2025 Silly Season

AnnoyingTwit said:

Only if performance of the bike improves. Otherwise it's not really a place to shine. I think that it's best if the Japanese manufacturers have experienced riders near the end of their careers, perhaps like Miller, so that new younger riders aren't buried at the back of the grid.

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Fair point, I do think Yamaha will be in better shape next year due to their rapid pace of development.

A few months ago, Quartararo said they were 4 years behind the others. Now he says they are 1 year behind, take it for what it’s worth.

I also think that the Yamaha isn’t THAT bad, certainly not the Widow Maker the RCV is, the problem is that there are 8 Ducatis, 4 Aprilias and at least 2 KTMs that are a few tenth quicker on most days, and that means next to no chance for a direct to Q2 placement.

Sennas_Caress said:

I heard yesterday that Rins had spoken to riders about retiring. He came back too soon, from his injury. That is the first injury I saw live, trackside, and I must say I was very surprised that it might have been a career ending one. It did look so severe.

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I won’t be surprised at all. The poor guy got married in a wheel chair and he still walks around with a pronounced limp. This is a Tito Rabat or Alberto Puig level injury, not only career changing, but life changing.

Sennas_Caress said:

At Honda, Mir is finished. The noises coming out of that garage is that he is not someone they would like to retain, and he has been very vocal about HRC ruining riders, except for their bank accounts.

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Real time footage of Mir

synn said:

I won’t be surprised at all. The poor guy got married in a wheel chair and he still walks around with a pronounced limp. This is a Tito Rabat or Alberto Puig level injury, not only career changing, but life changing.

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On the other hand after further surgery Mick Doohan while not participating in marathons reputedly walks fairly normally these days.

Well I went to bed with rumours, and woke up with confirmations.

Vinales to KTM is very surprising for me. I'm not sure of the attaction for either party tbh, except for Lex(?) point about maybe seeing what the KTM is really capable of in testing. I sense this was a very emotional decision from what Rivola is saying. Seems like Vinales felt like he was disrespected by not being told of Martin's signing (in all honesty, it happened so quickly I'm not sure anyone could have told him ahead of time). However, he must have been in contact with KTM previously because it's rare for things to happen that quickly. Hot money was on him taking a Honda ride.
To me, it screams like Mdub said of his impulsive character, and forgetting that Aprilia were the ones that rescued him from the MotoGP junk heap after his stock was at an all time low. Maybe he had visions of when Fabio came in to Yamaha and comprehensively outperformed him and didn't want a repeat? Where people talking about him being now able to go for a solid record of winning on 4 manufacturers, I simply see him going down in the history books as having many chances with race and championship winning teams, and squandering them all...

I would like to see Mir at Aprilia as others have said, but they say they want an Italian rider. I'm not sure Oliveria is going to have a job after all this merry go round and if rumours of Rins retiring are gaining traction, that's concerning.

Lenovo Ducati
Francesco Bagnaia
Marc Marquez

Red Bull KTM
Brad Binder
Pedro Acosta

Aprilia Racing
Jorge Martin
TBC (Bezzechi? Mir? Diggia?)

Repsol Honda
TBC (Jack Miller, Oliveria?)
Luca Marini

Monster Yamaha
Fabio Quartararo
? (Likely Alex Rins is retained)

Red Bull KTM Tech 3
Enea Bastiannini
Maverick Vinales

Pramac Ducati (Yamaha?)
TBC (Miguel Oliveira, Joan Mir?)
TBC (Miguel Oliveira, Joan Mir, Franco Morbidelli?)

VR46 Ducati
Marco Bezzechi?
Diggia? Morbidelli? Aldeguer?

Gresini Ducati
Alex Marquez
TBC (Miguel Oliveira, Joan Mir? Femin Aldeguer)

Trackhouse Racing Aprilia
TBC (Miguel Oliveira, Joan Mir?)
TBC (Raul Fernandez Likely to be retained)

LCR Honda
Johann Zarco
Takaagi Nakagami? Ai Ogura?

MdubSTYLIE said:

Maverick "The ....." Vinales.

Dude has more lives than a cat. What did you guys think I meant?

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Like Fernandez, I think he has pics of top level people in the paddock in orgies or something...

#22 said:

Like Fernandez, I think he has pics of top level people in the paddock in orgies or something...

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Top Gato is an absolute moron. He left Aprilia because he most likely didn't want to be #2 to Martin. So he decided to be the #4 at KTM. He won't last two yeas there.

MdubSTYLIE said:

Top Gato is an absolute moron. He left Aprilia because he most likely didn't want to be #2 to Martin. So he decided to be the #4 at KTM. He won't last two yeas there.

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But he will have a Red Bull sponsored retirement plan, while the best Aprilia offered was probably a half eaten Calzone.

KTM better be working on improving their engine rev limiter....

Spalders knows what he’s talking about

synn said:

Spalders knows what he’s talking about

2027 MotoGP rule change ‘very beneficial’ to Yamaha’s Inline 4 engine

The new 2027 MotoGP technical rules could be 'very beneficial' for Yamaha's inline four-cylinder engine.

www.crash.net

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Well if they can get the M1 back to the old corner speed monster it used to be, 2027 is going to be an even more interesting season than it's already shaping up to be.

I have to say, this has been one of the strangest silly seasons I've seen unfold in quite sometime and we're not even done.

If Mir decides to bolt for Aprilia, that is going to leave the factory Honda seat open next to Marini. So who goes there? Jack Miller?

MdubSTYLIE said:

Top Gato is an absolute moron. He left Aprilia because he most likely didn't want to be #2 to Martin. So he decided to be the #4 at KTM. He won't last two yeas there.

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Spot on. He bailed before Martin could hand him his ...!

synn said:

Spalders knows what he’s talking about

2027 MotoGP rule change ‘very beneficial’ to Yamaha’s Inline 4 engine

The new 2027 MotoGP technical rules could be 'very beneficial' for Yamaha's inline four-cylinder engine.

www.crash.net

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Very much agree and thanks for posting. I love technical articles.

I find this statement interesting:

“Here we are with new rules coming in 2027… I’ll put some money down on Honda A) messing up the rider market and B) trying to win the 2026 world championship almost regardless of cost.”

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How does he mean 'messing up the rider market'? Does he mean they will be left out in the cold and not get a decent rider or they will throw so much money and effort into getting a top rider, that it will disrupt the rider market considerably?

The question is, who will they go for? Most of the tip riders are now tied into contracts will the end of 2026. Are they gambling on being competitive by 2026 and then luring a top rider away for the new contract cycle?

JPSLotus said:

I have to say, this has been one of the strangest silly seasons I've seen unfold in quite sometime and we're not even done.

If Mir decides to bolt for Aprilia, that is going to leave the factory Honda seat open next to Marini. So who goes there? Jack Miller?

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I thought last yr was crazy and this yr has topped it already! As much as I'd like Mir to Aprilia, he isn't Italian so is out I think. He could end up at Trackhouse as Davide Brivio rates him highly. If Pramac goes to Yamaha, that would also be a good spot. Who knows? If Rins retires, He could end up at factory Yamaha!

#22 said:

or they will throw so much money and effort into getting a top rider, that it will disrupt the rider market considerably

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This.
Martin would be in his final form by then and could be a candidate for a Coup.

My wildly speculative take on Vinales: He lacks the self-awareness to understand the inconsistency of his results, and his insecurities won't let him take responsibility for those lackluster performances. As far as he's concerned he is always extracting the maximum, which inevitability leads to blaming the bike or the team. He can be the fastest! That he knows. Often when there is no pressure. That he can't see or can't accept. I see his jump to KTM as another instance of blaming the bike and team for the fact that he isn't world champion, just this time he's done it quietly. People can learn and grow after all!

techDmn said:

My wildly speculative take on Vinales: He lacks the self-awareness to understand the inconsistency of his results, and his insecurities won't let him take responsibility for those lackluster performances. As far as he's concerned he is always extracting the maximum, which inevitability leads to blaming the bike or the team. He can be the fastest! That he knows. Often when there is no pressure. That he can't see or can't accept. I see his jump to KTM as another instance of blaming the bike and team for the fact that he isn't world champion, just this time he's done it quietly. People can learn and grow after all!

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Or as someone put it very succinctly recently, he’s bipolar.

JPSLotus said:

I have to say, this has been one of the strangest silly seasons I've seen unfold in quite sometime and we're not even done.

If Mir decides to bolt for Aprilia, that is going to leave the factory Honda seat open next to Marini. So who goes there? Jack Miller?

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It seems to be getting even weirder. Saw something on X that Rins is considering retirement due to his nagging leg injuries.

Mir and Rins have both been linked to potential early retirement due to family and chronic injury.

michaelm said:

On the other hand after further surgery Mick Doohan while not participating in marathons reputedly walks fairly normally these days.

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I'm not one to be narky about ones injuries or experience with them as all different. I rank Rins as one of the best and fastest riders in the paddock. He is in the same level as Pecco, enea, brad etc. supremely smooth and quick. Bad timing and bad bike choice lately.