The 68th season of MotoGP begins this weekend in Qatar, and we’ll see if Jorge Lorenzo will be able to defend his title. Let’s take a moment to see what’s changing this year:
The three most interesting changes to me (though there’s plenty of other small ones as well):
– Sadly for Americans, the race in Indy is going, having been replaced with a round in Austria (the first one in 20 years).
– Also sadly for Americans, Nicky Hayden is out, having left for WSBK.
– Tito Rabat (3rd place Moto2 finisher in 2013 and 2015 and Champion in 2014) will be making his MotoGP debut.
And the bikes are changing, too. I’ll leave it to this photo courtesy of Repsol Honda to explain what they’re working with for rule changes for motorcycles this year (click the image to enlarge):
Here’s MotoGP’s official video on some of the ‘changes and challenges’ that are coming up: