MotoGP Features

Michael Dunlop takes to the Sepang track with the Suzuki GSX-RR for his MotoGP test debut.

Michael Dunlop takes to the Sepang track with the Suzuki GSX-RR for his MotoGP test debut.

Michael Dunlop takes to the Sepang track with the Suzuki GSX-RR for his MotoGP test debut.

Michael Dunlop takes to the Sepang track with the Suzuki GSX-RR for his MotoGP test debut as a reward for his 2017 Senior TT victory at the Isle of Man TT.

They may be utilising the near limitless backing of a household sponsor, as well as recruiting some of the best names the industry has to offer.

Dennis Foggia – Sky Racing Team VR46, Moto3

Lorenzo Baldassarri – Pons HP40, Moto2

Alex Rins – Suzuki, MotoGP

Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati, MotoGP

Franco Morbidelli – Marc VDS Honda, MotoGP

Miguel Oliveira - Red Bull KTM, Moto2

Mugello, home of the Italian Grand Prix, holds the all-time MotoGP top speed record of 354.9km/h (220.5mph), by Ducati's Andrea Iannone in 2016. The graph below shows how the maximum speed during the Italian Grand Prix weekend has changed from 1999-2017.

With the 2018 motorsport season ready to get underway it’s time to gaze into our crystal ball and pick out our riders to watch this year.

While one involved in an environment as competitive as the MotoGP paddock can never spend too much time focussing on the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ of life, the temptation to contemplate 'what could have been' is never far away.

‘Normal’ is not an adjective you would associate with a man accustomed to wrestling a 270bhp machine at well over 200mph and whose focus on self-improvement borders on the obsessive.

Click here to read Crash.net's full interview with Joan Mir.

On average, a Honda rider was almost twice as likely to fall compared with a Yamaha rider during the 2017 MotoGP season. But Aprilia riders suffered almost three times the accident average of those at Yamaha.

What did Ducati find at the Catalunya test? Forget mind coaches, if there was a single turning point for Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati's season it probably came during the private test at Catalunya, between the French and Italian MotoGPs.

Scott Redding and the Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP machine will both be attempting some winter weight loss. While the Englishman already looks like he doesn't have an ounce to spare, at 1m 85cm he will take over from Loris Baz as the tallest rider on the MotoGP grid next year.

Having failed to claim a MotoGP podium this season, Suzuki will regain technical concessions in 2018. The factory lost the right to unlimited testing, 9 instead of 7 engine changes and exemption from the engine development freeze after Maverick Vinales claimed four podiums during 2016.

The last two seasons of MotoGP have seen an unprecedented number of race winners and close racing. A record nine riders won a grand prix during the 2016 season, dropping to a still respectable five different winners in 2017.

MotoGP may be planning a future support class for electric bikes , but team bosses doubt they will replace petrol-powered machines in the near future.

Eugene Laverty swapped Aprilia's RSV4 World Superbike for the factory's RS-GP MotoGP racer during an eye-opening private test at Jerez in late November.

Ten months after its public debut at the