Remove this Banner Ad

2013 MotoGP

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

DREAM TEAM BUFF

DREAM TEAM BUFF

Brownlow Medallist
10k Posts The Fred Medal Ex-Moderator
Feb 9, 2011
22,677
4,663
Western Australia
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
MUFC & HRT
Life after Casey Stoner since announcing that he was done with Moto GP.​
Lets get behind Byran Staring this season i would be happy if he is around the top 10 mark this season.​
I am hoping Miller & Sissis take the next step this year in Moto3.​
Let's not forget Ant West in Moto2. ​
​
Round 1 - 07 April – Qatar* Doha/Losail​
Round 2 - 21 April – Americas, Austin​
Round 3 - 05 May – Spain (STC), Jerez de la Frontera​
Round 4 - 19 May – France, Le Mans​
Round 5 - 02 June – Italy, Mugello​
Round 6 - 16 June – Catalunya, Catalunya​
Round 7 - 29 June – Netherlands**, Assen​
Round 8 -14th of July– Germany, Sachsenring​
Round 9 - 21 July – United States***, Laguna Seca​
Round 10 - 18 August – Indianapolis, Indianapolis​
Round 11 - 25 August – Czech Republic, Brno​
Round 12 - 01 September – Great Britain, Silverstone​
Round 13 - 15 September – San Marino & Riviera di Rimini, Marco Simoncelli Misano​
Round 14 - 29 September – Aragón, Motorland​
Round 15 - 13 October – Malaysia, Sepang​
Round 16 - 20 October – Australia, Phillip Island​
Round 17 - 27 October – Japan, Motegi​
Round 18 - 10 November – Valencia, Ricardo Tormo-Valencia​
​

* Evening Race **, Saturday Race ***, Only MotoGP class, STC (Subject to the Contract)​
 
I assume the single asterisk is for the Night Race, the double asterisk is for the Saturday Race, and the triple asterisk for MotoGP Only?
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

Remove this Banner Ad

It seems Marquez is not going to have a problem making an impact from race 1! the kid is a jet! Really looking forward to the season already but lucky WSBK starts this weekend so that will keep me going till April!
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

2013 MotoGP – The loss of a legend, the dawn of a new era and the return of the king.

This weekend marks the beginning of the 2013 MotoGP racing season at the Losail circuit in Qatar. It is a season that looks markedly different to that of 2012 with some significant changes. Possibly the most significant change (especially for us Australians) is the loss of Casey Stoner to retirement. Casey will go down in the history of motorcycle grand prix racing as a figure of legendary status – a reputation for skill and talent of mythical proportions alongside the likes of Hailwood and Spencer. The series will miss him, both as a racer and also for his unique personality that sees him such a loved or hated figure. But MotoGP will go on as it is bigger than the individual and new blood is set to fill the void that Casey leaves. That new blood comes in the form of Spanish wunderkind (where does Spain keep finding them!) Marc Marquez. Spectacular, perhaps reckless but undoubtedly fast, Marquez enters the blue riband class the most hyped youngster since two-time champ, Jorge Lorenzo. If testing is to go by, he will quickly give the establishment the hurry-up. The other major change for 2013, and more many the biggest change, is the return of the great Valentino Rossi to Yamaha. After two wasted seasons aboard the difficult and uncompetitive Ducati, Rossi is set to redeem himself back aboard his comfortable and familiar YZR-M1.

The 2013 championship will be run over 18 rounds, visiting 13 countries spread over 5 continents. Notably, the USA have gained a third round in the Circuit of the Americas track in Texas. The calendar looks like this:

07 April - Qatar - Doha/Losail
21 April - Americas - Austin
05 May - Spain - Jerez de la Frontera
19 May - France - Le Mans
2 June - Italy - Mugello
16 June - Catalunya - Circuit de Catalunya
29 June - Netherlands - TT Assen
14 July - Germany - Sachsenring
21 July - United States - Laguna Seca
18 August - Indianapolis - Indianapolis
25 August - Czech Republic - Brno
01 September - Great Britain - Silverstone
15 September - San Marino & Riviera di Rimini - Marco Simoncelli Misano
29 September - Aragón - MotorLand Aragón
13 October - Malaysia - Sepang
20 October - Australia - Phillip Island
27 October - Japan - Motegi
10 November - Valencia - Ricardo Tormo-Valencia

Team lineups:

Factory team:
Yamaha Factory Team:
Jorge Lorenzo – the reigning champion surely starts as at least a warm favourite to retain his crown this year. In 2012, Jorge came into the season the best prepared of everyone, winning early to give him a buffer when Pedrosa’s onslaught kicked in late in the season. Testing has shown he’s lost none of the robotic-like consistency and this year he’ll be aiming to repeat. He will have to be on his game to beat a resurgent Dani Pedrosa and it remains to be seen whether his regained teammate and bitter enemy, Valentino Rossi, will upset the applecart with his much famed head games.

Valentino Rossi – the greatest of all time? Rossi’s reputation has been somewhat tarnished by his much hyped but dismally failed tenure at Ducati. He is out to restore order in 2013, set to prove he still has what it takes to be competitive. Publically he has announced his goal to be just to score regular podiums and win a race again but it’s hard to think that he would believe that title out of his grasp. He will be back at the pointy end this year but is unlikely to be the dominant force of old.

Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa – a fast finish to the 2012 season saw Dani finish second in the title to Lorenzo but importantly, he scored the most race wins. Dani had by far his best season in the top class last year and comes into 2013 chock full o’ confidence. The question mark nevertheless remains – was he genuinely faster than Lorenzo to finish 2012 or was Jorge holding back in the knowledge that no mistakes meant championship glory. 2013 offer Dani the chance to set the record straight.

Marc Marquez – is he Repsols next Doohan or next Dani? The most hyped rookie since Jorge Lorenzo in 2008 to enter MotoGP has many believing that the future of the sport has arrived. On the back of a dominant Moto2 campaign that saw him crowned champion last year and impressive testing times set on his Honda during the pre-season, much is expected of Marquez. But he is not without his detractors. A number of incidents, coming together with other riders over the last couple of years have seen him oft labelled reckless. For many though, his aggression is just the shake up the series needs. Either way, he’ll definitely be one to watch.

Ducati Factory Team
Nicky Hayden – 2012 was looking reasonably impressive for Nicky in the early to mid goings. Regularly out-qualifying and beating his much more decorated teammate in Rossi, it all went south for him when injuries hit and continued to bite as the season wore on. This year gives him the opportunity to come out of the shadows of Rossi and Stoner and establish himself as number 1 in the team. It would still seem a forlorn hope though to think he could do any better than a finish of 5th.

Andrea Dovizioso – leaving the Yamaha Tech 3 satellite team for the career killing Ducati squad is a huge but worthwhile gamble for Dovi. On the one hand, the Ducati is a weaker bike than even a satellite Yamaha or probably even Honda but the potential for improvement is so much greater, especially now with Audi at the helm to guide the Bologne bullet towards success. Andrea will need to call on all his reserves of talent to be competitive and the battle he has with Nicky Hayden will be intriguing.

Satelite team:
Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Cal Crutchlow – bemoaning all season about his lack of a factory bike, Cal finally cracked it for a podium finish to partially silence his critics that advised he didn’t deserve a factory ride when he was being outridden by his teammate. After getting knocked back by Ducati for 2013, Crutchlow has stuck with the French Tech3 team and the familiarity seems to have done him good with blistering pace in testing seeing him amongst the factory boys. The concern will be if his machinery can remain that competitive all year.

Bradley Smith – a highly controversial signing into MotoGP – he was signed up on the back of a mildly impressive 2011 Moto2 season – Smith is determined to prove the naysayers wrong. Testing has shown that he does have some talent but it appears a very steep learning curve for him. 2013 would seem to be his only shot at MotoGP so he better learn to swim very quickly because there’s plenty of sharks lining up to take his ride.

LCR Honda
Stefan Bradl – the 2011 Moto2 champion was a bit of an unknown quantity heading into his rookie MotoGP season in 2012. Arguably “gifted” his Moto2 title by a late season eye injury to Marquez, Bradl proved his title was no fluke showing plenty of speed on the lone LCR satellite Honda. Again running as a single entity, Bradl has better equipment this season with Honda providing him factory parts giving him an excellent chance of securing that elusive first podium. It won’t be easy though in a field of great talent.

Go & Fun Honda Gresini
Alvaro Bautista – running a bike using different suspension to everyone else on the grid is no easy task yet that is what Bautista had to do in 2012 and will do again in 2013 with the Gresini Honda utilising Showa suspension again. It’s an important year for Bautista who has had a mildly impressive MotoGP career with few top finishes, he really needs to cement himself as a top talent worthy of a MotoGP ride and fight off the incoming talents demanding opportunity.

Pramac Ducati Racing
Ben Spies – 2012 was a bitterly disappointing year for Spies, marred by a string of mechanical failures including some bizarre situations like his rear suspension breaking at Laguna Seca. But Ben wasn’t blameless either, crashing out on a number of occasions as well. He left Yamaha on fairly average terms to return to World Superbike on a BMW, only for Ducati to pinch him for their “junior” team this year. Ben has spent the pre-season recovering from injuries and has shown unimpressive pace. It’s a massive gamble for him to forego the certain speed of a BMW in WSB for the difficulty of a Ducati to stay in MotoGP but he’ll be determined to prove again his talent he demonstrated in 2010 and 2011. Here’s hoping he can find his mojo again.

Andrea Iannone – Crazy Joe and even Insane Joe are a couple of nicknames that Iannone goes by but equally he could be known as BiPolar Joe such are the wild “mood swings” of performance he shows. Blistering speed one week then pedestrian mid-pack the next. At his best he’ll give the other Ducati’s the hurry up but when not on song he’ll be following the CRT’s around.

CRT:
NGM Mobile Forward Racing
Colin Edwards – old man Edawrds is at it again. After a dismal season on a BMW-Suter, Colin has stayed with the same team but running an FTR-Kawasaki and he’s much happier. And a happy Edwards is a fast Edwards to expect him to be competitive in the CRT class.

Claudio Corti – the talented Italian had some good results in the Moto2 class last year before losing his ride due to a lack of money. Will likely be in the middle to lower end of the CRT battle.

Avintia Blusens
Hiroshi Aoyama – it seems like such a long time since Aoyama looked fast. He showed some pace in his debut MotoGP season in 2010 before fading in 2011 and 2012 was a nightmare for him in WSB, never coming to grips with the Honda Fireblade. He was a surprise callup to MotoGP and the Avintia Bluesens FTR-Kawasaki is a competitive outfit in the CRT class so he has the opportunity to get good results and show he is still a good rider.

Hector Barbera – much to his disgust, Hector was dumped from the Pramac Ducati team in favour of Ben Spies. Landing in the Avintia squad hasn’t been all bad for him though, regularly running in the top two CRT bikes in testing. He will need to prove that he’s more than a one lap wonder though – regularly an impressive qualifier but too often a fader during the race.

Power Electronics Aspar
Aleix Espargaro – the CRT classes inaugural “champion”, Espargaro beat his more fancied teammate proving that his brother Pol doesn’t possess all the Espargaro talent. And for 2013, the target on his back from the CRT challengers doesn’t appear to have affected him at all, instead going faster and mixing it up with quite a number of the prototype bikes despite his Aprilia giving up as much as 20km/hr down the straights. Odds on to back up his CRT victory.

Randy De Puniet – pencilled in to ride for Suzuki, Randy has had to settle for the scraps for the past couple of years when the Suzuki factory pulled out of MotoGP. He had a strong battle with teammate Espargaro last year and will be hoping that this year the results will be reversed.

Cardion AB Motoracing
Karel Abraham – riding again for his fathers team, Karel Jr will be keen to put the trials of 2012 behind him where Ducati supplied him with a completely uncompetitive bike. Aboard an Aprilia CRT bike, Karel will be keen to prove he’s a deserving rider and not just another rich kid racer by finishing top of the CRT class.

Paul Bird Motorsport
Michael Laverty – something of a surprise selection plucked from British Superbikes. Michael – brother of current WSB championship leader Eugene Laverty – will be out to show his talent is comparable to his brothers. Reasonably impressive in testing, Laverty nonetheless has quite an uphill battle on his hands to learn the bike and news tracks against significant talent. Will likely be a regular tailender.

Yonny Hernandez – the spectacular Columbian impressed many in 2012, in both speed and his exciting sideways style. Aboard the easier to ride fast and title winning Aprilia, Yonny should take his game to a new level this year, hopefully cementing his spot as South Americas representative in MotoGP.

Go & Fun Honda Gresini CRT
Bryan Staring – one of the biggest surprises on the grid, he has an enormous opportunity with a quality team and a fast FTR-Honda to prove his talent to the world. After a couple of seasons racing Superstock 1000 bikes, 2013 marks an enormous step up in equipment and class for Bryan. A big unknown, he’s on a mountainous learning curve but should improve greatly as the year progresses.

Came IodaRacing Project
Danilo Petrucci – young and fast with the favoured Aprilia as his steed, Petrucci could spring a bit of a surprise. A significant question mark is over the quality of his team who have a patchy track record across different classes over the years. Hopefully they can back him up adequately to give him a chance.

Lukas Pesek – a former front runner in 125cc and reasonably competitive 250cc racer, he’s been in the wilderness for a few years. Managed to buy his seat on this team, don’t expect much.



Overall, many are expecting 2013 to be the best MotoGP season for years. I’ve heard and expected this before and my personal opinion sees Pedrosa and Lorenzo comfortably out in front followed by Marquez, Rossi and Crutchlow. However, there should be great fights throughout the pack, possibly with the best racing in the middle. My prediction for 2013:

1. Dani Pedrosa – it’s now or never for Dani and I think the second half of 2012 saw him develop the missing killer instinct. The big question mark as always remains durability.
2. Jorge Lorenzo – he has an incredible ability to reel off a race length of laptimes within half a second of each other yet I see this as a possible weakness for him. When Dani ups the pace this year, Lorenzo won’t be able to afford to let him go like the second half of 2012. He will fight to the death though.
3. Valentino Rossi – back on the Yamaha, Rossi will be back at the front winning race. Only it won’t be so many. I struggle to see him able to beat Jorge and Dani enough to be a threat and at 34, time and history are against him. Never completely write him off though.

I’d expect Marquez to win a race late in the season but don’t think he’ll have the consistency early on. Am praying he doesn’t kill someone. Crutchlow will give the top 4 a serious hurry up and get multiple podiums whilst Bautista, Bradl and the Ducatis I think will all be evenly matched.

Only two (and a half!) more sleeps til it kicks off!!!
 
Massive effort from Dovi! only 0.009 seconds off the front row! and put the Duc in front of Rossi haha. Crutchlow super impressive as has Aleix Espargaro. Very excited for tonight! Would Be good if Staring can make up a few places too. I'm pretty excited for the Moto 3 race always good fun and entertaining races Arthur Sissis to start 10th on the grid with Jack Miller back in 21st. Ant West 15th In Moto 2. Can hardly wait!
 

Remove this Banner Ad

2013 MotoGP

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top