Repsol Honda confirms launch date of new bike

The Repsol Honda team announced on Monday (16) the date of the presentation of their motorcycle for the 2017 MotoGP season. The team of Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa will travel to Jakarta, Indonesia, to reveal to the world their newest weapon for the motorbike world championship.

The launch will be on February 3rd. Despite being a champion with Marc Márquez last year and in 2014 and 2013, the team will try to retake the crown between the teams in 2017, having lost this title in the last two years to Yamaha with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

The pair of Honda, Márquez and Pedrosa, will remain unchanged until the end of 2018.

Yamaha must not revolutionize motorcycle 2017

On Thursday (18) Yamaha will present its motorcycle for the 2017 season at Movistar headquarters, the team's main sponsor in Madrid, with Valentino Rossi and his new team-mate Maverick Viñales.

The Spaniard, substitute Jorge Lorenzo, will be the main attraction of the event, since it will be his first public appearance since the change of Suzuki.

Massimo Meregalli, technical director of the Japanese team, said at the end of 2016 that the manufacturer was a little late with the development of its 2017 prototype because it would be a "revolutionary" motorcycle.

However, less than 15 days before the new M1 is taken to the track for the first preseason test in Sepang, it seems that this difference between the 2016 and 2017 bikes will not be as significant as previously thought.

In addition to the engine, which in 2016 exploded with Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo at Mugello, this year's bike is not the result of a completely new design. It will be based on its predecessor.

"In the end, if you're not having a very serious problem, what the factory does is change some things, but without changing the philosophy of the bike," a senior Yamaha source told Motorsport.com.

"The basis of the 2017 bike is the same as in 2016. It will have a different chassis, a different balance, a different engine and different front suspension, but without ruining the philosophy of the 2016 bike."

"In Valencia in the post-season test, some new things were tested, but that was not the final bike of 2017. It's not the one we'll see in Sepang in the first test of 2017."

"At Sepang we will have a prototype based on all the data from 2016, in addition to the data gathered in Valencia and Sepang (where Yamaha did a particular test in November)."

"But I'm sure the bike will continue to change after pre-season testing at Phillip Island and Qatar."

Rossi: "My priority is to play the 24 Hours of Le Mans"

Valentino Rossi is about to start his 22nd season in the World Championship, 18th in the maximum class of the championship - in 2001, the year of debut, still 500cc; From 2002 onwards, MotoGP. In Qatar, when given the start the Italian will be 38 years old.

By the end of 2018, when the current bond with Yamaha ends, Rossi will be 39 years old. So far, the Italian has not yet said what he plans to do at the end of the contract. However, the world champion made it clear that, even after leaving MotoGP, the idea is to stay on track.

In the tracks, Rossi has a priority: to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In an interview promoted by Yamaha with Lin Jarvis, head of the Japanese team, conducting and asking the questions, the Italian also revealed the desire to play the Dakar in the future, but in the cars.

"One goal I have is to compete for the Dakar in the future, but it is very difficult and requires a lot of preparation. Anyway, I'm clear in my mind that I would do it in a car, because motorcycle is too dangerous. My priority is to race the 24 Hours of Le Mans, because I feel much better on the asphalt, "he said.

After that, Jarvis asked about his quest for Formula One. In the end, Rossi decided to stay in MotoGP and, questioned by Jarvis if there was any kind of regret, the Italian did not hesitate to say that he made the right decision.

"I made the right decision to stay in MotoGP in 2006 and I was a champion twice more, playing great races and taking part in tough battles, so I do not regret it," he said.

"But I remember being on the plane, coming back from the tests, and coming to the conclusion that I was not ready to leave the bikes "He added.

Next Monday, Rossi joins the rest of the MotoGP grid to start pre-season testing at Sepang.

Rossi hopes that Viñales will not be "even better" than Lorenzo

Valentino Rossi has Maverick Viñales as his new Yamaha teammate for the 2017 MotoGP season. The young Spaniard replaces Jorge Lorenzo, who left the Japanese team for the Ducati. Already in the first contact with the new team, Viñales led the two days of post-season testing in Valencia at the end of last year.

Next Monday, when pre-season testing starts at Sepang, Rossi and Viñales are back on track with the 2017 version of M1, officially presented last week in Madrid.

In evaluating the first contacts of Viñales with Yamaha interview to the Italian daily La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Rossi classified the Spanish as a "big problem" and hopes that the pilot does not become an even bigger headache than the predecessor in terms of Performance.

Jorge is a great rider, I hope Maverick is not even better, "Rossi said." I do not know, he's very young, a post-Lorenzo generation.

Rossi also admitted that he is curious to see how Lorenzo will make his debut in the Ducati - team for which the Italian had an unlikely win in 2011 and 2012.

"I'm curious to see how things will be for Lorenzo. Seeing how competitive he can be will be one of the great attractions this year. "

Dovizioso: Ducati does not show all potential before Jerez

The 2017 season of MotoGP brings news within the Ducati, which will have the debut of Jorge Lorenzo as driver of the team alongside Andrea Dovizioso. Last year, the team returned to win in the category, which has not happened since 2010 - Andrea Iannone won the Austrian GP, ​​while Dovizioso triumphed in Malaysia.

On the expecitativas for this year, Dovizioso is cautious. For the Italian, Borgo Panigale's team must wait until the Spanish GP, fourth stage of the season, to understand the level of the team in relation to the opponents.

Dovizioso said that in order to be competitive on all tracks, the GP17 needs to be stronger in the heart of the curves and said it values ​​the Italian's performance boost more late last season than the victory at Sepang.

"I think the speed we've seen in the last three races outside of Europe is more important than the victory in Malaysia," he said.

"If you want to fight for the title, you have to be fast on every track, which we are not yet. This is our goal and one of the key points of improvement is the bike's performance at the heart of the corners. "

"We will have a lot of news in Malaysia, on the whole bike. Anyway, I am focused on the question of the core of the curves, in trying to make the bike more docile and speedy in the corners.

"I think that's what Jorge asked, so I'm happy about it. And we will still have more efforts in this direction on the part of Gigi Dall'Igna (technical director of the team) to improve, "he added.

Viñales: fighting with Rossi would only help Marquez

Valentino Rossi had a difficult relationship with Maverick Vinales' predecessor, Jorge Lorenzo, but he assured that he and his new teammate could do well.

Viñales repeated the sentiment, saying he hopes to maintain respect for Rossi, who had been his "idol" in his childhood.

"For now, the relationship is the same, we have a lot of respect for each other and I hope it stays that way," he said.

"When I was a kid, he was my idol and he still is. If we lose respect, it will not be good for me, not just on the media side or something, but because I saw him as an idol. Throughout our career as teammates. "

"It's important to Yamaha, you know. When you have a good relationship, you can develop the bike well, you can talk and that's good."

"I think the strong point last year was that Aleix and I were very close and we were improving the bike, and fast, because we were working together."

"And I think that this year we need to do this with Valentino, because it will not be easy to beat Marc [Márquez], and if we want to do that, we can not be fighting, we have to work a little together."

Adaptation of Lorenzo

Asked about the chances of Jorge Lorenzo in his new team, the Ducati, Viñales did not define the three-time MotoGP champion as a threat, suggesting that the Italian brand still needed to make big gains in certain areas.

"It's hard to know [about Lorenzo's chances]." First, we have to see how Lorenzo adapts to the bike, we did some tests and he was fast enough, so let's see. "

"We know that the Ducati has five or six tracks that go very well, even if they can not win, they're on the podium."

"But in other races, they suffer a lot. Let's see how Jorge adapts to the bike."

"I know that Jorge is an incredibly talented rider, it's fast, but we'll see how he can behave with Ducati on tracks like Jerez, Brno, Aragón, I remember it was very difficult for them."

Gallery: Ducati presents Lorenzo and Dovizioso's bike

One day after Yamaha officially presented the 2017 version of the M1, it was Ducati's turn to reveal the colors of the Desmosedici GP17, a motorcycle with which Jorge Lorenzo debuted in the Italian team.

Borgo Panigale's team showed the GP17 on Friday and Lorenzo appeared for the first time in the overall colors of the Italian team - since 2008, when he made his MotoGP debut, the Spaniard represented only Yamaha.

The GP17 will be the first Ducati motorcycle without the wings since 2014 - the Italians pioneered the use of fins in 2015 but MotoGP banned the aerodynamic devices for this season.

Lorenzo, who joins Andrea Dovizioso on the team, said that even with little time at home, he already sees the move to Ducati as positive.

"For me, it was a bit shocking," said the Spaniard about his first contact with Ducati. "But the truth is that it was a big positive change."

"The stability of this bike is incredible. The driveability is second to none. It is powerful and looks like a nervous bike, but it is not. It's easy to keep track, both in the straight and in the corner, a pleasant surprise, "he said.

Lorenzo and Dovizioso will be in action again on January 30, when the pre-season testing at Sepang will begin. Casey Stoner and Michele Pirro, Ducati test drivers, will hold private sessions on the Malaysian circuit between January 25 and 27.