Biker News - Regularly updated

Welcome to our News section, where articles are listed below and if relevant within the categories on the right, just to make it easier for you to find what you wish to read...

Please note that the content within our News section (text and images), follows the same copyright laws/notice as all other content on the website - ie not to be reproduced (including slightly amending) without prior consent. 

 RSS Feed

Category: Moto GP

  1. ITALJET NEW TEHNICAL SPONSOR OF TEAM GRESINI RACING MOTOGP

    Posted on

    The start of the season is already under the belt and the Gresini Family still keeps growing, this time courtesy of the partnership with Italjet, an Italian institution with solid roots in the so-called Motor Valley.
     
    Italjet becomes technical sponsor of Team Gresini MotoGP, who just made their debut under Losail’s floodlights in Qatar last Sunday with the two brothers Alex and Marc Marquez.
     
    The partnership will not stop at the track, as the famous Italian motorcycle manufacturer has already a Gresini Racing-liveried version of its top product DRAGSTER in the works.

    MASSIMO TARTARINI – PRESIDENT & CEO of ITALJET
    “For us it’s an incredible honour to become Technical Sponsor of Team Gresini, a squad that has established itself among the top protagonists of MotoGP – while aiming higher and higher each year. We’re tied to Team Gresini through a solid partnership, and we also have a very strong sense of belonging to our territory, Italy’s Motor Valley. This partnership will also lead to the development of a Dragster Replica with Team Gresini’s colours. The DRAGSTER, which we define as an Urban Superbike, is an ode to sport and its values.”
     
    CARLO MERLINI – GRESINI RACING COMMERCIAL AND MARKETING DIRECTOR
    “I’m very, very pleased to welcome Italjet among Gresini Racing MotoGP’s technical sponsors. We share a very pronounced racing DNA, obviously, but also the fact that we belong to a territory that, as it’s well known, has extremely strong connections to motorsport. We developed with Italjet a dual partnership: on top of the sponsorship, there’ll also be an agreement to develop a Gresini Racing MotoGP replica of the Dragster, the iconic model of the Italjet range that will soon be available in the distinctive colours of team Gresini.”

  2. EXCITING SEASON DEBUT FOR MARQUEZ BROTHERS IN QATAR

    Posted on

    #QatarGP. In Qatar’s Night of the Oscars, the stars of Mac and Alex Marquez shone bright. The #93, in what was his debut with the Gresini Racing-liveried Desmosedici machine, made a stellar start and put together a solid race, even battling with Martin for the podium in the latter stages of the encounter. He was eventually fourth at the chequered flag; Alex Marquez also had a positive Sunday, being the fifth best-placed Ducati rider at the line for a sixth position that bodes well for the upcoming races.
     
    Between sprint race and full Sunday encounter, Team Gresini Racing MotoGP proved to be on scintillating form, leaving Qatar with 31 points, and finishing as second-best team in the opening round of the season. MotoGP proceedings will resume in less than 10 days at Portimão.

    4th - MARC MARQUEZ 
    “I had a go at the podium. I wanted to preserve the front tyre in order to have a little extra at the end of the race, and almost bridged the gap to Martin. Almost, but it’s good this way. If at the Valencia test they’d told me I would have finished fourth today, I would have signed for it. This has never been one of my favourite circuits so fourth place is a good result. We will analyse the data now: Bagnaia finished three seconds ahead of us and he’s the reigning champion. It’s from him we need to learn to further raise the bar.”
     
    6th - ALEX MARQUEZ
    “Qualifying aside, we put together a strong weekend. I managed to stay with the top riders in the race and play my cards. It was hard to attack, especially due to the high temperatures at the front-end. At this track, this is surely a good result, we bring home a good number of points and fresh confidence ahead of the next round.”

     

     

  3. MARC DOES WELL ON THE DRY, EXCELS IN WET CONDITIONS. ALEX IS THERE, TOO.

    Posted on

    The opening day of the #QatarGP turned out to be quite the unusual one, with the rain affecting the second session as well as the weekend schedule. The majority of MotoGP riders chose to move the decisive session to tomorrow, leaving today's final session as second free practice.
     
    This decision was not agreed by Marc and Alex Marquez, who did well in both session. The #93, in particular, was fourth quickest in FP1 and then topped the timesheets in wet conditions. Alex, despite an ongoing issue that is yet to be solved, managed to stay in the top eleven (9th under the rain).
     
    The key practice session for a direct seed to Q2 will take place tomorrow from 13:40 to 14:25, while the sprint race will get underway at 19:00 Doha time.

