It's just been a week since the 2015 season came to an end, but the guys in the paddock stayed on for a two days test at Valencia. There have been many changes in the paddock and pit boxes, lets get to know all the changes, one by one.
The Men:
Scott Redding gets the first taste of the Bologna Missile- The Ducati Desmosedici GP15 dressed up in Pramac Ducati colors. The Brit struggled for the whole of the 2015 season aboard the RC213V run by the Marc VDS Honda squad, and was immensely motivated by the team setup. He managed to clock 74 laps around the Ricardo Tormo circuit as he gets used to the New Michelin tires and with a best time of 1:31.901, finishes the test in 13th place.
2014 Moto2 world champion Tito Rabat joins the Estrella Galicia Marc VDS squad, riding a factory spec Honda RC213V. Rabat had the longest track time of the two day test, clocking a whopping 132 laps as he gets to know the RC213V and the brand new Michelin Tires which they'll be using for the 2016 season. Rabat finished 18th overall in the test with a 1:32.402.
Jack Miller moves to the Marc VDS squad alongside former Moto2 world champion, Tito Rabat. Miller got his hands on the Factory spec Honda RC213V. This is a step up from the open class RC213V-RS he rode in 2015, when he represented Lucio Cecchinello's LCR squad. Clocking 72 laps, the 20 year old Australian managed a time of 1:32.100, finishing in 16th place.
Loris Baz moves to the Avintia Ducati squad after Giovanni Culzari's Forward Racing decided to bow out of MotoGP and enter the World superbike Paddock, hence becoming the second entity to switch to WSBK along with MotoGP Legend and 2006 World champion Nicky Hayden. Avintia had a hard time finding a solution for Baz's problem- a seat unit which is small for the 6 foot 3 inch Frenchman. Surprisingly though, he finished in 13th place and as the third fastest Ducati aboard the GP14.2.
The Machines:
Monster Yamaha Tech3 will get the 2015 end- spec Yamaha YZR-M1's for 2016. The French team gave out a strong performance in the 2015 season with Bradley Smith finishing as the top Satellite rider and taking sixth place in the championship.
Similarly, Ducati provides the Desmosedici GP15's to the Pramac Ducati squad as the riders got to grips with the all new Desmo in the test sessions. There will be a record 8 Ducatis on the grid as Aspar switches to Ducati machinery and running a two- man squad.
Majority of the teams chose to run the 2015 bike with the Michelin tires, to know how the rubber behaves when run with the existing setups. Suzuki utilised the services of their test riders to analyse the unified ECU software provided by Magneti Marelli. Though Yamaha and Honda tested out their 2016 bikes at the end of the second day, the complete 2016 Machinery will be brought to the next official test at Sepang, which begins on the first of February.
The Calendar:
Majority of the 2016 venues remain unchanged, except for Indianapolis. The Legendary circuit is shelved in favor of the Red Bull ring of Austria.
The provisional schedule of the 2016 MotoGP world championship is pictured above, and we'll keep you updated with any changes that occur in the calendar. 20th March seems to be a very long wait, but let's hope it's worth the wait.
By: Suraj
The Men:
Scott Redding gets the first taste of the Bologna Missile- The Ducati Desmosedici GP15 dressed up in Pramac Ducati colors. The Brit struggled for the whole of the 2015 season aboard the RC213V run by the Marc VDS Honda squad, and was immensely motivated by the team setup. He managed to clock 74 laps around the Ricardo Tormo circuit as he gets used to the New Michelin tires and with a best time of 1:31.901, finishes the test in 13th place.
2014 Moto2 world champion Tito Rabat joins the Estrella Galicia Marc VDS squad, riding a factory spec Honda RC213V. Rabat had the longest track time of the two day test, clocking a whopping 132 laps as he gets to know the RC213V and the brand new Michelin Tires which they'll be using for the 2016 season. Rabat finished 18th overall in the test with a 1:32.402.
Jack Miller moves to the Marc VDS squad alongside former Moto2 world champion, Tito Rabat. Miller got his hands on the Factory spec Honda RC213V. This is a step up from the open class RC213V-RS he rode in 2015, when he represented Lucio Cecchinello's LCR squad. Clocking 72 laps, the 20 year old Australian managed a time of 1:32.100, finishing in 16th place.
Loris Baz moves to the Avintia Ducati squad after Giovanni Culzari's Forward Racing decided to bow out of MotoGP and enter the World superbike Paddock, hence becoming the second entity to switch to WSBK along with MotoGP Legend and 2006 World champion Nicky Hayden. Avintia had a hard time finding a solution for Baz's problem- a seat unit which is small for the 6 foot 3 inch Frenchman. Surprisingly though, he finished in 13th place and as the third fastest Ducati aboard the GP14.2.The Machines:
Monster Yamaha Tech3 will get the 2015 end- spec Yamaha YZR-M1's for 2016. The French team gave out a strong performance in the 2015 season with Bradley Smith finishing as the top Satellite rider and taking sixth place in the championship.
Similarly, Ducati provides the Desmosedici GP15's to the Pramac Ducati squad as the riders got to grips with the all new Desmo in the test sessions. There will be a record 8 Ducatis on the grid as Aspar switches to Ducati machinery and running a two- man squad.
Majority of the teams chose to run the 2015 bike with the Michelin tires, to know how the rubber behaves when run with the existing setups. Suzuki utilised the services of their test riders to analyse the unified ECU software provided by Magneti Marelli. Though Yamaha and Honda tested out their 2016 bikes at the end of the second day, the complete 2016 Machinery will be brought to the next official test at Sepang, which begins on the first of February.
The Calendar:
Majority of the 2016 venues remain unchanged, except for Indianapolis. The Legendary circuit is shelved in favor of the Red Bull ring of Austria. The provisional schedule of the 2016 MotoGP world championship is pictured above, and we'll keep you updated with any changes that occur in the calendar. 20th March seems to be a very long wait, but let's hope it's worth the wait.
By: Suraj