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Elena Rosell Set to Become First Female Moto2 Rider

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Breaking his tibia and fibula at the Catalan GP, Julian Simón will continue his recovery, and miss the next Moto2 race, which is at Assen this weekend. Replacing the young Spaniard is Elena Rosell, who currently is eleventh in the CEV Stock Extreme series (she sits third in the privateer category), and with this appointment she will be the first female rider ever to compete in the Moto2 Championship. Rosell is also the first female rider ever for the Mapfre Aspar Team, and the first woman to compete in GP racing since 2003.

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Racing

Photo of the Week: Hands of Perseverance

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Sometimes I make an image which, at the time, seems fairly ordinary, but later emerges as something of an unexpected interest. When I saw Toni Elias about to mount up to begin his Moto 2 title chase, I thought it interesting that someone who had been in the premier class for five seasons couldn’t manage to take to the track with matching gloves. When Elias went on to become the first Moto2 champ, I included this image in the MotoMatters.com calendar, thinking it even more ironic that the future class champion had begun the season with this odd equipment choice.

During a speaking appearance at the San Francisco Dainese D-Store, I spoke to assistant manager Mike J. who shed some more insight on the photo. While holding a copy of the calendar open to the October page, Mike pointed out that while Elias had an Alpinestars glove on his right hand, the glove on his left was by Dainese. Due to Elias’ contract with A-stars, Elias had the logo and brand references covered up. I had not recognized the brand, only that the design was different from his Alpinestars glove.

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News

Vyrus 986 M2 Gets Race Partnership from MIVV Exhaust

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The Vyrus 986 M2 has to be one of the most gorgeous motorcycles we’ve ever seen grace our pages here at Asphalt & Rubber. It’s edgy and doesn’t conform to many of the elements we’d expect from a motorcycle design, and best of all Vyrus intends to race the hub-center steering bike (well maybe the fact you can buy one/build your own is the best thing of all).

With the Moto2 World Championship perhaps out of reach for the small Italian company, we instead see the Vyrus 986 M2 making an entry in the Spanish CEV Moto2 Championship, a national-level series that uses the same rules as the World Championship. Helping Vyrus enter that series is exhaust manufacturer MIVV, which has some experience in the CEV series, having partnered with FTR in past years.

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Racing

Photo of the Week: Proper Positioning

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The real question about the 2012 MotoGP season may be this: will the switch back to liter engines, and the rules that accompany that change, mean that non-factory teams can compete for the championship? Consider Alex de Angelis, shown here at the Sachsenring in 2009, hanging off his satellite Honda in typical style, and the fact that he was 2nd in the 2003 125cc championship, and third in 2006 and 2007 as a 250cc rider, but only had one podium in two years in the premier class.

Since the switch from 2-stroke 500s non-factory teams have not had much of a chance at taking the title, and for a rider on a satellite team the only realistic goal has been to be the Best of the Rest. We will almost certainly see a larger grid in 2012, but will the advantages the Claiming Rule Teams have (more fuel per race, more engines per season) mean they will be in a more competitive position?

I hope that riders such as De Angelis will find themselves competing for more than a few points each round, and will have a greater chance to show they belong in MotoGP before being demoted to another class or series.

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News

Vyrus 986 M2 Gets Three-Tiered Pricing & DIY Kit – Race: €55,000 – Street: €25,000 – Kit: €16,900

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Our friends at MotoBlog.it continue to have the inside track on the recently debuted Vyrus 986 M2 that was unveiled at the Verona Bike Show this past weekend. The Italian boutique manufacturer confirmed that it wanted to offer the Vyrus 986 M2 to teams competing in the Moto2 World Championship, and hinted that a production version could come father down the line, later revealing that we could expect to see a street bike as early as Sepetember of this year.

Now getting a chance to talk to Ascanio Rodorigo, MotoBlog.it has revealed that Vyrus 986 M2 will come in different variations, a Moto2-ready race bike (Factory), a street bike (SL Replica), and a do-it-yourself self kit (Replica Kit), which sees a rider buying just the rolling chassis and having to source their own motor. There’s a price point for everyone in this launch, as the Factory will cost €55,000, the SL Replica €25,000, and the Replica Kit rounding out things at €16,900.

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Bikes

Vyrus 986 M2 Moto2 Race Bike Unveiled at Verona – It’s Time to Breakout the Kleenex

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After covering the debut of new motorcycles for a little over two years now, I’d like to think I’ve become immune to the sheer product lust the occurs when seeing an exceptional two-wheeler. Well wheel me back to the insane asylum of discretionary consumer income, because the only thing I can think of today is this Vyrus 986 M2 Moto2 race bike, and what it’s street counterpart could look like if Vyrus green-lights the project.

