a thought: if Pedrosa gets the boot at the end of this season, who would they replace him with from the current paddock?
Would have to be another spaniard so repsol keep it all Spanish.
How about this for a thought…if Alex Marquez has a stormer in Moto2 there will no doubt be a seat for him in somewhere in MotoGP, would Repsol Honda put faith in him and go for a Marquez family team?? Or would they let him cut his teeth elsewhere then sign him??
The Repsol Honda team have run in the past with no Spaniards (Rossi/Hayden and Rossi/Ukawa) back in the 990 days. I don’t think their contract specifies both riders have to be Spanish.
However, it is definitely time for Dani Pedrosa to be moved on from HRC. There are only a couple of riders in the paddock whom HRC wouldn’t employ because they’ve fallen out with the Great God Honda - Rossi, Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales. I actually think it’s open season for that Repsol seat. So here’s my view on who might get it:
Jorge Lorenzo: Proven champion and HRC like inter-team competition. However, they don’t need Jorge to win titles nor do they have to match his reported $7 million salary at Yamaha.
Cal Crutchlow: See how he goes this year but would be a contender for race wins on a factory Honda. Likely to speak his mind and may not go down that well with senior management.
Scott Redding: Again, first season on a proper Honda, needs to put some strong results over the course of the season as he seemed to go backwards after securing the MarcVDS ride. Young, fast and on-message, a definite contender if results go his way.
Jack Miller: Probably too early but has an HRC deal. Bad relations with the Marquez family. Comes across as sour-faced and a bit chavy so unlikely to have good PR value outside native Australia.
Andrea Iannone: Probably just had a pay rise after promotion to factory Ducati. Has beaten Marquez in Moto2 so wouldn’t be scared of him. Perhaps depends on how well the GP15 goes - after three years you can’t be a coming man much longer and he only has this year. Iannone is good enough but likely an outside bet.
Yonny Hernandez: Seems to be thought highly of within the paddock and by Ducati (although to be honest I’m not sure what the fuss is about). The Colombian is the only real high-profile South American in the MotoGP paddock - could be valuable to sponsor Repsol in what is a big market for them.
Danilo Petrucci: Hard to judge his potential having spent his time on the rubbish Ioda machine, which at times ran with a road-spec Aprilia motor.
Pol Espagaro: Being groomed by Yamaha as a successor to Lorenzo. Poor relations with the Marquez family.
Bradley Smith: Probably not good enough to be honest and unlikely to be considered unless he has a spectacular year this year.
Stefan Bradl: Blown his chance with HRC already
Alvaro Bautista: Spent years as Honda’s test mule riding with apparently very little pay - probably happier getting paid to develop the Aprilia
Loris Baz: No MotoGP history so could be in contention if he has a good year.
Hector Barbera: Has been around the paddock for years
Karel Abraham: Has as much chance of getting a factory Honda ride as I do. Seems a nice guy in interviews though. Apparently considering retiring at the end of the season to concentrate on his PhD in Law.
Alex de Angelis: Has done well to actually be in MotoGP this year.
Eugene Laverty: Really has to be first ‘open’ Honda to be in with a chance of the ride - but other chargers in Moto2 possibly higher rated
Nicky Hayden: Unlikely to get an invite back to the team he won his world title for. Good company man and the only American in MotoGP
And as for guys in Moto2:
Tito Rabat: Should defend the title this year then step up to MotoGP. Trains with the Marquez boys, comes over as a nice guy and has a ferocious work ethic. Is however a Spaniard and MotoGP isn’t short of them.
Alex Marquez: Seems to take a year to learn and then a year to become a consistent winner so far. Fast, but not in his brother’s class (although who is?!). A marketing man’s dream to have the pair of them in the same team though.
Alex Rins: Great record coming up through the lower classes and could well be Moto2 champion this year. Should perhaps have won the Moto3 title the year Vinales did.
There are other guys in Moto2 who can string together a race weekend (Tom Luthi, Dominique Aegerter, Luis Salom, Mika Kallio) but are unlikely to be championship challengers. In Moto2 I’d really like to see Taka Nakagami put in a good year - the series needs a fast Japanese. He had a strong year, challenging for podiums, in 2013, but it all went away from him last year.
So who actually gets the seat? I think Scott Redding is probably best placed!
i think they will go with an upcoming star rather than a proven rider, they put faith in Marquez as a rookie in the top class and look how that paid off, now they have Marquez to win things they can concentrate on the next Marquez wannabe, i think jack miller is too “Australian” for them, he has that really laid back, don’t give a fook what people think of me I’ll say what I want attitude which can be seen as rude and arrogant so not exactly a pr man’s dream. I’d love to see Bradley given a better ride but like you say, he is so prone to little spills I doubt any of the factory teams would take a punt on him. That’s why I reckon it could be Alex Marquez or someone from Moto2
Marquez was evidently special during his time in the lower classes though - there’s nobody come through who looks comparable really, except Maverick Vinales.
doesn’t look good for Aprilia, consistently at the bottom of the table in testing and practice.
slower even than the ART team running last year’s engine and their own frame!
Good to see Aleix putting in good competitive times on the suzuki 
I was thinking exactly about your streaming abilities when I came across this.
Happy days 
Dani pedrosa has proved a lot of us wrong today.
Ducati in pole position! bloody hell.
But will it last the first lap in the lead?? I reckon Marquez will take him within 2 corners
I’ll be recording it and watch it tomorrow when MrsB is at work
Can’t wait for it
Naaah, it will finish like this:
- Andrea Dovizioso
- Andrea Iannone
- Valentino Rossi
Marquez and Pedrosa will crash :hehe:
Not long to go now!:hehe:
Bring it on!
Lol, no it will be
- BRADLEY SMITH
- SCOTT READING
- CAL CRUTCHLOW
And The Ducati’s will crash into each other on the first corner, and Vale will retire with engine failure (I love him too much to let him crash)
We’ll see who gets the best forecast
:hehe: