The Race MotoGP Podcast

The 2023 MotoGP season had at least three realistic title contenders, 10 race winners if you count sprints too, eight polesitters (three of whom weren't even race winners), and 15 grand prix podium finishers. So picking and ranking the top 10 riders was not an easy task when Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorouzhiy, Matt Beer and guest pundit Glenn Freeman joined forces to do so on The Race MotoGP Pod...

We had far more questions than we could hope to fit in a single episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast when we asked what you still wanted answered about the 2023 season or 2024 prospects. Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer tackle the first batch in the latest episode, and they're headlined by some Ducati rider line-up intrigue - particularly around Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastiani...

A long chat with much-hyped MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta headlines the first off-season episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast. Valentin Khorounzhiy is joined by Simon Patterson, who spoke to Acosta as well as MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia and Moto3 champion Jaume Masia during the FIM prize gala in Liverpool. In an extensive conversation, Acosta reflects on his first taste of KTM machinery in the premie...

Just two days after the 2023 MotoGP season ended, the 2024 MotoGP season began with a hugely eagerly anticipated Valencia test headlined by Marc Marquez jumping on a Ducati for the first time. Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer have plenty to say about just _how_ quick he was, what it means for the 2024 title fight and the Ducati dynamic in The Race MotoGP Podcast. But, ironically...

Simon Patterson joins Valentin Khorounzhiy to discuss the 2023 MotoGP season finale in Valencia, in which Pecco Bagnaia claimed his second successive championship crown as title rival Jorge Martin endured an incident-laden final Sunday of the year that ended in a collision with Marc Marquez. There's also news on the future of RNF Aprilia, whether Fabio Di Giannantonio will indeed be on the grid ne...

Just when he seemed to have Pecco Bagnaia on the ropes once again following a hard-charging sprint win, Jorge Martin's terrible Sunday race leaves him back in title long-shot status with just the Valencia finale to go. Simon Patterson and Valentin Khorounzhiy join Matt Beer to explain exactly what went wrong for the furious Martin on The Race MotoGP Podcast, and make their predictions for how this...

MotoGP championship rivals Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin went wheel to wheel again in the Malaysian Grand Prix, while also dodging other Ducatis, but the big theme of their weekend was tyre pressures and the potential for penalties over them. Are we at a point when the tyre pressure monitoring is going to decide the world title outcome while wrecking all the racing up to then and beyond? That's t...

With just three grands prix to go, only 13 points separate Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin in a 2023 MotoGP world championship that just keeps delivering twists. Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate how the denouement might unfold in the latest episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast. Will Bagnaia and Martin keep it clean? Will it go down to the very last race? Can Ducati afford no...

The 2023 MotoGP title fight got even more epic at the Thailand Grand Prix as Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia (and interloper Brad Binder) produced the race of the season so far. Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer delve into how Martin emerged victorious, how Bagnaia limited the damage and the type of riders they are each evolving into as their championship battle progresses. How Bi...

MotoGP only managed one of its planned two races at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, but the one that did happen was the best of the season so far. It was also a good candidate for being _the_ race where Jorge Martin blew his title bid. Was his choice of a soft tyre that collapsed on the final lap and dropped him from first to fifth arrogance, hubris or understandable? That's a key debate for Simon...

The 2023 MotoGP world championship battle flipped yet again during the Indonesian Grand Prix weekend, as Jorge Martin crashed out of a commanding GP race lead the day after his sprint race win had moved him to the head of the championship standings for the first time. That allowed Pecco Bagnaia to take the race win and retake the points lead. But should he feel triumphant given he did that from 13...

We asked you what you wanted to know about Marc Marquez's Honda exit, Gresini Ducati move, wider MotoGP future and all the repercussions - and you had plenty of questions for us. So Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer attempt to answer them on The Race MotoGP Podcast. Was Alex Marquez's early move to the team his brother is now joining the start of a secret long-term plan? How will...

It's actually happening: Marc Marquez is leaving Honda and will soon be announced as a 2024 Gresini Ducati MotoGP rider. The greatest rider of his era, walking out of a legendary and once-dominant team mid-contract to join what is currently Ducati's lowest-priority team to ride a year-old bike. Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate everything that has happened to lead to this...

Any lingering doubts about the 2023 MotoGP world championship fight were erased over an ultra-tense Japanese Grand Prix weekend that ended with Pecco Bagnaia's lead over Jorge Martin down to just three points. And this wasn't because of some calamity for Bagnaia, but a pair of straight-fight defeats in close competition across wildly varying weather conditions. So as Simon Patterson, Valentin Khor...

Just when it seemed he'd limited the championship damage caused by his terrifying Barcelona crash, defending champion Pecco Bagnaia threw the title race open again with a massive error in the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate how costly that might be on The Race MotoGP Podcast. Might this be a mistake too far for Bagnaia, given Marco Bezzecchi...

In our latest edition of 'Toby Talks To', host Toby Moody sits down for a chat with Carlos Checa, a rider who raced in 125s, 250s and 500s as the top class morphed into the category we know as MotoGP in 2002. The popular Spaniard opens up on the highs and lows of his career, including his two 500cc Grand Prix victories for Honda on home soil at Barcelona and Jarama, and the Superbike world title h...

Marc Marquez dominated yet another MotoGP weekend in off-track terms as he swept the paddock into a 'will he/won't he?'' frenzy at Misano with four days of speculation over whether he was about to break his factory Honda contract to join brother Alex on one of Gresini's year-old Ducatis for 2024. Then he tested Honda's 2024 bike on Monday and that prospect suddenly seemed a whole lot more realisti...

Pecco Bagnaia's smooth progress towards another MotoGP world championship title was jeopardised in terrifying fashion when he was hit by Brad Binder's KTM after landing in the middle of the track following a first-lap high-side in the Catalan Grand Prix. Incredibly, it looks like Bagnaia escaped without any broken bones and may not even miss a race. The Race MotoGP Podcast panel Simon Patterson, V...

A few days on from a weekend in which he was the central figure in MotoGP's rider market for 2024, Johann Zarco speaks exclusively to The Race MotoGP Podcast about his decision to sign for LCR Honda. The 33-year-old Frenchman has elected to spurn a chance of continuing with MotoGP's most competitive bike in Ducati for a Honda 'project'. He explains why - and how the move came together - in a chat...

The Race MotoGP Podcast delves into the events of the series' 2023 Austrian Grand Prix weekend, in which the two actual races wound up relatively serene thanks to Pecco Bagnaia's dominance yet the rider market proved as lively as ever. Stand-in host Glenn Freeman is joined by Simon Patterson and Valentin Khorounzhiy, both fresh off chasing the latest developments in the Red Bull Ring paddock - whe...

In the latest of our 'Toby Talks To' interview episodes, host Toby Moody sits down for a chat with legendary Spanish journalist Manuel Pecino - a veteran of 30 years in the MotoGP paddock and a man with the inside line on everything that's going on. There's plenty of chat about the old days, of course, but also a uniquely Spanish viewpoint on the careers of several Iberian giants of the sport, inc...

Aprilia looked superb in MotoGP's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with Aleix Espargaro's last-lap pass on Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati to secure victory from 12th on the grid the icing on a cake that featured three bikes in the top five. So why have it and Espargaro been unable to do that all season? And is this the start of a trend or does it feel like a circumstantial anomaly. Simon Patterson, Vale...

The prospect of an exodus from the Honda ranks is the hot topic as MotoGP resumes following its summer break with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend. With Alex Rins linked to Yamaha, Joan Mir linked to Gresini Ducati and the LCR team linked to KTM, plus the door already being potentially open to a Marc Marquez exit, it's hard to see who'll be left riding Hondas in MotoGP in 2024 ri...

On this week’s episode we’re delighted to bring you another ‘Toby Talks To’ conversation, which this week sees host Toby Moody sit down for a lively chat with 1987 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner.  In typically forthright style, Wayne talks us through his remarkable career, including how he got his move to HRC, what it was like to ride bikes that would frequently high side, and how he won the w...

On this week’s episode of The Race MotoGP podcast, Toby Moody speaks to Stuart Pringle, managing director of Silverstone circuit and the man responsible for running both the Formula 1 AND MotoGP British Grands Prix. During this Toby Talks To chat, Pringle gives his verdict on this year’s well-attended F1 Grand Prix at the track, before going on to explain how staging a MotoGP race differs from sta...