoGP Calendar: 22 Races, Kazakhstan, India Out, Hungary, Brno In

By David Emmett |

The 2025 MotoGP calendar has been published at last, at least in its provisional form. The calendar contains 22 rounds, starting on March 2nd at Buriram in Thailand, and ending as usual at Valencia on November 16th.

The calendar looks a little different this year, in several different ways. Firstly, Qatar is now the fourth round, being held in mid April, rather than the first round. Argentina and Austin follow the season opener in Thailand, with MotoGP heading back to Europe after Qatar.

Jerez and Le Mans are in their traditional places, at the end of April and the middle of May respectively, before MotoGP heads to Silverstone, and a much earlier date for the British GP at the end of May. From the UK, the series heads back to Spain, to Aragon, again a much earlier race at the beginning of June. From Aragon, the series heads to Mugello in the middle of June, in a race that is back-to-back with Assen.

Power Politics: Why MotoGP Will Not Get A New Front Tire In 2025

By David Emmett |

Michelin will not be introducing a new front tire at for the 2025 season. At a breakfast organized for the media at Misano on Friday morning, Michelin's head of two-wheeled motorsport, Piero Taramasso explained that although the feedback from the tire test at Misano had been positive, the tire still needed work to be ready.

Taramasso later explained to Simon Crafar on the MotoGP.com live feed some of the background to the test. The test had been good, and the comments of all of the riders had been the same. "For example, they said, yeah, the tire has more grip, we feel more contact patch, but the bike is heavy," Taramasso told Crafar. "They said the tire, we feel a good potential, we can push, but it moves too much. The movement is good, because it gives feedback, but it moves too much when you try to brake hard." Some riders liked the new front, others liked it less, and others were caught in between.

OPINION: The Most Powerful Person In MotoGP

By David Emmett |

In 2009, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta was facing catastrophe. The global financial crisis had caused Kawasaki to pull out of MotoGP, and for Honda to teeter on the brink of a decision to leave. The switch to 800cc had been disastrous, leading to processional races. Audiences were falling, teams were going out of business, grid sizes were falling.

Ezpeleta faced a problem, and that problem had a name. Shuhei Nakamoto, Vice President of HRC at the time, and de facto head of the MSMA. Dorna wanted cheaper, more competitive racing, with a wider appeal. Nakamoto wanted to win races and justify his spending on MotoGP to the board by pointing to the R&D that the sport facilitated, especially in the field of electronics. Nakamoto issued a firm 'Nyet' to any proposals for change.

By a process of browbeating, blackmail, and bribery, Ezpeleta managed to circumvent Nakamoto's veto. A return to 1000cc bikes and the introduction of the CRT class - highly tuned production engines with spec electronics in prototype chassis - helped fill the grid, and vastly improved the racing. In the run up to each new 5-year contract period, Ezpeleta managed to slip in conditions that would make racing cheaper, open up the grid, and attract three new factories to replace the two that left.

Divide and conquer

Ezpeleta's strategy was Machiavellian and brilliant. By taking the side of the teams, exploiting the ideas from inside Dorna and IRTA, and undermining Honda's dominance of the MSMA, he had found a way to topple Shuhei Nakamoto, MotoGP's most powerful person at the time. Ezpeleta was once again in charge of the sport, and had his hands more firmly on the tiller. The ship was on course, and though winds might blow it slightly to port or to starboard, the new format allowed the system to correct itself more quickly, and return to its original heading.

Jorge Martin To Join Factory Aprilia For 2025, Paves Way For Marc Marquez To Join Ducati Lenovo Team

By David Emmett |

Jorge Martin is to join the factory Aprilia team. Through the unconventional means of a post on Instagram, Aprilia Racing CEO Romano Albesiano introduced the Pramac Ducati rider as the replacement for the retiring Aleix Espargaro. They later followed it up with an official statement saying that they had signed Martin on a "multi-year" deal.

The news ended a weekend of fevered speculation about the future pairing in the factory Ducati team. On Thursday, it looked like Martin had been given the factory Ducati seat, and Marc Marquez had been offered a GP25 in the Pramac Ducati team. But Marquez publicly rejected the idea of a move to Pramac, saying that it made no sense to move from one satellite team to another. 

2024 Mugello MotoGP Monday Test 3pm Times: Binder Fastest In A Washout

By David Emmett |

"This morning we did two flying laps in the dry," Brad Binder told us when he came to speak to the media earlier. That sums up the Mugello test so far. It rained overnight, leaving the track damp. It dried up briefly for a few riders to start to lap, before the rain came again. It nearly dried again before the rain came a second time, and heavier. 

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