Casey Stoner’s long serving crew chief Cristian Gabbarini has taken up a new senior role inside the Honda’s official factory MotoGP garage for 2013. The highly respected Italian will take up a technical supervisor role with immediate affect after Stoner retired at the end of the 2012 world championship campaign in Valencia earlier this month. Gabbarini will act as a ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 23 November 2012
James Ellison admitted he was gutted not to get the chance to stay with the Paul Bird Motorsport CRT squad in MotoGP next season. The 31-year-old equalled his career best result of ninth in two out of the last three races but it was not enough to save him from the axe from Bird, who had threatened to replace him ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 19 November 2012
A grid of full-blown prototypes could contest the 2014 MotoGP world championship, ending the headache of how to slash the gulf in performance between factory bikes and production-derived CRT machinery. With only 12 factory bikes on the grid for 2012, the new CRT category allowed teams to tune production motors like Honda’s CBR1000RR and BMW’s S1000RR and run them in ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 05 November 2012
Valentino Rossi said yesterday’s storm-lashed Malaysian Grand Prix was red flagged at the right time after he finished in a somewhat disappointing fifth place at Sepang. The Italian said the decision to red flag the race with seven laps remaining was correct with conditions getting rapidly worse. Aquaplaning and a lack of visibility were the two main issues and despite ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 22 October 2012
Casey Stoner made a welcome return to the MotoGP podium in dreadful conditions at the Sepang International Circuit after the reigning world champion had pondered withdrawing from the Malaysian Grand Prix. Conscious of the consequences should he crash and further damage a slowly recovering right ankle injury, the Aussie came close to pulling out of the scheduled 20-lap race as ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 22 October 2012
Casey Stoner doesn’t believe Honda will impose controversial team orders in a bid to help Dani Pedrosa win an elusive first MotoGP world title in 2012. The Spaniard trails factory Yamaha rival Jorge Lorenzo by 33-points with four races remaining, but the title chase could get another twist with Stoner returning from injury for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 11 October 2012
Ducati boss Filippo Preziosi has admitted that he wasn’t surprised that Valentino Rossi rejected a multi-million pound offer to finish his MotoGP career with the Bologna factory. Not even the weight of support of new owners Audi could help Ducati persuade Rossi to sign a new two-year deal after a disastrous stint on board a factory Desmosedici. Having scored just ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 05 October 2012
Valentino Rossi was surprisingly off the pace in wet conditions at the Motorland Aragon track in Spain today after he finished a rain-hit opening day of practice in eighth place. Rossi and Ducati’s finicky Desmosedici GP12 usually excel in rain conditions and it was in a wet French Grand Prix at Le Mans earlier this season that Rossi took a ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 28 September 2012
Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista dedicated their brilliant podium finishes in yesterday’s Misano MotoGP to late Italian star Marco Simoncelli. Italian Rossi claimed his best ever dry result for Ducati with second position before he dedicated only his third rostrum on board a factory Desmosedici machine to close friend Simoncelli, who lost his life in a horrific crash during last ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 17 September 2012
Stefan Bradl was left to rue a front tyre issue that cost him a golden opportunity to claim a career first MotoGP podium in his 100th world championship appearance in Misano. The German held third place from the opening lap until lap 19 of 27 when he suddenly dropped rapidly out of contention. The LCR Honda rider had hounded Valentino ...
- Motorcycle Sport
- MotoGP
- 17 September 2012
