Motorsport: Marx Marquez has crashed out of the Spanish MotoGP, while his brother Alex rode to victory.
Jack Miller ’s world championship future beyond the end of 2026 remains uncertain, but the Australian is showing his commitment to Yamaha by signing up for the Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race between MotoGP rounds in July for a second straight year.
Elsewhere, a pair of subtle shifts by two MotoGP teams adds some clarity to next year’s murky rider market that is still awaiting the sport’s teams and promoter to settle on a deal to run the championship for the next five seasons, while a last-lap overtake at last weekend’s French Grand Prix has stoked the rivalry between a pair of riders who are swapping manufacturers for next year as they fight for third in this year’s championship. , your news wrap of the stories behind the headlines after last weekend’s French Grand Prix ahead of the next round in Catalunya this weekend.
MILLER SIGNS ON FOR SUZUKA WITH 2027 PLANS STILL UP IN THE AIR Jack Miller will have a second successive crack at trying to win the prestigious endurance race at Suzuka for Yamaha this July, the Aussie MotoGP veteran part of a three-rider team that’s trying to stop Honda’s four-year run at one of the most enduring events in the sport. Miller will again team with Japanese veteran Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Italian World Superbike rider Andrea Locatelli for the Yamaha Racing Team riding a YZF-R1 as the 44-year-old Nakasuga aims to add a fifth 8-Hour win to his CV in his final event before retirement.
Last year, the Miller/Nakasuga/Locatelli triumvirate finished second to a team headed by Miller’s MotoGP rival Johann Zarco; the French MotoGP veteran is again heading Honda’s efforts at Suzuka this year for the July 3-5 event, teaming with six-time World Superbikes champion Jonathan Rea and Japanese rider Takumi Takahashi. Between them, Yamaha and Honda have won the past eight Suzuka 8-Hour events, with Miller returning to Suzuka for the first time since 2017, when he rode for Honda, last year.
“Absolutely stoked to be lining up for the Suzuka 8-Hours again this year,” Miller said, as per a Yamaha press release. “Last year was a bit of a tough one … finishing second in the race was pretty frustrating, to be honest. But seeing the massive turnout from the Yamaha fans and staff, and getting to ride with Nakasuga-san and ‘Loka’ , plus the team putting in the hard work, it actually turned out to be a real blast.
“We want to go one better and take pole, take the win, and get ourselves onto that top step for Nakasuga-san’s final year before he hangs up the leathers. ” Miller’s commitment to give up a weekend between his MotoGP duties at the Dutch Grand Prix and German Grand Prix can only help his chances of retention for next year, with his MotoGP contract running out at the end of the current season.
PODCAST: Renita and Matt review Jorge Martin’s French Grand Prix clean sweep that puts him firmly in the championship race, assess the impact of another significant injury for Marc Marquez, and preview this weekend’s action in Catalunya. Yamaha is expected to field 2024 MotoGP champion Jorge Martin and rising Japanese star Ai Ogura in its factory team for the first season of MotoGP’s 850cc era next year, with current riders Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins departing the squad.
Yamaha’s second team Pramac Racing has Miller’s current teammate, three-time World Superbikes champion and MotoGP rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu, under contract for next year. In what has been a difficult first year for Yamaha’s brand-new V4-engined MotoGP project – Yamaha has scored just 29 points in the constructors’ championship to sit dead-last, while Quartararo is the highest-placed of its four riders in the riders’ championship – Miller scored his first point for the season in Sunday’s Grand Prix at Le Mans, finishing 15th.
While Quartararo’s brilliance at Le Mans saw him finish sixth and just 7.756secs behind race-winner Martin , Rins , Razgatlioglu and Miller were three of the final five finishers, and lost over one second per lap to Martin over the 27-lap race distance. Miller is 21st of the 22 regular riders on the MotoGP grid in the standings, with Rins and Razgatlioglu only marginally ahead.
“I’m just trying to do better, ride better, training harder than ever,” Miller said about his future when asked at Le Mans. “I’m sick and f**king tired of being at the back, it’s really driving me insane. I’m putting everything I have into this, and trying to give the maximum back to Yamaha and take the maximum out of it for myself.
” Miller competed for Yamaha at Suzuka last August; a month later at the Grand Prix of Catalunya, round 15 of last season, Miller’s 2026 contract with Pramac Yamaha was confirmed, his vast experience with V4 engines from his time at Honda, Ducati and KTM a major factor. Miller’s three-rider Yamaha team finished second to Honda in the Australian’s return to Suzuka last year.
Pic: EWC/FIMTwo significant pieces of news behind the scenes at Le Mans last weekend provided some answers to a 2027 rider market still littered with questions, as the sport’s five manufacturers – united beneath the umbrella of the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association – continue to negotiate with the sport’s promoters MSEG for a new deal to run the series from 2027-31.
The contract impasse has paused announcements for a rider market that looked set to explode before pre-season testing began in February, which saw a flood of rider movements – Quartararo to Honda, Martin to Yamaha, Francesco Bagnaia to Aprilia and Pedro Acosta to Ducati – reported but not yet publicly confirmed.reported that Trackhouse Aprilia team principal Davide Brivio is set to take up a managerial position at Honda from next season, the 61-year-old Italian having previously worked for Yamaha and Suzuki before a brief spell in Formula 1 with Alpine.for his MotoGP debut last season, with news the 2024 Moto2 champion was set to head to Yamaha’s factory team for 2027 breaking between rounds three and four of this year in Texas and Jerez.
