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Moto2 Silly Season: Who Replaces Rins, Lowes, & Zarco?

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The first half of 2016 has seen a long and intense period of speculation, gossip and conjecture over which rider ends up where in MotoGP.

Big names have jumped from one factory to another, the entry of KTM has opened up opportunities for established satellite riders, and there has been much talk of the rookies entering MotoGP from Moto2 – Sam Lowes to Aprilia, Alex Rins to Suzuki, and Johann Zarco to Tech 3 (though the latter is still to be announced).

What there has been much less talk of is who is to fill their seats. Traditionally, Silly Season for Moto2 and Moto3 starts much later than for MotoGP, speculation and negotiations commencing in the run up to the flyaways, and often only being finalized at Valencia.

But with three of the strongest teams in Moto2 having seats to fill, team managers are looking ahead a little earlier than usual.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Silly Season Update: 2017 Grid Nearly Complete

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MotoGP Silly Season is nearly at an end. With the confirmation that both Jack Miller and Cal Crutchlow will be staying in their seats for 2017, the list of possibly vacant grid slots grew much shorter.

Those that remain empty are growing ever closer to being filled, leaving only three seats open, and one seat still completely free. So, it is time to take a look at the current state of play.

With the announcement that Aleix Espargaro would be joining Aprilia for two years, the last of the factory seats was filled. The factory rides filled up quickly in 2016, starting with Valentino Rossi and Bradley Smith at Qatar, and culminating eight races later at Assen with the signing of Espargaro.

The timing of the Aleix Espargaro/Aprilia announcement was peculiar to say the least. Making a major announcement that a rider had been signed to a factory rider – a signing everyone already knew about – on the Sunday night after one of the most remarkable MotoGP races in recent memory was guaranteed to achieve the absolute minimum of media coverage.

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WSBK

WSBK: Tom Sykes Extends Contract with Kawasaki

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The Kawasaki World Superbike line up will remained unchanged for the next two years. On Monday morning, the Kawasaki Racing Team announced they had signed Tom Sykes to another two-year contract for WorldSBK.

Sykes will line up alongside Jonathan Rea in 2017 and 2018, as he has for this season and last. There had been a lot of speculation that Sykes could jump ship to Ducati, after the Italian factory had handed him a de facto blank check for his signature.

Sykes preferred to remain with Kawasaki, however, despite the animosity in the Kawasaki garage between the two riders.

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MotoGP

MotoGP: Suzuki Signs Alex Rins to a Two-Year Deal

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The next piece in the puzzle which is the 2017 MotoGP grid has fallen into place. As had been widely expected, Alex Rins has signed a two-year deal to race with the factory Ecstar Suzuki team from next year. Rins will line up alongside Andrea Iannone on the Suzuki GSX-RR next season.

Rins had long been favorite to take the second seat at Suzuki, as his profile best suited the Ecstar Suzuki team’s strategy of having young rider with potential alongside a fast, more experienced rider to help lead development.

When Maverick Viñales left for the Movistar Yamaha team, Rins was the name most touted to take his place.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Silly Season Update: Zarco, Rins, & Espargaro

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While Johann Zarco is out in Japan, testing the Suzuki GSX-RR MotoGP bike, the 2017 MotoGP rider line up is starting to solidify further. Ironically, it is looking like Johann Zarco will not be the rider that Suzuki selects to pilot its factory MotoGP bike alongside Andrea Iannone.

Team boss Davide Brivio is in Japan, along with the test team, to finalize their plans for 2017. At Barcelona, Brivio admitted to us that he would be going to discuss Suzuki’s choice of rider for next year.

The Italian acknowledged that both Aleix Espargaro and Alex Rins were under discussion, and though he declined to state a preference, he did say “It’s clear what our choice is.”

The announcement that both Aleix Espargaro and Alex Rins will be in the pre-event press conference in Assen is a further sign that an announcement is imminent.

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MotoGP

Two More Years with Repsol Honda for Marc Marquez

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Marc Marquez has finally agreed terms with HRC to continue in the Repsol Honda team for two more years. Though the fact that Marquez will remain in Honda is not a surprise, there were a number of important details to finalize before Marquez could agree to the deal.

In the press conference on Thursday, ahead of the Barcelona race, the Spaniard said there were three main points which needed agreement: the technical package, the financial aspect, and ensuring that he kept his current team around him.

Marquez’s deal, and the announcement by KTM that they have signed Pol Espargaro, leaves only a seat at Aprilia and a seat at Suzuki unfilled.

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MotoGP

KTM Signs Pol Espargaro to a Two-Year Deal

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As expected, we didn’t have long to wait to find where Pol Espargaro would be working next season, as KTM has announced that it has signed a two-year contract with the Spanish rider, for the 2017 and 2018 MotoGP seasons.

Espargaro’s departure from the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 was announced earlier this morning, along with the news that his direct contract with Yamaha Racing would not be renewed.

The change from Yamaha to KTM won’t be a dramatic shift though, as Pol Espargaro will be joined by his current teammate, Bradley Smith, at the Austrian brand’s factory team as well.

KTM hopes to capitalize on both riders’ feedback on developing the KTM RC16 race bike, as well as their promising pace for strong results.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Silly Season Update: Filling the Leftover Factory Seats & Satellite Speculation

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In any other year, the approaching weekend at Barcelona would see speculation around MotoGP’s Silly Season nearing its peak, with a spate of contracts signed in the weeks which follow. But this is not any other year.

Going into the 2016 Gran Premi de Catalunya at the Montmeló circuit, eight of the twelve factory seats open for next season have already been filled, while a ninth is just a matter of days away.

Of the remaining three, only the seat at Aprilia is truly up for grabs, the open seats at Suzuki and KTM already having riders penciled in. It is truly a bizarre year.

So where are we so far? The seats at the factory Ducati and Yamaha teams are all taken, with Andrea Dovizioso partnering Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati while Maverick Viñales joins Valentino Rossi at Movistar Yamaha.

Repsol Honda is as good as complete: Dani Pedrosa has already signed on for two more years, while Marc Márquez acknowledged at the press launch for the Barcelona MotoGP race that he would “definitely continue with this bike.” He will sign a contract with Honda again, but he wants it to be a “perfect” contract.

Suzuki, KTM, and Aprilia all have one rider signed already. Sam Lowes’ seat at Aprilia was settled already two years ago, when he signed for Gresini to race in Moto2 in 2016, and MotoGP for 2017 and 2018.

Bradley Smith was the next to slot into place, signing on for the first seat at KTM ahead of the first race of this year. And Andrea Iannone took over at ECSTAR Suzuki after Viñales announced he was leaving, and Ducati announced they were keeping Dovizioso.

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MotoGP

Officially Official: Maverick Viñales to Movistar Yamaha

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Since we already reported earlier this week that Maverick Viñales had signed a two-year deal with Yamaha Racing, riding alongside Valentino Rossi in the Movistar Yamaha team for 2017 and 2018, we won’t rehash the details again for you.

Instead, for those who doubted the initial report, this post is merely a note in the official record that Yamaha has now officially confirmed the addition of Viñales to its factory MotoGP, just ahead of the Italian GP in Mugello. Officially.

Together with the contract-signing news of Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, and Andrea Iannone, this confirmation solidifies most of the silly season rumors for the top factory teams in the MotoGP Championship.

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MotoGP

Andrea Iannone Signs with ECSTAR Suzuki in MotoGP

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The MotoGP silly season has been rapidly developing this week. First, Dani Pedrosa renewed his contract with Repsol Honda, and then we heard that Maverick Viñales would be headed to the Movistar Yamaha team for the next two years.

Next, we got confirmation that Andrea Dovizioso would continue with Ducati Corse, with Jorge Lorenzo as his teammate for next year, which meant that Andrea Iannone would be leaving the Italian squad.

Iannone’s future was quickly decided though, as the Italian rider has just inked a two-year deal with the ECSTAR Suzuki squad, taking the seat of the departed Maverick Viñales.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Silly Season Update: Pedrosa to Honda, Viñales to Yamaha, & Who Else?

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After the drama and speculation at Le Mans, it will be Maverick Viñales who will join Valentino Rossi in the Movistar Yamaha team in 2017.

The reports pegging Dani Pedrosa for the seat alongside Rossi turn out to have been wrong, despite coming from highly credible sources.

On Friday, Spanish magazine website Solomoto reported that Viñales flew to Milan to sign the contract at Yamaha Motor Racing headquarters in Gerno di Lesmo, a stone’s throw from the Monza circuit.

Solomoto’s report was followed by a deluge of other Spanish news sites reporting the same facts, though citing different sources. This makes it more likely that the news really is true this time, and that Viñales has indeed signed with Yamaha (after the time of this writing, this deal has since been confirmed to Asphalt & Rubber -JB).

The deal will see Viñales sign for two years alongside Rossi, with the announcement to be made on Thursday at Mugello.

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