I don’t care if the hub-steering design is truly superior to traditional fork suspension. I don’t care if a single team even picks up the Vyrus chassis to race in Moto2. And in fact, I don’t even care if this whole talk about racing in Moto2 is just a ploy to launch the 600cc sibling of the Vyrus 987 C3 4V Supercharged.

Looking at these photos (courtesy of our friends at MotoBlog.it), the only thing going through my mind is OMGWTFBBQ I Want One! Eloquent I know, but if you can handle your streetbikes being non-traditional is design, I think you’ll have a similar response after the jump when you see the Vyrus 986 M2, which was finally unveiled at the Motor Bike Expo at Verona today.

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Bikes

Vyrus 986 M2 – Soon to Infect Moto2 & Showroom Floors

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You remember Vyrus right? The company that makes the Vyrus 987 C3 4V…the Bimota Tesi look-alike with a Ducati 1198 motor, hub-steering, and a supercharger? Not willing to rest on its laurels as having “the most powerful production motorcycle in the world” (211hp gets you that title), the small Italian boutique firm seems set to enter Moto2 racing with its new Vyrus 986 M2 race bike, whose preliminary concept photo has just leaked out of the Rimini factory.

Taking the idea of prototype racing to its fullest dimension with its hub-center steering design, perhaps the only thing more exciting than the prospect of seeing a few of these Vyrus 986 M2’s at 18 of motorcycling’s best venues, is the prospect that a road-based version of the machine could be siting in our garage later this year (assuming we could afford such things). Details after the jump.

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Racing

Talmacsi Testing with Pedercini WSBK Team at Sepang

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After a moderately successful Moto2 season in 2010, Gabor Talmacsi has switched his focus to World Superbikes. Currently in talks with Team Pedercini, Talmacsi will be testing for Pedercini with a phalanx of other Kawasaki riders at the Sepang circuit in the middle of January. Though the Hungarian won a podium position at Motorland Aragon and finished the 2010 championship in sixth, he was left out in the cold after Speed Up pulled out of Moto2 for 2011, as did so many other teams with too few funds to go racing in 2011. Despite spending 2009 in both the 250 and premier GP classes, Talmacsi seems to have joined the list of riders unable to remain in MotoGP and looking for work in WSBK.

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Racing

GP Commission Modifies 2011 Rules

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The GP Commission has seen it fit to modify the rules for MotoGP, Moto2, and 125GP during the 2011 season, with perhaps the biggest alteration coming in the form of FP3 being reinstated to the Saturday schedule. For MotoGP, all practice and qualifying sessions will be returned to their one hour format (up from 45 minutes), which should make the sessions more useful for teams who has to scramble to make changes during the 45 minute format (Moto2 and 125GP will remain at 45 minute session). All the classes will see a three-wide grid format, which should be especially interesting in the compacted Moto2 field. All teams will also be allowed the use of generators on the starting grid.

Special for MotoGP, Dorna seems intent on limiting the level of electronics being used in the premiere class, and has inserted a provision that says that “in MotoGP, only the GPS provided by Dorna is permitted.” Currently MotoGP teams employ GPS systems that know which turn, and where in each turn, the bike is, and adjusts the bike’s suspension, engine map, and other settings for that corresponding section of the track.

While hyper-precise GPS systems could shave tenths of seconds off lap times, they also create an arms race in electronic controls, which in-turn raises the costs of racing. With Dorna supplying the unit, or failing to provide a GPS entirely (plot twist!), the use of such advanced electronics could no longer exist in 2011.

In addition to these provisions, Dorna has also requested applications for the 2012 Moto3 ECU supplier. Find the full release on the technical regulations and specifications after the jump.

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Antonio Banderas Says Adios to Racing in Moto2 – Kenny Noyes Sent Looking for a Job

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The masked crusader has left Moto2, as Antonio Banderas’ Jack&Jones team has lost its marquee sponsorship. With no way to fund the team, this move by Jack&Jones leaves Kenny Noyes and Gabor Talmacsi high and dry for a ride in the 2011 season. Unless Noyes can find another ride in the four months leading up to the start of next season, Moto2 will be out its only American rider. Noyes had mediocre results during the 2010 season, finishing 24th in the Moto2 World Championship, with some Moto2 commentators attributing that result to his Harris chassis, which wasn’t on par with the FTR, Moriwaki, and Suter packages.

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Aleix Espargaró Steps Down to Moto2

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Another one bites the dust as Aleix Espargaró will leave MotoGP after this weekend, and begin his next season’s preparations with Sito Pons’s Tenerife 40 Pons Racing Moto2 Team. The move leaves another seat open at Pramac Ducati, which will surely be filled by Randy de Puniet next year, as Hiroshi Aoyama is more than likely to take the empty Gresini Honda spot. De Puniet will join Loris Capirossi, who has made the switch from the Rizla Suzuki team, which will be in-turn fielding only one bike in 2011.

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