Qatar MotoGP 2016

No more testing, the 2016 MotoGP championship finally gets underway at the 3.3 mile floodlit Losail circuit, with all signs pointing towards reigning champ Jorge Lorenzo as the man to beat.

The factory Yamaha rider set an incredible 11 laps under the lap records over the winter, while his team-mate and rival Valentino Rossi only managed one.

Will Marquez finally click with the new Honda, control ECU and Michelin tyres, or will he just be an occasional annoyance for the title contenders? And let's not forget th surprise of winter testing - wunderkid Maverick Vinales, who pushed Lorenzo all the way in testing in just his second year on the Suzuki.

Year: ALL

Final race colours for Ducati

11 February 2003

These are the first pictures of the new Ducati Desmosedici V4 Moto GP bike in its final race decals. The bike was on show today at the bikes official launch alongside the leathers that riders Troy...

Checa beats Biaggi’s best

11 February 2003

Carlos Checa beat Max Biaggi’s pole-setting time at Catalunya in his latest test of the factory Yamaha Moto GP bike this week. Despite a crash on Monday that left him with a just few bruises, Checa...

Negotiations ongoing for Donington

04 February 2003

Race fans will find out if Donington Park is to undergo a multi-million pound facelift by the end of this month. Negotiations between a consortium looking to buy out the 19-year lease to promote...

British 125 champ moves to GPs

04 February 2003

Who would have thought that it would be a footballer that would provide the break for a British rider to make the jump in to GPs. But that is exactly what has happened to 21-year-old Chris Martin. The...

Biaggi and Ukawa get Camel colours

28 January 2003

MotoGP team Honda Pons will be sponsored by tobacco brand Camel cigarettes for the next three years. The Camel Pramac Pons team are fielding Max Biaggi and Tohru Ukawa this year, both riding the...

MotoGp Test round-up

21 January 2003

Both Honda and Ducati have just finished testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, so here is how it went. MCN’s Matthew Birt has been out in Malaysia, and you’ll be able to read his full, exclusive...

Burns and Waldmann team up for MotoGP

14 January 2003

Chris Burns and GP veteran Ralf Waldmann have been announced as the riders for the Yamaha-based Harris WCM. Waldmann hasn’t raced full-time in GPs since 2000, but holds the dubious distinction of...

Top F1 designer joins Proton KR

07 January 2003

Formula One designer John Barnard has joined Proton KR as technical director. Barnard has worked for teams throughout Formula One, including McLaren, Ferrari, Benetton, Arrows and Prost. Successes...

Rossi tips Ducati for 2003

01 January 2003

MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi predicts Ducati rider Loris Capirossi will be a major threat in 2003. Capirossi has beaten lap records at Jerez and Phillip Island in testing. On the final day of...

Rossi faces bomb terror

16 December 2002

It’s hard to believe, but Valentino Rossi is under police protection after he was named in a message included with a letter bomb. The message mentioned Rossi because of his links with Honda MotoGP...

Capirossi stuns in Ducati test

02 December 2002

Ducati’s MotoGP squad will be waking up this morning sore from the volume of back-slapping doled out at Jerez yesterday. Loris Capirossi blazed around the Spanish circuit in a time that would have put...

Casey Stoner takes factory 125 ride

02 December 2002

Teenage Aussie ace Casey Stoner has taken the offer of a factory 125cc Aprilia ride for 2003. He said: ” It’s pretty exciting news to get just before Christmas. I’m really looking forward to getting...

The R1 built to take on Rossi

02 December 2002

This is the British-built bike that’s going to take on the world in next year’s MotoGP championship. Top tuning squad Harris, based in Hertford, will design the machine, based on a heavily-modified...

Ukawa to partner Biaggi at Pramac

25 November 2002

West Honda Pons has just confirmed that Tohru Ukawa will partner Max Biaggi on its V5 RCV in 2003. Ukawa, who rode for the factory Repsol Honda effort alongside Valentino Rossi, finished thrid overall...

Edwards’ bruising Aprilia debut

18 November 2002

Colin Edwards and Noriyuki Haga began their pre-season tests on the Aprilia RS3 yesterday at the Spanish circuit of Jerez, with Edwards marking his debut with a crash. The reigning WSB champ was...

Hayden’s RCV debut

11 November 2002

Honda’s MotoGP new boy Nicky Hayden made his RCV debut at Motegi in Japan yesterday. The 21-year-old American completed just 50 laps of the Twin Ring circuit on the 220bhp V5 – a world away from the...

Rossi’s rally starts today

11 November 2002

Valentino Rossi’s Rally of Great Britain gets under way today. The reigning MotoGP champion will be tackling the tough Welsh forests from around 8pm this evening. Click on the links on the right to...

MotoGP 2003: The teams, the riders

11 November 2002

This year’s MotoGP silly season, as the annual contract hunt is known, will go down as one of the most unpredictable and protracted in living memory. But the fog of confusion has lifted and here’s...

