I-play, Oberon Media’s publishing division and the world’s leading multi-platform casual games publisher, has announced the launch of the MotoGP 2010 Game for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The only official game available on the iPhone for 2010, the fantastic 3D experience features the 17 MotoGP riders including Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and comes with the official bikes and all 18 tracks which make up this year’s calendar. There are a host of other excellent features too which make this a must-have for the dedicated MotoGP thrill seeker.

Championship mode allows players to compete for the 2010 World Championship, with two camera angles giving amazing views and acceleration controls that replicate the lean angle of the bikes through accessible handling. Racing like a professional allows players to unlock all 18 circuits, and the game’s iPod library support function allows an individual soundtrack to be created.

“MotoGP is the world’s premier motorcycling championship and one of the most exciting racing series in motorsports,” said Tony Leamer, Vice President of Marketing at I-play. “Fans of the sport, championship series and racing alike will be impressed with the thrilling realism MotoGP 2010 brings to the palm of your hand.”

Dorna Sports S.L. Managing Director Pau Serracanta said: “The launch of the MotoGP 2010 Game for iPhone and iPod Touch is excellent news! Many of our fans are also users of these devices and we are confident this launch will be very well received by them. We have launched MotoGP console games on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii with great success in the past. With this new game we will be fulfilling the demands of our fans worldwide.”

The game is available now for $3.99/£2.39/€2.99 from the iTunes App store – click here for a direct link. To celebrate the launch of the game two replica Valentino Rossi helmets will also be given away on I-play’s Facebook page

It seems that the injury-through-motocross bug doesn’t only affect the riders this season. Now Suzuki team manager Paul Denning has become the latest victim, suffering a broken leg and bruises to his ankle and foot as well. As he’s still in the Dorchester hospital he won’t be able to be at Indianapolis this weekend, leaving the team without a team manager for the Indy GP, but he should be fit again for the next race at Misano.

The crew of www.alvarobautista.co.uk and www.batifans.com wishes Paul Denning a speedy recovery and we hope to see him back at the track soon.

Rizla Suzuki completed most of its full test programme and acquired a large amount of data from Monday’s test at the Brno circuit before rain brought the day’s proceedings to a premature end.

Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista were joined at the 5,403m Czech Republic track by Alstare Suzuki World Superbike rider Sylvain Guintoli, who was called up to provide cover for the test if Bautista was unable to participate following his huge crash in Saturday’s practice.

Capirossi and Bautista were able to test many new and revised parts for the Suzuki GSV-R including two new chassis, new Ohlins forks and updated engine management programmes. Guintoli was able to complete three runs to get some data for his riding style early in the morning. The talented Frenchman was then scheduled to do a longer test run in the afternoon, but the rain intervened and ruined any chance he had of assisting with further evaluation of the GSV-R.

Rizla Suzuki will now assess the information from the test and hopefully be able to make some important steps and decisive changes in-time for the next round of the season at Indianapolis in America on Sunday 29th August. Guintoli will next be in WSB action on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Nurburgring in Germany on Sunday 5th September.

Álvaro Bautista:
“The test was very short for me, because I felt a lot worse than I did on Sunday during the race. Today we wanted to do a full comparison of two different chassis and we were able to at least do that. I noticed an improvement in the exit of the corner with the new one, the bike had more stability. We still need to test it further and find out what the true potential is, but overall it was a good test and hopefully with what we found we can make a big difference.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

After the Czech GP on Sunday the highly anticipated post-race test took place at Brno yesterday. It is the last official test for the MotoGP teams this season and with Suzuki currently struggling with their performance, they had a lot of new parts and configurations to test in order to try and catch up with the other manufacturers for the rest of the season.
Following his horrifying crash in Saturday morning’s free practice session, Alvaro didn’t ride his bike much during the test. Instead the team brought current World Superbike rider Sylvain Guintoli on board who shared the bike and the workload with Alvaro. Guintoli has extensive experience in the MotoGP championship and did his best to help the team get all the scheduled work done. Alvaro only rode 24 laps in the morning session – the least laps of all riders – and didn’t go out again for the afternoon session, to further recover from the back injuries he sustained.
The afternoon session was also cut short by rain, forcing all riders back into the pits and ending the day about three hours early. Not the best conditions for Suzuki to test everything they brought to Brno. New parts and adjustments they tested included a new fairing, a brandnew and a modified chassis, different forks, an aerodynamics package and some electronics changes. Due to Alvaro being injured most of the work again fell back on his teammate Loris Capirossi.

Pedrosa and Simoncelli were the only crashers during the test, both walking away unhurt, and Randy De Puniet sat the day out to give his leg some rest and not having any new parts to test anyway.

