MotoGP 2019

First race of the season this coming Sunday, can't wait!

Mods, please be so kind as to sticky this thread?

EDIT: @bwana are you a mod in the sport section? Can you sticky this thread please?
 
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Racing starts from 15:45 on Sunday culminating in the feature event at 18:55
 
Can't wait.
Qualifying on Saturday at 19h00.
 
Just keep an eye on race times this weekend. Seems the riders are calling for an earlier start to the MotoGP race amid concerns about the weather

Riders want Qatar MotoGP to start earlier over safety fears

Leading MotoGP riders on Thursday urged safety officials at this year's traditional Qatar season-opener to move the race's start time forward an hour amid ongoing concerns over Doha weather conditions. Defending champion Marc Marquez, challenger Jorge Lorenzo and Alex Rins are among those calling on a safety panel to push Sunday's race to 7pm (1600 GMT) to combat heat, humidity and wind in the desert state. "Last year the race started at 7 and it was really good, it's less risk," said Marquez, speaking at a press conference.

He was backed by other riders, including fellow Spaniard Rins. "For me, if you race at 7, it's safer," said Rins, who crashed out of last year's Qatar Grand Prix. The argument to move the start time over trackside temperatures has been rumbling in the days before the season's curtain-raiser. Lorenzo, widely considered to be the main challenger to Marquez who is his new Honda stablemate, is one of those who has raised concerns after crashing in pre-season testing, claiming it could be "dangerous" to keep it at 8pm (1700 GMT). It is forecast to be a maximum of 24 degrees Celsius (75 Fahrenheit) in Doha on Sunday, though several degrees cooler by the evening. There are also concerns over the gusty conditions especially on some exposed parts of the Losail track.
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More at Supersport.com
 
The top 12 tomorrow. No Rossi, no Lorenzo (another big crash in Q1)

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What a mad mad Moto3 race!! Imsane skills from the sea guys. 1.5 seconds covering 13 riders and they kept it clean and fair. Wonderful stuff from Toba to win.
 
Great Moto2 race as well. Tom Luthi back with a bang from his year in MotoGP; running Lorenzo Baldassari close.

Binder and KTM have some serious work to do before Argentina.
 
Dovi's last lap... check that, turn ten and last corner, was ridiculous. Vale in fifth... Cal's podium... That Suzuki...

What a brilliant race.
 
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+0,023s

Rossi in 5th was +0,600s
 
Hmm. One race in and there's already controversy

Ducati's Qatar GP win remains subject to appeal

Andrea Dovizioso will know by the end of the month whether his victory stands from the season-opening MotoGP race in Qatar after four rival teams protested the legality of the Italian's Ducati. The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) said in a statement on Wednesday that the MotoGP Court of Appeal would make a ruling before the Argentine Grand Prix on March 31.

The Honda and Suzuki factory teams, along with Aprilia and KTM, protested to Qatar GP stewards about a device on the rear swingarm of the Ducatis ridden by Dovizioso, teammate Danilo Petrucci and Australian Jack Miller. Petrucci finished sixth for the works Ducati team while Pramac Ducati's Miller qualified fourth but retired after his bike's seat came loose.

The bone of contention is a winglet in front of the Ducati's rear tyre, which the Italian manufacturer says is for cooling purposes but which rivals argue illegally creates aerodynamic downforce. MotoGP stewards rejected the protest last Sunday but the teams lodged an appeal, which was referred on to the MotoGP court of three judges.

"The result of the Qatar Grand Prix stands, subject to the final decision of the MotoGP Court of Appeal," said the FIM. Dovizioso beat Repsol Honda's reigning world champion Marc Marquez by 0.023 seconds after a wheel-to-wheel duel at the Losail desert circuit in the floodlit night race.
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I assume this is the offending piece?

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From Autosport.com

While the protest against Ducati at the Qatar Grand Prix was quickly dismissed, it's easy to see why its rivals are appealing.

The case centres around a winglet on the bottom of the Ducati, in front of the rear tyre. It was trialed by factory rider Danilo Petrucci, and then used by Petrucci, his victorious team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and Pramac's Jack Miller in the Losail race in Qatar. Ducati has defended the part's legality as a method of cooling the tyre, but the protesting teams have a lot of reasons to argue that the piece creates downforce - which would make it illegal under the rules designed to control the proliferation of winglets in recent seasons.

The main driving force of the complaint was Massimo Rivola, newly appointed as Aprilia's racing CEO and a man with more than 20 years of experience in the Formula 1 paddock; he worked for Minardi and Toro Rosso before landing at Ferrari. At the beginning of March, some days before the start of the season, MotoGP technical director Danny Aldridge sent a note to the teams covering the use of add-ons such as the one Ducati ran in Qatar. In the previous version of the regulations it was clear that such a deflector could only be used in wet races, as its main function was to evacuate water from around the tyre in order to guarantee rider safety. The new rules add-on opened the door to its use in dry races, after Ducati warned that in that case such a piece could be used to cool the rear tyre. In the eyes of the other manufacturers (Yamaha decided to stay out of this, as it used a similar device in the wet race at Valencia last year) it is more than clear that the winglet has an aerodynamic benefit. These concerns were expressed to Race Direction with the support of an extensive technical file prepared by Rivola, which strongly emphasised the downforce created by Ducati's part.

"Some weeks ago, Ducati went to the technical director with an appendix for the rear swingarm and a cover for the front tyre," explained Suzuki team manager Davide Brivio. "It contended that its main function was to decrease the temperature of the rear tyre. "The technical director gave his approbation and set some rules for the teams on March 4." Before submitting a formal complaint, as established by the protocol (which means after the start of the race), Rivola and Brivio got in contact with Ducati's general director Gigi Dall'Igna to let him know that in the event that one of his bikes ran the deflector, they were going to submit a protest. And they did it fully aware that the ambiguity of the regulations would make the stewards dismiss the complaint in first instance, and convinced that this case would be decided by the appeal of the motorcycle racing's governing body the FIM. And so it will be. "Ducati supplied the racing bikes of its three riders with new appendixes, and that provoked us to complain," Brivio added.
"We did it because we wanted to clarify the situation once and for all."

For Aprilia, Suzuki, Honda and KTM, the reasons Ducati has given for its new part aren't just false - they are also full of contradictions. They are sceptical about Ducati's insistence that the main function of the deflector was for tyre cooling because track temperature didn't reach 25 degrees Centigrade in Qatar so the main challenge was to sufficiently warm the tyres rather than to keep them cool. And given that, just as in F1, minimising excess weight is vital on a MotoGP bike, they're also convinced that the part has to have a substantial enough performance benefit to be worth the extra weight it adds. A verdict from the FIM is expected within days.
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Race start times for Sunday's Argentine GP (SA time). As the F1 finishes, the MotoGP starts. Petrolhead bliss!!

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Marquez on pole but apparently the top 5 are covered by less than 3 tenths of a second so it should hopefully be good racing. Vinales and Dovi round out the front row.

Ducati it seems have been cleared of any irregularities surrounding their supposedly illegal bike they used in Qatar.
 
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