The official 2012 season MotoGP thread! Return of the 1000cc bikes!

avanti

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Finally the 2011 season is over, and with it the era of the 800cc bikes!

There is hope that the 2012 season will be a bit more exciting and that there will be more bikes on the grid than in 2011. The new rules allow max 4 cylinders, 1000cc and a bore of 81mm. There is also the addition of the "Claiming Rule Teams", CRT, which allows privateer teams to run "stock" engines in prototype chassis, this is to attract more teams since the cost will be substantially lower than in the past.

More about the new rules here: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/Cecchinelli+on+2012+CRTs

OFFICIAL ENTRY LISTS:

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moto2.jpg


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Provisional calendar for the 2012 FIM MotoGP World Championship:

Date, Grand Prix - Circuit
15 April, Qatar* - Doha/Losail
29 April, Spain (STC) - Jerez de la Frontera
6 May, Portugal (STC) - Estoril
20 May, France - Le Mans
3 June, Catalunya - Catalunya
17 June, Great Britain - Silverstone
30 June, Netherlands** - Assen
8 July, Germany (STC) - TBC
15 July, Italy - Mugello
29 July, United States*** - Laguna Seca
19 August, Indianapolis - Indianapolis
26 August, Czech Rep. - Brno
16 September, San Marino & Riviera di Rimini - Misano
30 September, Aragon - Motorland
14 October, Japan - Motegi
21 October, Malaysia - Sepang
28 October, Australia - Phillip Island
11 November, Valencia - Ricardo Tormo ? Valencia

* Evening Race
** Saturday Race
*** Only MotoGP class
STC (Subject to the contract)
TBC (To be confirmed)
 
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So far only confirmed to be leaving Suzuki, but for all intensive purposes, yeah he is at Gresini now! Didn't expect that one two days ago. Still unknown who is to take the second (CRT?) seat at Gresini too- Pirro's name is also one I have heard.

Suzuki has also been given until Friday by Dorna to announce their plans for next year. This probably won't confirm riders, but we will hopefully at least know if they will still be there and potentially how many team members too.

Final bit of news I have heard of late (gotta love Twitter!) is that Paul Bird Motorsports are entering as a CRT with James Ellison. Take that one with a grain of salt however, I'm yet to find a press release.
 

As a satellite rider. Interesting. Wonder if the factory bike will go to LCR (Bradl?) or if that plan is gone completely now.

Pretty bittersweet watching the testing of that bike at the moment. Could you imagine SIC power sliding the 1000cc? That would have been an amazing sight to witness.
 
Hopefully there's a lot more bikes on the grid next season. I'll probably see more MotoGP next year than I have recently.
 
Stefan Bradl confirmed for Honda LCR.

Source please? Can't find the press release anywhere, want to see if Bradl's moto2 team is staying together or not.

Another one to add to the list, Ant West confirmed on his official Facebook that he is with Speed Master CRT next year. I'm not going to say anything about that one :lol:
 
http://www1.suzuki.co.jp/motor/sports/race/motogp_info.html

Rough google translate of the above article (from Suzuki.co.jp site)-

Moto GP Suspension of activities Suzuki Motor Corporation has decided to temporarily pause the war from 2012 to the Moto GP World Championship FIM. This is a prolonged recession in developed markets, the historical appreciation of the yen, because there is still a difficult environment due to natural disasters. Race to Moto GP, we develop a competitive machine to compete again in 2014 as a goal. In addition, the activity motocross, FIM homologation and acquisition, development and cooperation of racing kit parts suppliers, Race-based support for commercial vehicles as we continue to do so far.

Daresay further confirmation (and an English press release) will be on hand soon. Pretty disappointing, but at least they are aiming to come back.

EDIT- forgot further rumours- Elias tested the Aspar Moto2 bike today. If he signs with them, the rumours are that Aleix Espargaro will move up to the Aspar CRT team.
 
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:cry:
 

At least you have Crescent in WSBK though I guess! Although the situation there isn't looking great either. No factory support for Crescent (working with Yoshimura) and it looks like Alstare is pulling out.
Hopefully Suzuki gets their act together (and some cash behind them) and comes back with a vengeance in both championships.
 
Shame a once great series is struggling to pull a decent grid size, but I guess it is just a sign of the times we live in currently.
 
Shame a once great series is struggling to pull a decent grid size, but I guess it is just a sign of the times we live in currently.

Next year we are actually going to see the biggest grid sine about 2004 from memory- just over 20 bikes. The sticking point however is that only half of that number will be "proper" motoGP bikes.

Probably a very controversial argument, but I think that the fact that they can get over 10 (at this point) entries in the first year of CRT proves Dorna right- this is the way the sport has to go to survive. Manufacturers leasing engines, with teams sourcing their own chassis and a spec ECU, etc is really the best way to get some exciting racing. I'm sure manufacturers could still participate wholly (build their own chassis), but as long as ending updates and testing times were equal for all teams I think there could be a lot of competitive bikes out there, as opposed to half the field being competitive and the other half (regardless of rider talent) "field fillers"
 
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