The war of the manufactures

At the end of last week Ducati hit the motorsport headlines, not for the reason you'd assume necessarily. The first thing that springs to mind would be a new bike in production or the Ducati MotoGP team but it was to do with the company itself.

If you've been living under a rock this past week then you might not know that Ducati got sold to Audi. 

Audi's 'parent company' the Volkswagen group owns car brands such as Lamborghini, Seat, Bugatti, Skoda and as i mentioned Audi. One thing these manufactures have in common is that they are considered to be 'sport' cars.

Why Ducati?

Founded in 1926 by brothers Bruno, Marcello and Adriano Ducati from Bologna, Italy. It's one of the world's most recognisable bike company; the Ferrari of the Motorbike world.

Ducati is one of the few manufactures that produce road motorbikes as well as competing and being participants in motor racing series such as MotoGP which it re-joined (after a 30 year absence from the sport) in 2003, the British Superbike Championship and the AMA Superbike championship. It's also the most successful manufacture in the history of World Superbike's and won last year's title with Althea's Carlos Checa.

Ducati also produce their own engine's however with only 10% (i say only, it's quite a lot really) of Ducati's revenue being pumped in to racing, Ducati also have other non-motorbike related products such as radios, camera's and electricals. All in all Ducati are a well rounded company that offers a lots of potential so why wouldn't a big car brand like Audi want to own it?  Having Ducati on board means they can branch out to motorcycle's.

However, this means it's bye-bye for Mercedes-Benz AMG. Their partnership was formed in 2010 and although relatively new, Mercedes and Audi/Volkswagen are rival car manufactures which means their relationship was bound to end. AMG said that they had no interest in taking over Ducati and their partnership with the Italian company was about 'producing premium performance cars' and that is what they still focus on, though obviously not with Ducati anymore.

A fine example of the cut-throat, competitive world of the motor industry.

In other news MotoGP will be happy to hear Valentino Rossi has repeatedly said he'll not be leaving Ducati in the lurch, he will not be leaving Ducati (for this season at least) Vale, i suggest you repeat it a few more times to truly banish the rumours!

With a rainy first day day in Jerez, let's hope it clears up for the rest of the weekend. Qualifying Saturday and the race on Sunday (all three classes) don't miss it!!

Here we are again

After what was a very long winter for MotoGP, it's back! First stop on the calendar: Qatar. The circus have arrived for the only night race (can you really call it a night race? More on the evening side) in the season.
MotoGP are very much entering a new era, in more ways than one.

Firstly, the historic 125cc class has followed the change of Moto2 (previously 250cc) and is now Moto3. A little easier to remember. The main change in the lower class championship is they have now moved up to 250cc four-stroke, single cylinder motorcycles from previous 125cc two-stroke bikes.
Moto3 is the 'starting' or lowest (i don't like saying that because they are all so talented and Moto3 isn't a bad place to race) of the three championships, this means that from season to season the rider line up can chop and change quite dramatically compared to MotoGP, with 32 rider competing, all at a young age it's always set to be a corker.
While Moto2 stays near enough the same big changes have happened in MotoGP.
2012 see's the switch in engines; since 2007 teams have been restricted to 800cc engine capacities, now they are riding 1000cc engines, as Dani Pedrosa has said with the new engine you 'brake later and are faster through corners'
As well as the engine change, MotoGP has also introduced CRT (Claiming Rule Team) on the grid. This allows independant teams to be competitive at a lower cost and increase the number of bikes on the grid, something MotoGP was seriously lacking in before the 2012 season. These bikes are effectively bikes you could go and ride on the road compared to the factory bikes which you can't buy.
While it all get's a bit complex for a simple blog the 'Claiming Rule' is an attempt to lower costs further, teams can 'claim' their rivals engines, if they wish, however the actual 'claiming' is done by the MSMA Manufactures. If you want to read the endless pages of rules on CRT then you can always Goggle it, there's plenty of information on 2012 rules released by FIM.

QATAR QUALIFYING
A short low down of Qatar quali - otherwise tomorrow's race blog will be bordering on an essay.

Moto3:
A very close battle at the front has taken place in Moto3 all weekend, qualifying being no different.
125cc veteran (sorry Sandro) Sandro Cortese just grabbed pole in the last few seconds of the session.
Cortese has been around in 125/Moto3 for some time now, with a fresh move to KTM this season, he seems to be settling in well. The KTM so far seems consitent, the bike's been in development for some time and now is the time to see the hard work pay off, starting with a pole. Though Cortese has the race to come, with front runners and young guns, Maverick Vinales, Louis Rossi and Luis Salom all hot on the KTM's exhaust, it is going to be a close battle not only for the top riders but also for the whole field.

Moto2:
Suter rider Thomas Luthi has been quick all weekend, once again he pulled it out when it mattered in quali and took the first Moto2 pole of the season.
Marc Marquez is back and ready to fight for the 2012 championship after being denied the chance to fight for the title last year after his bad crash in Sepang which left him unable to race in Valencia.
Andrea Iannone, Pol Espagaro and Mike Di Meglio are all in contention for a podium.

MotoGP:
The spartan, Jorge Lorenzo triumped to pole position in a last minute hot lap taking pole of reining champion Casey Stoner.
Like the Moto2/3, the grid in MotoGP is set to be a competitive one. Lorenzo and Stoner are most likely to battle it out for the win however the podium is wide open with the likes of Cal Crutchlow, Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa all eager to get up there. Not the list you thought it would be? Cal Crutchlow has been on it all weekend and is certianly the rider who is switching up the familiar 2011 order, as well as Nicky Hayden who put if a great effort to qualify 5th seeing as Ducati are still struggling to get close to the top with Valentino Rossi only qualifying 12th.

With all the bikes looking beautiful under the lights of the Losail circuit, the long winter break now behind us, it's time for lights out.
On a side not, while we all go in to this season remembering the life of Marco Simoncelli, who i know i'll always remeber and will always be apart of MotoGP, the sport still continues, in memory of  not only Marco Simoncelli but all the fallen riders.
All three race's from Qatar tomorrow evening are set to be thrilling openeers!