Now that pre-season is here with livery roll outs, please post all MotoGP related 2023 info here.

I started rooting for Aleix last season.
Hopefully Aprilia can give him a strong contender this season.
Hopefully the Suzuki boys do well on their new rides.

Bagnaia/Bastianini Ducati livery

Pramac 2023 Livery

Sepang Test: Day 1 Footage
Raw audio, no commentary



And, with commentary

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Here is a neat comparison pic of the RC213.

Fairing, front 'wing' and stego-tail jump out quickly
Maybe a slightly reprofiled fuel tank.
Some tough to distinguish with the bits in black on the 22 & silver on the 23.

Did not check regs but the front disk looks bigger in diameter.

quote:

Originally posted by marinemaster:
Did not check regs but the front disk looks bigger in diameter.

Does appear that way between those 2 shots

Copying Ducati's wings I see....LOL

I am ready for the season to start.
This preview stuff is like putting food in front of a starving man, but telling him he can't eat.

Well the bullshit is over. I think some people forgot. Today was the first day of the official season.

Miller got a tow from Beast in FP2 and broke the lap record at Portimao. FP1 was put to a halt twice and cut short. First a power cut at the circuit. Seen this movie before. The 2nd time when Pol completely wadded it and caused a red flag. He was immediately transported to the hospital but was apparently conscious. Low slide but the bike banged into him and he tumbled like a mother fucker into the barrier. Nasty nasty crash.

First race is tomorrow (absolute bullshit “sprint” race) and of course the real race on Sunday.

Guessing the live TV coverage will be Sunday only.
I don't care for the F1 sprints & have a similar opinion here

Watched the bike ride Pol. That shit was nasty. He's got bruised lungs, broken jaw, and fractured dorsal vertebrae according to a report I read earlier. I think this will just about wrap up an abysmal GP career...if he's smart. At a certain point, you know you're not even close to the pointy end and need to quit hurting yourself.

I agree that the sprint race is crap but we'll see how it pans out as the season goes on.

Marc is still a douche. Loved watching his front tuck as a result. Wish he'd just ride his ride and be as good as he can be but he'd rather try and play head games. The lap he put down after Fabio pitted was superb and just awesome to watch.

We'll see whether or not Jack Miller made a good choice on the KTM. So far it's looking like he did.

Watch for Jorge Martin in these sprint races. I think he'll be one to watch if he can stay on the bike. Even Simon seems to think so, which makes me feel like sometimes I know what I'm talking about

Mav will biff the start like he always does and ride around looking for someone to keep him company at the back since Pol will be out for a while.

Plenty of action. Enea Bastianini is the first casualty of the sprint race format. Marini trying to go up the inside and he wiped both of them out. Quartararo was almost done in by Mir doing the same thing.

Miller's tires fell off towards the end of the race. He should've opted for a harder front like pretty much everyone else did. I think he'd have finished better than 4th.

Did Mav practice launches the entire break? He got a good launch and I don't seem to recall a bad start from any of the racers so maybe that'll be a non-issue going forward. Was kinda scary watching Mav and Aleix almost take each other out.

Marc is back but he's gonna have his hands full this season.

Yamaha needs to fire the entire design team and just buy bikes from Europe (don't matter which one) and stick a Yamaha logo on it. You can see how slow the thing is and it's painful to watch.

quote:

Originally posted by mutedblade:

Mav will biff the start like he always does and ride around looking for someone to keep him company at the back since Pol will be out for a while.

First Aprilia across the line and his lap times were on par with the lead 3. Your prediction = bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by mutedblade:

Yamaha needs to fire the entire design team and just buy bikes from Europe (don't matter which one) and stick a Yamaha logo on it. You can see how slow the thing is and it's painful to watch.

Fabio’s race pace, like Maverick, was front 3 pace. His problem was qualifying position. So more incorrect information.

Plenty of carnage today. Sprint races are likewise bullshit. It’s the mad dash for the cash, and someone is going to frequently take someone else out, like Marini on Beast today, because it’s 12 laps. This was a proper sport, going back to 1949, and now it’s Tik Tok’d. 42 races is just asinine. MotoGP used to be 16 races per season. And the free practice and qualifying was proper. Two one hour sessions each day and FP4 was treated as qualifying the last 15 minutes. 4 hours to setup the bikes and two of those sessions were in the afternoon, at the same time the race was held, to dial it in more. This current format, qualifying, at least for Qualifying 1, is decided on Friday? It’s a joke. Carmelo has done many things to equalize the sport. In the past HRC could just outspend any competitor and guarantee a championship and wins as they’ve always had or obtained the best rider in the field. Spec hardware and software/ECU was solid. Spec tires, much the same. But this format is a fucking joke. Riders will miss races and lose championships. And you combine 42 races with PSI rules on the tires, well I hope I don’t see someone killed. I don’t ever want to see 10/23/2011, ever again. But putting a limit on PSI may cause just that in combination with too many races. The riders lives shouldn’t be the price for higher viewer count on a Saturday. It’s as if the existing fans don’t mean shit. Dorna is willing to risk them for new Tik Tok generation viewers. Greed isn’t worth a life.

I agree on both accounts there Stick. Mav may be one to keep our eyes on this season. Damn sure won’t be Fabio on the slowest bike in recent history. I was hoping to see the factory Duc boys duke it out but Marini put a damper on at least the first half of the season. I’m hoping Martin takes up that mantle now since he feels jilted by Ducati. Actually heard he may have already signed with Yamaha for next year. I’m not sure I’d make that same move.

Bezzecchi was fun to watch. Kid has some talent. Can’t wait to see him on a factory bike

Oliveira is out in Argentina due to injuries sustained in the Portimao round, being taken out by Marc Marquez. He damaged a tendon in his leg and something else. Won’t require surgery but needs time to heal.

Marquez, originally, was not penalized, but the race stewards decided to give him a double long lap penalty in Argentina but he isn’t racing because he broke his thumb and just had surgery. So the stewards changed this penalty to a double long lap penalty the next time he races, whatever round that is. HRC have appealed this. Not the penalty but the change of the penalty from Argentina to the next round he races. Just Marc and HRC trying to scam and have the penalty served at the next round as he wouldn’t be racing anyways. Handbags 2023.

Penalty well-deserved, hope FIM holds to it.
That was a rough ride.

I’d rather see Marc sitting in his garage with a 1 race suspension. Might give him a bit of pause next time he wants to dive bomb his fellow racers. He is the only reason he’s getting a DLL penalty.

Maverick fastest in the first session in Argentina. He stayed at the top of the time sheets for almost the entire session. Fabio is properly fucked and it’s looking like another shit year for Yamaha. Franco did well early on staying towards the top. This round definitely looks like it will be between Aprilia and Ducati. Aleix won last year so the Aprilia works well at this track.

Rins is getting Marquez’s bike chassis for Argentina. He might be a rider to keep an eye on for a surprise performance this weekend. He has been fast at this track in the past.

Rins to get MM’s factory Repsol chassis