The deal is pretty much closed at this point but the official confirmation is yet to be given: Luca Marini will be Repsol Honda rider for the next (two) season. The reason why the agreement wasn’t yet made official, believes Michael Laverty, is because both parties are yet working on the ‘get-out clauses’.

Former rider, the british has two full years at MotoGP (2013 and 2014) and is still very aware of the reality among the class and spoke of the deal between Marini and Honda, quoted on TNT Sports, saying why he believes it wasn’t made public: ‘It takes some time. They’ll want the various clauses, the get-out clauses. They’ll want two years fixed then the extra year to bring them parallel with the rest of the riders’.

There is a lot to work on, contract wise, he adds: ‘There will be a lot of i’s to dot and t’s to cross. You can understand why it takes time, it’s a big move. But he [Marini] was squirming a little bit there, when asked the question!’.

And added: ‘He’s such a nice guy, he wants to answer, but he can’t give us any quotes’.

O conteúdo Michael Laverty believes Luca Marini’s move to Honda wasn’t yet confirmed because ‘various clauses’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

There was a lot of talk at the end of Sunday and yesterday about how Jorge Martin’s race may have been sabotaged in some way, with a rear tyre being at the root of the spaniard’s problems. Marco Melandri spoke about the issue and how, regardless of what is said, there is an interest on the part of the manufacturers in having their riders prevail.

The former rider, who has nine years’ experience in MotoGP, spoke about the subject to Corriere dello Sport, where he expressed his opinion that there is a clear favouritism towards Pecco Bagnaia on the part of Ducati, something that is natural in a world like the category that is a ‘business’:

– I haven’t criticised them for pushing for the factory team to win, but it bothers me that they deny it at all costs, even if they do it anyway. It can happen, after all, MotoGP is a business, and there are priorities.

Although on several occasions various members of the Ducati team have said that there is no preference as to which rider wins the world championship, the italian believes that this is not the case: ‘It’s normal that the factory team is favoured and has to bring more results, but it doesn’t make sense to deny it’.

O conteúdo Marco Melandri denies Ducati’s ‘indifference’ between Martin and Bagnaia: ‘It’s a business; There’s no point denying that the factory team is favoured’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler is ready to take on the 2024 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship! The recently crowned 2023 Hard Enduro World Champion will soon swap the outdoors for indoors as he prepares for the first event of the seven-round series, held in France on November 25.

Lettenbichler is no stranger to indoor enduro, the 25-year-old was crowned FIM Junior SuperEnduro World Champion back in 2016, after which he raced a further two seasons as a privateer in the Prestige category.

Mani was all-set to take on the 2022 season for Red Bull KTM and in fact contested the opening round in Poland where he secured an excellent runner-up result. Unfortunately, the KTM 350 EXC-F racer was forced to sit out the remainder of the season due to receiving surgery to his knee.

Lettenbichler also missed the 2023 season due to his commitment to the development of the all-new 2024 model KTM 300 EXC – a decision that obviously paid off, with Mani going on to dominate this year’s FIM Hard Enduro World Championship while racing the 2-stroke machine.

Now, just weeks after completing his unbeaten season in hard enduro, the young German has already switched his focus to the intense format of SuperEnduro. Mani hopes to challenge the best in the sport, starting at round one in France on November 25.

Manuel Lettenbichler:‘The 2023 Hard Enduro season went amazing for me, but now I’m already looking ahead to the 2024 SuperEnduro World Championship. For sure, the racing is very different to hard enduro – for the indoors it’s all about super-short intense motos, you go all out and have to hit the obstacles as hard as you can, more or less. It’s going to be tough – it’s also going to be hard to beat Billy (Bolt), who has had it his way for a few years now, but you can be sure I’ll give it my best. Most of all, I’m looking forward to riding in some cool places in front of some passionate enduro fans’.

The 2024 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship kicks off in France on November 25, 2023. It is then followed by round two in Poland on December 6, before rounds in Germany, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria early in 2024. The series concludes in the UK with the seventh and final round on March 2.

Source: KTM

O conteúdo Manuel Lettenbichler ready to face SuperEnduro in 2024 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

A lot of news about Toprak Razgatlioglu’s future have been brought up in the past few years and more earlier this season but the WSBK star decided to make a surprising change at the championship, after moving from Yamaha to BMW. However, the turkish is focused on the challenges that are coming in the next two seasons but doesn’t say no to talks after that.

Razgatlioglu has shown interest or at least curiosity about MotoGP but only at the service of a factory team and, given the lattest events towards 2024 with Honda still looking for a rider to officially replace Marc Marquez, and the fact they have publicly said that they have contacted some riders. And apparently their network of contacts might have gone further than the world championship of the category.

The turkish spoke to Dorna and revelead that a MotoGP approached him, but didn’t revelead which. Considering the current state of the paddock, it could have (easily)… been Honda:

– I have been approached by a MotoGP team, but I am now tied to the BMW Superbike factory team for two years until the end of 2025. After that, we can talk about MotoGP contracts.

The manufacturer spoke to some riders, like Miguel Oliveira or Fabio Di Giannantonio, but apparently the one who will take the #93’s place is Luca Marini. Official confirmation is yet to be known.

O conteúdo Did Honda contacted Toprak Razgatlioglu? Turkish reveals ‘approach’ from MotoGP team but only admitts more talks after 2025 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The valencian circuit is one of good memories for Joan Mir as the rider himself recalled on his preview of the last round of the world championship. The Honda rider will close his first season with the team looking to keep improving the results made on the last GP.

‘A long season comes to an end in Valencia, a day of rest and then the next season will start. In Qatar we were able to make an improvement on Sunday which helped my confidence, so the aim is to keep ongoing in this direction in the final race’, the 26 year old rider said in a team statement, before recalling some of the fond memories the Valencia track has to him:

– The track holds good memories for me, not only was it the scene of my first MotoGP win but also where I took the title in 2020. Conditions this late in the year will be a bit tricky there, especially in the morning so we will need to be careful. We keep on working.

O conteúdo Joan Mir returns to a track of ‘good memories’ to end the season: ‘The aim is to keep improving’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team had an unfortunate round in Qatar, with Miguel Oliveira being the most “chastised” due to an injury that meant a premature end to the season for the Portuguese rider, something that Wilco Zeelenberg recalled.

The Team Manager of the Malaysian team regretted the Portuguese rider’s absence from Sunday’s race: ‘Of course, Miguel did not participate in the main race because of the accident yesterday, a big injury on the shoulder, while it seems that there are no major ligament problems, but basically his season has come to an unfortunate end’.

He believes, however, that Oliveira could be back at the Sepang tests – from 6 to 8 February: ‘Anyway, he will be fit for the Sepang test next year and in this moment, this is all that matters’.

O conteúdo Wilco Zeelenberg regretted Miguel Oliveira’s premature farewell to racing in 2023: ‘His season has come to an unfortunate end’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

This GP de La Comunitat Valenciana will mark the end on an era, that of Marc Marquez and Repsol Honda who have brought many world titles for both. The former world champion will leave for Gresini.

On this round at Spain, the rider said: ‘We have finally arrived at the end of the year. It has been a year full of ups and downs, emotions and difficult decisions. Now we come to Valencia looking to end the season in the best way possible, it’s a track I like and have good memories at’.

Marquez didn’t shy away from saying how this one will be very emotional: ‘Of course, it’s not just any end to a season, it will be a very emotional one as an incredible chapter in my sporting career, and in my life, comes to a close. Together with the Repsol Honda Team we have made an incredible story over the last 11 years, the good times and the bad have helped me become who I am and this weekend will be about celebrating what we’ve done and enjoying our time together until the very last moments. Let’s make every lap count’.

O conteúdo Marc Marquez about to bid farewell to Honda: ‘It will be very emotional, as incredible chapter of my career, and in my life’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

One of the new additions to the final grand prix of 2023 will be Álex Rins. The rider, who has missed the last four rounds of the MotoGP world championship, announced on his Instagram profile that he will be taking over the controls of the LCR Honda at the Cheste track.

‘Let’s go to the final race together. See you all in Valencia!’, he wrote on social media.

The spaniard has been recovering from double surgery – a hernia and compartment syndrome in his right leg – and during this period of absence he was replaced by Iker Lecuona.

Despite missing the last few races, the spaniard has 54 points and is in 18th place in the MotoGP standings.

Next season, Alex will take over the reins at Yamaha.

O conteúdo Alex Rins is back in action after injury aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Michelin has been in the middle of MotoGP’s latest controversy, with Jorge Martin blaming the category’s tyre supplier for allegedly supplying him with a faulty tyre which, in the end, caused him major performance problems that led to a poor performance in yesterday’s race in Qatar, putting his title challenge at risk.

Faced with the Pramac rider’s criticism, Piero Taramasso – Michelin’s head of MotoGP – wasted no time in defending the French company: ‘This weekend the absolute record and also the record for the fastest lap of the race were broken on the last lap. This shows the consistent performance of the Michelin tyres. Not only was the track surface new, but a Grand Prix motorbike had never ridden on it before. It wasn’t possible to organise any pre-testing and the first test session, on a “green” track, was really like diving into the unknown’.

Taramasso then took aim at Martin, considering that what happened to the #89 was the only negative point of the weekend: ‘The only negative note was Jorge Martín’s performance. He complained about the rear tyre at the start and then also the front tyre, because he pushed too hard. We’re analysing the data because it’s not easy to say anything about the tyre at the moment. The tyre was manufactured in France and transported here directly, it was never preheated before’.

And he assured us that there would be news soon after analysing what happened: ‘He has no idea, he’s checking the data we’ve received from the team and, as soon as we have any news, we’ll let Jorge, Pramac and everyone know what happened’.

O conteúdo Michelin «responds» to Martin: ‘It was the only negative point in a weekend of records; His tyre came straight from France’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Razlan Razali didn’t hide the fact he was very disappointed with how things have gone, once again, for the team, mostly given Miguel Oliveira’s injury that will put the rider out until the next season, even missing the next few tests.

The Founder and Team Principal CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team addressed the round as follow, with a special note towards Oliveira: ‘Well, words again cannot describe with how disappointed we are in the second last race of the year. Miguel is out with a broken scapula for the rest of the season which means he will not participate for the last race in Valencia and the Valencia test. […]. So, we go to Valencia next week and we wish Miguel a great recovery and we will see him next season’.

The malaysian also said that Lorenzo Savadori will take the vacancy left by the portuguese on the next round.

O conteúdo Razlan Razali devastated with last weekend and Miguel Oliveira’s absence: ‘We wish him a great recovery’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.