    4th - MARC MARQUEZ #93 (1’52.801s)
    “First official day and it was important to start with a good feeling without ending up overdoing. It went well, despite the rain… it was a strange day without time attack which was moved to tomorrow. The goal was Q2 and we'll try tomorrow, but the feeling in both dry and wet conditions were good. On the dry there are 3 to 4 riders who are quicker than us, but we need to keep working and keep discovering the bike little by little.”
     
    11th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (1’53.250s)
    “The first day went quite well. This morning we worked on different settings to solve some issues we had in testing. It didn't go exactly how we wanted and the afternoon rain kind of “ruined” our plans. It was still important to ride in the house ain and we adapted well also in th e conditions. Tomorrow will be a stressful Saturday so we need to sleep well tonight.”

     

     

  4. BATTIPAV AND GRESINI EXTEND PARTNERSHIP

    Posted on

    Team Gresini MotoGP and Battipav shake hands once again and will be together in 2024 for a new journey, this time a bit more Spanish-flavoured given the arrival of Marc Marquez to pair up with confirmed brother Alex. 
     
    Present in all countries hosting the MotoGP World Championship, Battipav will make the most of activations and sponsorship synergies.

    The Battipav brand will be visible on the Ducati machines as well as on the leathers of Marcand Alex Marquez, inside Gresini’s MotoGP pit-box and on the team trucks.

    STEFANO TONDINI –BATTIPAV GENERAL MANAGER
    “With the arrival of Marc Marquez, we couldn’t but renew the partnership with the Gresini family for 2024! The Ambassador project by Battipav is going from strenght to strenght, not only in Europe but also around the world: in the most part of this year’s 21 races, the Ambassadors of the Battipav brand will be able to live the #BattipavExperience as protagonists, this year more than ever with the winning duo of the Marquez brothers. Team Gresini and Battipav share core values such as family, passion and Made in Italy with the Red (with a light-blue livery) machine from Borgo Panigale, so we start this 2024 full throttle and together once again!”
     
    CARLO MERLINI – GRESINI RACING COMMERCIAL AND MARKETING DIRECTOR
    “We start a third year together with Battipav, a great international institution and Italian pride. We feel very close and in 2024 we’ll continue to work together with the same approach that has always characterised this partnership. A big thank you goes to Stefano and the whole Battipav family for the trust placed in our project, it’s going to be a very interesting season.”

  5. THE OFFSEASON IS OVER, THE MARQUEZ BROTHERS ARE READY FOR 2024

    Posted on

    The second and final day of official testing at the Losail International Circuit is over, effectively wrapping up the preseason for the MotoGP class. The next outing will be for the 2024 Qatari Grand Prix, taking place at the same venue from the 7th to the 10th of March. Two days of intense practice for Alex and Marc Marquez with different goals, but all in all similar to those targeted in Malaysia two weeks ago.
     
    The feeling with this track is clearly on the rise with regards to Alex Marquez who here, a few months ago, had struggled to find “the sweet spot”. The confidence with the front-end has improved, and with a more stable bike overall, the #73 managed to put together some consistent on-track work on the longer run. On a lesser note, he had a crash at turn 14 during day one, from which he escaped uninjured. 
     
    Despite some minor technical issues (he had to stop at turn 15 after only a lap), Marc Marquez continued his familiarisation with the Desmosedici GP23 also during the second day and the results were not slow in coming. He did well in the time attack (fourth quickest time) as well as on the longer run despite his first crash (at turn 4, without a scratch). 

    “I felt more comfortable with the bike straight away here, I managed to start using the body more and that’s already an improvement. Instincts are still set on another type of motorcycle, but we’re working on that department and changing my riding style. We did well in the time attack, even though it’s still most difficult area for me. We’re improved our pace on the longer run, we tried many things and push towards the limit – while also finding the first crash (turn four). Are we happy? Yes, even though we’re still far from Bagnaia, Bastianini and Martin.”

    13º - ALEX MARQUEZ #73
     
    (Day1 best lap 1’52.556 – 53 laps)
    (Day2 best lap 1’51.944 – 62 laps)

    “Compared to November, the feeling has improved a lot; we had suffered a lot last year here. It must be said that the Losail track changes dramatically between one run and the other and it’s hard to have a smooth progression, but we’re getting there step by step. We’re preparing mostly for the race, so the single-lap performance is not as important. We tried many things even though yesterday’s crash cost us a rear tyre, and that affected our testing programme. We completed a 20-lap long run and we encountered some issues that we’ll need to analyse in the coming two weeks."