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MotoGP Agrees On New Measures to Reduce Costs

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The Grand Prix Commission has announced a slew of new rules for MotoGP, supposedly aimed at cutting costs in MotoGP, and thus allowing the manufacturers and teams to compete despite the world’s economic situation. 

The new measures include the following:

  • Race weekends will be rescheduled with Friday’s practice dropped completely, and Saturday’s sessions shortend.
  • From the Czech GP onward, a maximum of 5 engines can be used in 8 races. No changing of parts will be permitted except daily maintenance.
  • Only 2 post race tests will be allowed at the Catalunya and Czech GP’s for development purposes, and only using test riders will be permitted.
  • Ceramic composite materials are not permitted for brake discs or pads.
  • Electronic controlled suspension is not permitted.
  • Launch control systems are not permitted.

 

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MotoGP Adds Bulgarian GP for 2012

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The FIM MotoGP World Championship will arrive in Bulgaria as of 2012, following a preliminary agreement reached between the Bulgarian Motorcycle Federation and Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder for MotoGP. The new five year deal, which will take MotoGP to Bulgaria from 2012 to 2016, marks another step into Eastern Europe for MotoGP, and who recently signed a similar deal for a Hungarian GP.

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Melandri Officially in MotoGP On One Bike Kawasaki Team

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It is now official, Marco Melandri will be on the grid at Qatar for the start of the 2009 season with a factory supported Kawasaki. Kawasaki issued a statement earlier today, stating that the agreement to provide support for the team had come because of “the necessity to come to constructive solutions for all related parties.” Kawasaki throughout the entire saga has had tremendous pressure from Dorna to stay in the racing series, and Dorna was under considerable pressure from FIM to field enough bikes to keep its “Championship” status. Both of these issues seem now solved with Kawasaki’s announcement as the minimum quota of 18 riders is now met.

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Silverstone Set to be the Fastest Track in MotoGP

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Track modifications at the Silverstone circuit look set to make it one of the fastest circuits on the MotoGP calendar, when the MotoGP series heads to the Northamptonshire venue from 2010 onwards. The new Silverstone circuit, which will feature a spectacular new section of track running from the approach at Abbey corner to a tightening ‘Arrowhead’ hairpin at the inside of Becketts, will measure 3.5 miles in length, a third of a mile longer than the existing Grand Prix circuit.

Based on mathematical simulations, HOK Sport, one of the world’s leading sports architecture firms, has calculated that the average lap time for MotoGP riders around the new track would be 1’51.456, racing at an average speed of 113 mph, almost 2mph faster than at Phillip Island, which is currently the fastest circuit in MotoGP.

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Melandri To be On A 2008 Kawasaki At Qatar Tests?

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Marco Melandri has announced on his Facebook profile his intentions for the upcoming MotoGP season. According to the Italian press, Melandri wrote “for the moment, we will test the bike at Losail, we will see whether it’s going to be worth racing the bike after the test: if the bike’s a disaster, we will all go home.”

Furthermore, GPOne.com is reporting that the Italian will be riding an updated version of the 2008 bike at Qatar, which was tested at Valencia and Phillip Island earlier in the testing season. Melandri had previously rejected trying to race this bike, but as this point riding the quasi-2008 bike is better than no ride at all.

Whether this is just idle speculation or a genuine plan, we will see soon enough. The Qatar tests take place at the end of next week, and if Melandri is there on a Kawasaki, we will finally get an inkling of how this story will end.

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Sete Gibernau Will Miss The MotoGP Qatar Test

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Sete Gibernau will be forced to miss the upcoming test at Qatar, due to take place in early March, after the was advised by doctors to let an injured shoulder heal from having a damaged ligament. The injury occurred during training, and  he will need four weeks for the injury to recover properly.

Missing the Qatar test is a bit of a blow to Gibernau, as this would have been his first time riding under the night time lights of the Qatar circuit. This will leave Sete and Niccolo Canepa as the only riders who have not experienced the night conditions at Qatar when the race starts on April 12th.

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Rizla Back as a Sponsor for Suzuki in MotoGP

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We reported to you earlier in the month that . Those rumors seemed all but confirmed when Suzuki showed up to the Sepang testing in the traditional Suzuki racing livery, instead of the usual Rizla powder blue. Things are afoot in the Suzuki camp according to Loris Capirossi. The Italian rider has told GPOne that Rizla has signed a new contract with Suzuki for 2009. According to Capirossi, the deal was done after the Sepang tests, where the Italian and his Australian team mate Chris Vermeulen set some outstanding times.

 

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Edwards and Toseland Rift in Tech3 Widens

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There is little doubt that teammates Colin Edwards and James Toseland are not on the best of terms right now. It all started when Toseland allegedly stole Edwards’s crew chief Garry Reinders. Not to leave no good deed unpunished, Edwards took Toselands crew chief, Guy Coulon, in kind. The flip-flop has left the Tech3 camp in a bit of disarray with both riders now touting how much happier they are, although still very bitter about the outcome. Now Tech3 boss, Herve Poncharal, has weighed in his opinion on the matter.

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Hungary GP Might Be Cancelled

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Motorcycle News is reporting that the , after funding problems have struck construction of the brand new Balatonring circuit. Rumors of the tracks financial problems have been circulating since the end of last year, but MCN is now claiming to have received information from “senior MotoGP officials”. MCN is also reporting that a move to the brand new Portimao circuit in Portugal was mooted, as a replacement for the Balatonring round, but that this was discounted because it would be too close to the official Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril in early October. Given the current calls for cost-cutting in MotoGP, the more popular choice might be for the round to be canceled altogether. Skipping a whole weekend would cut down on expenditure significantly.

 

Source: MotoGP Matters

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Melandri And Kawasaki to Field Single Bike Campaign?

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According to both Tuttosport and Sportmediaset (both members of the overly-excitable and sometime unreliable Italian press), Marco Melandri will be riding a privately run Kawasaki for 2009. In a deal brockered by Carmelo Ezpeleta, the team will be led by Michael Bartholemy. Details are somewhere between sketchy and nonexistent, but it seems that Kawasaki will make all of the 2009-spec bikes available to Bartholemy, who will field a single rider, Marco Melandri.

Shortly after the news broke that Kawasaki would be withdrawing from MotoGP, the factory said that it had enough bikes and parts to last approximately a quarter of a season, and so presumably, this would be enough to run a single rider for at least half the season, or perhaps a little longer if the practice restrictions are pushed through as expected.

Finance for the project will most likely come from Dorna who want to avoid breaching their own contract with the FIM to field at least 18 riders for a world championship, with Kawasaki possibly kicking in some seed money since they don’t want to breach their contract with Dorna. Melandri would presumably be riding the 2009-spec bikes tested by Olivier Jacque in Australia during January, despite reports of poor reliability. 

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