Update: Rossi crashes out of Rally

11 November 2002

Valentino Rossi scored a spectacular first in the Rally of Britain this morning – by being the first person to retire. After climbing to 25th place after last night’s special stage, this morning the...

Vincent takes No.1 plate to KTM

11 November 2002

Newly crowned 125cc world champion Arnaud Vincent will take his number one plate to KTM for next season. Vincent, who became the first Frenchman ever to win the title, will ride alongside 2000...

First MotoGP tests underway

04 November 2002

The 2002 season only finished on Sunday, but riders are already testing ahead of next season. Max Biaggi and Sete Giberanu remained behind at Valencia, the scene of Sunday’s season finale, to get...

Haga to join Edwards at Aprilia

04 November 2002

Aprilia has confirmed that the Samurai of Slide himself Noriyuki Haga will join Colin Edwards on the Aprilia RS3 in MotoGP next year. The squad will also switch to the favoured Michelin tyres away...

Yamaha announces new sponsor

04 November 2002

Yamaha has just signed a two-year deal with the tobacco giant Altadis to sponsor its factory MotoGP squad. Altadis is the parent company to Fortuna, Spain’s number one selling brand of cigarettes.

Capirossi tests Ducati MotGP bike

04 November 2002

Loris Capirossi made his debut on the Desmosedeci MotoGP bike today as his Ducati Corse team began testing at Valencia. It was the 29-year-old Italian’s first chance to ride a four-stroke and he put...

Barros signs for Gauloises Yamaha

04 November 2002

Alex Barros has ended his four-year relationship with Honda to move to the Gauloises Yamaha squad. The 32-year-old Brazilian, revitalised by Honda RCV four-stroke, took two wins this season for the...

McCoy to test Kawasaki ZX-RR

04 November 2002

Garry McCoy will join Regis Laconi to test Kawasaki’s ZX-RR MotoGP four-stroke this Tuesday. The pair will remain behind in Valencia, the scene of Sunday’s final GP of the 2002 season, for the...

Barros on provisional pole in Valencia

01 November 2002

Alex Barros has taken provisional pole in Valencia ahead of the final MotoGP round of 2002 on Sunday. The Brazilian posted a time of 1’33.584 on his West Honda RCV, edging out Yamaha’s Max Biaggi by...

Biaggi on pole in Valencia

01 November 2002

If they weren’t already ruing their dismissal of Max Biaggi in August Yamaha bosses must certainly be kicking themselves hard now after the mercurial Italian slotted his M1 on pole in Valencia...

Barros denies Rossi record in Valencia

01 November 2002

Brazilian Alex Barros denied Valentino Rossi an historic 12th win in one season when he nicked the win in the final 2002 MotoGP round in Valencia today. There was drama right at the start, when Carlos...

KTM names Locatelli in 125 squad

28 October 2002

KTM has named one of the riders it will field in the 2003 125GP season. Roberto Locatelli, the 2000 125cc champion, returns to the minnow class after an indifferent 2002 season in the 250s. He’ll be...

Bayliss to debut Ducati at Valencia

28 October 2002

Troy Bayliss will give Ducati’s new MotoGP machine its public debut at the Valencia Grand Prix on November 3. He’ll be riding the Desmosedeci V4 four-stroke on a few demonstration laps ahead of the...

Telefonica rings changes at Suzuki

28 October 2002

Telefonica Movistar, the Spanish mobile phone giant, has ended its two-year association with the Suzuki MotoGP squad. This weekend’s Valencia GP will be the last time Suzukis will sport the famous...

Buster Roberts passes away

28 October 2002

THE Grand Prix racing paddock is in mourning after the death of one of its biggest personalities. Buster Roberts, father to Kenny Roberts Snr, passed away last night (October 27) in hospital in California after a brief illness. He was 81. Buster was the driving forced behind the dynasty which has seen two generations of Roberts win GP world titles, having put Kenny Snr on a bike before his eighth...

Barros back on top, Down Under

21 October 2002

Alex Barros has continued his excellent run of form on the Honda RCV with a provisional pole start in Friday’s qualifying ahead of the Australian MotoGP round on Sunday. The West Honda rider ‘s time of 1’33.002 around the 2.78 mile Phillip Island circuit was just a tenth ahead of home favourite Garry McCoy on the Red Bull Yamaha YZR two-stroke. As if to prove the strokers have one last hurrah left...

Rossi wins in Oz

21 October 2002

Valentino Rossi continued his amazing season with victory in Australia. He finished at the head of five Hondas, sharing the podium with Alex Barros and Tohru Ukawa. Daijiro Katoh and Jurgen van den Goorbergh took fourth and fifth. Max Biaggi was the leading non-Honda, ahead of Nobuastsu Aoki who finished seventh on the Proton KR. Eighth was Olivier Jacque, ninth Kenny Roberts Jr and tenth Jeremy...

Rossi warms up for rally debut

21 October 2002

Valentino Rossi has been warming up for his rallying debut in next month’s Rally of Great Britain with a special test of his World Rally Championship (WRC) – spec Peugeot 206. There’s a rare personal...