Honda’s line-up at its two teams for next year looks set to be Quartararo partnering current Colombian Moto2 rider David Alonso at its factory team in place of incumbents Joan Mir and Luca Marini, with the satellite LCR Honda squad remaining unchanged with Zarco and Brazilian rookie Diogo Moreira on multi-year contracts. Trackhouse under Brivio loomed as a likely landing spot for Mir, who won the 2020 world championship for Suzuki under Brivio’s management.
Trackhouse’s second rider, Marini, meanwhile, has been discussed as a possible Pramac Yamaha rider if the Japanese factory elects not to renew ties with Miller. Elsewhere, talks that current KTM team Tech3, run by ex-F1 team boss Guenther Steiner, could switch to Honda for next year have cooled.
Tech3 staying with the Austrian brand could provide a lifeline to current KTM rider Brad Binder, who will be squeezed out at the end of the year for an all-new pairing of 2025 MotoGP runner-up Alex Marquez and current Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio, who was reported to have signed with KTM’s factory team over the French Grand Prix weekend. Asked at Le Mans about his future, Di Giannantonio – Ducati’s leading rider in the 2026 standings with 84 points after five rounds after the best opening to a season in his five-year MotoGP career – was evasive.
“There are rumours as always … I know that media loves to put things in people’s minds, but I’m just trying to be the best rider that I can this year, to respect my colours but also to respect my season,” he said. “It has been my best season so far in MotoGP, so my mind at the moment is completely on racing. Once it will be the time, we will announce our future.
” Brivio’s departure from Aprilia could re-shape the 2027 rider market as announcements remain on hold. to win his first Grand Prix since late 2024 – and Ogura’s maiden MotoGP podium – at Le Mans on Sunday was a last-gasp pass by Di Giannantonio on Acosta, which left the Spanish rider plotting revenge after being dumped down to fifth place.
From fourth on the grid, KTM’s Acosta jumped Di Giannantonio on the opening lap and broke away with Ducati’s Bagnaia to hunt down race-leader Bezzecchi, with Acosta on course for his third Grand Prix podium of the season after he inherited second place after Bagnaia crashed out with 12 laps left.
Acosta was dropped to third by a rampaging Martin on lap 18, and then was demoted from the podium places by Ogura with five laps remaining as On the final lap, Di Giannantonio sent an audacious move down the inside of Acosta at the penultimate corner, looking back at his rival as he powered towards the finish line to secure fourth by 0.140secs, and edging ahead of Acosta for third in the world championship standings by one point. Acosta – who admitted afterwards that he’d made a mistake by defending against Di Giannantonio earlier in the lap when he sensed the Italian was closer than he was – was unamused.
“Nobody gets past me while looking at me. I’m taking note of everything. We’ll see each other again at the next race. ”Di Giannantonio said he’d remembered a dramatic last-lap Moto3 pass of current MotoGP rival Bezzecchi at the same corner in 2018 when he lined up Acosta on Sunday; seven years previously, he put a clean pass on his compatriot at the same place before Bezzecchi high-sided into retirement, crashing in front of Martin and taking them both out.
Di Giannantonio later lost that 2018 Moto3 victory after a penalty for cutting the track earlier in the race.
“I saw that Pedro was riding really good and it was really difficult to attack him,” Di Giannantonio said. “I was preparing an attack on Turn 9 but I was really far on the last lap, so I had to invent the attack in a fast way. I just got a little vision from 2018 when I did the move to ‘Bez’ in Moto3, so I said ‘let’s try to make it to Pedro’, and it worked.
“I’m happy also because it was one place more which is good, but is one place more for the championship. ”
Rising Japanese Star David Alonso Andrea Locatelli Brad Binder Raul Fernandez North America Rider Market Rider Plotting Revenge Contract Impasse Francesco Bagnaia Eastern Asia Rider Movements MILLER SIGNS Suzuka NEWS WRAP Press Release Japanese Factory Pedro Acosta Europe Japan Team Principal Veteran Part Diogo Moreira French Grand Takumi Takahashi Guenther Steiner Western Europe Real Blast Northern America Texas Race Distance Crashes Outmotorsport Finish Line Vast Experience Alex Marquez Endurance Race Last-Lap Pass Jorge Martin World Championship Marco Bezzecchi RACE REPORT United States Of America Factory Team Championship Race Japanese Veteran Stunning Start Sparks Honda Motor Company Ltd. Multiple Surgeries Japanese Rider America Regular Riders Brazilian Rookie Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Murky Rider Market Austrian Brand Yamaha France Start Sparks Win World Championship Standings Three-Rider Team Getty Images Inc. Matt Clayton Penultimate Corner Joan Mir Team Putting Podium Places Podium Lockout SPRINT REPORT Toprak Razgatlioglu Jonathan Rea Marc Marquez Asia Pit Talk Intermediate-Class Standings Late-Race French Fireworks
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