The fastest laptime of the day:

Pos Rider Bike Time Diff
1 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 1′56.269
2 Casey STONER DUCATI 1′56.844 0.575
3 Dani PEDROSA HONDA TEST 1′56.944 0.675
4 Valentino ROSSI YAMAHA 1′57.129 0.860
5 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 1′57.424 1.155
6 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 1′57.512 1.243
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 1′57.691 1.422
8 Loris CAPIROSSI SUZUKI 1′57.700 1.431
9 Ben SPIES YAMAHA 1′57.753 1.484
10 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 1′57.991 1.722
11 Hector BARBERA DUCATI 1′58.017 1.748
12 Marco MELANDRI HONDA 1′58.070 1.801
13 Marco SIMONCELLI HONDA 1′58.160 1.891
14 Aleix ESPARGARO DUCATI 1′58.612 2.343
15 Hiroshi AOYAMA HONDA 1′58.830 2.561
16 Mika KALLIO DUCATI 1′58.926 2.657
17 Alvaro Bautista SUZUKI 1′59.454 3.185
18 Sylvain Guintoli SUZUKI 2′01.474 5.205

The Grand Prix Commission got together today to decide and announce several rule changes which will affect the current and following season.

The most interesting bit for this season is the official allowance of 9 engines per season for manufacturers which have not won a race in the previous two seasons.

For 2010 the manufacturer members of MSMA who did not win at least 2 dry races in 2008 + 2009 seasons can use 9 engines instead of 6.

This applies to the Rizla Suzuki factory team only which means both Alvaro and his teammate Loris Capirossi will be able to use three more engines this season.

Further announcements for this season concern the official schedule for the Grand Prix at Motorland Aragon and changes to use of tyres at official post-race tests.

For these tests of 1 day duration, each rider will be restricted in the quantity and specification of tyres that they may use at a single test event as follows:

For all practice sessions, a maximum of 8 slick tyres will be allocated, specifically:
Front slick tyres: 2 of Specification “A” + 2 of Specification “B” = 4 in total.
Rear slick tyres: 2 of Specification “A” + 2 of Specification “B” = 4 in total.
During all practice sessions, a maximum of 4 wet tyres, specifically:
Front wet tyres: 2 of the standard specification
Rear wet tyres: 2 of the standard specification

In addition each rider may use 1 set of tyres (1 front + 1 rear) retained from their allocation for the preceding event. These tyres may be new or used (NB. used tyres must still be mounted on wheels from the preceding event), and the team must inform the tyre supplier which set of tyres (1 front + 1 rear), if any, they wish to retain for the test within 2 hours of the preceding race finish.

Apart from the rule changes coming into effect this season already, the most anticipated announcement was the official confirmation of the change to 1000cc in the MotoGP class from 2012 onwards as well as the change to Moto3 in 2013.

Technical specifications for MotoGP from 2012 onwards:

Capacity: Up to 1000cc
Number of maximum cylinders: 4
Maximum bore: ø81mm
Maximum weight: 150 kg (up to 800cc) and 153 kg (over 800cc)
Maximum number of engines available for use by each rider: 6
Fuel tank capacity: 21 litres

Exception for Claiming Rule Teams (CRT’s)
Maximum number of engines available for use by each rider: 12
Fuel tank capacity: 24 litres

The selecion of the Claiming Rule Teams (CRT’s) will be by unanimous decision of the Grand Prix Commission. Modification to this exception due to performance of the teams requires the simple majority of the Grand Prix Commission.

The full announcement can be read here.

It appears things have turned around a bit for the positive now. Various news reports say that Alvaro is not as heavily injured as initially feared, there are no fractures and his CT scan came back clear. However, he’s taken a heavy hit to his back and got some severe bruising that will certainly need some treatment with painkillers and physiotherapy. He is currently on his way back to the circuit and might even attempt to take a qualifying lap around the circuit. If he doesn’t qualify today but gets the green light from the Clinica Mobile tomorrow, then he should be able to still get on the grid via special exception from race direction as he was within qualifying time in both FP1 and FP2.

We will keep you updated.

Saturday morning got off to a really bad start for Alvaro who crashed heavily in turn 3 and had to be carried away on a stretcher. He was shown waving to the camera and moving around when he was rolled into the Clinica Mobile, but as of now it is not clear if or how heavily he is injured and if he can continue the weekend.

There’s still been no replay of the crash itself, but it’s been the first flying lap for Alvaro after his outlap which would suggest an issue with cold tyres.

The temperatures at Brno are considerably colder this morning than they were for the first practice yesterday and heavy fog delayed the start of all practices today. Alvaro had been in the box for a while and just came back on track when the crash happend.

He was only shown lying in the gravel afterwards and stretchered away. He was wearing a neck brace on the way to the Clinica Mobile, but that might have been only a precautionary measure.

As soon as news emerge we will keep you updated.

UPDATE1: First sources from the Clinica on Twitter suggest Bati might have taken a hard hit on his back and some bruising, but no serious injury. But the medical helicopter is on standby, just in case. Here’s hoping.

UPDATE2: As suspected, Alvaro is now being taken to the Brno hospital for further checkups and X-rays. We keep our fingers crossed that the results will be positive. It is possible that Alvaro will miss the qualifying, but in case he’s fit to ride and gets the green light from the medical team, race direction should allow him to start the race tomorrow.

UPDATE3: It seems confirmed now that Alvaro will miss the rest of the weekend at Brno. Even though there’s been no official confirmation of the extend of his injuries by now, he has a suspected trauma of the first lumbar vertebra. He is currently undergoing further CT scans. An official announcement should follow soon.

I-play, Oberon Media’s publishing division and the world’s leading multi-platform casual games publisher, today announced the launch of the MotoGP 2010 Game for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The only official game available on the iPhone for 2010, the fantastic 3D experience features the 17 MotoGP riders including Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and comes with the official bikes and all 18 tracks which make up this year’s calendar. There are a host of other excellent features too which make this a must-have for the dedicated MotoGP thrill seeker.

Championship mode allows players to compete for the 2010 World Championship, with two camera angles giving amazing views and acceleration controls that replicate the lean angle of the bikes through accessible handling. Racing like a professional allows players to unlock all 18 circuits, and the game’s iPod library support function allows an individual soundtrack to be created.

“MotoGP is the world’s premier motorcycling championship and one of the most exciting racing series in motorsports,” said Tony Leamer, Vice President of Marketing at I-play. “Fans of the sport, championship series and racing alike will be impressed with the thrilling realism MotoGP 2010 brings to the palm of your hand.”

Dorna Sports S.L. Managing Director Pau Serracanta said: “The launch of the MotoGP 2010 Game for iPhone and iPod Touch is excellent news! Many of our fans are also users of these devices and we are confident this launch will be very well received by them. We have launched MotoGP console games on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii with great success in the past. With this new game we will be fulfilling the demands of our fans worldwide.”

The game is available now for $3.99/£2.39/€2.99 from the iTunes App store – click here for a direct link. To celebrate the launch of the game two replica Valentino Rossi helmets will also be given away on I-play’s Facebook page

A couple of news bits concerning Suzuki and their technical as well as professional future.

There will be one day of testing immediately after the Czech Grand Prix at Brno this weekend and Suzuki has brought quite a few new parts in order to improve their obvious current disadvantages on track. In fact, they have so much stuff to test that team boss Paul Denning already fears that the track time won’t be enough for them to get all the work done in only one day.

“We will bring so many new parts to Brno that we would really need more than one day. I assume the track time will be from 9 in the morning to 6 PM and during that time we won’t leave a minute unused, hoping that we can get through our whole task list. We definitely need to take a step forward. For my taste the Brno circuit is the wrong place to test at, because the flowing line is comparable to the Catalunya circuit. However, our bike shouldn’t go too bad there. And normally the temperatures are pretty high at this time of year as well.” Concerning the new parts that are up for testing, Denning explained: “We have important changes to test for the aerodynamics package. Those affect not only the speed, but also the handling when entering the curves. Additionally we have tests planned for the chassis, the swingarm and the ECU where we want to sort out the best parts.”

Looking further into the future, Denning revealed during the Suzuki anniversary celebration at Brands Hatch last weekend that Suzuki’s participation in the MotoGP championship for 2011 is definitely secured. Alvaro will be starting his second year with the team and Rizla seems almost certain to be the title sponsor again. With the possibility of Toni Elias joining the team in the coming season [see various Silly Season reports on that, we recommend the excellent summary on MotoMatters] it would also be desirable for Suzuki to get a big Spanish sponsor on board as well, supporting the potential All-Spanish lineup and giving them a few more opportunities than with only the reportedly meager funding coming from Rizla.

However, it is still not clear whether we will still see Suzuki in the championship in 2012 when the new rules come into effect. The reports are a bit contradicting on that matter. On the one hand the development department at Suzuki is apparently already working on the prototype for 2012, on the other hand the team itself didn’t get any official confirmation yet about the continued participation in the championship beyond 2011.

Source: Motorsport Aktuell

This year will be the 41st occasion that a Grand Prix event will have been staged at Brno. The first Grand Prix to be held at Brno was back in 1965 on the old road circuit which measured 13.94 km. The circuit remained essentially the same until 1975, when it was shortened to the 10.92 km circuit that was used up until 1982, at which time it was deemed no longer up to the safety standards required for Grand Prix racing.

The current circuit was first used for a Grand Prix in 1987 and has been visited every year since with the exception of 1992. Of the current circuits only Assen has hosted more Grand Prix events than Brno. Originally, the event held at Brno was the Grand Prix of Czechoslovakia, until 1991 when the country was divided and the Czech Republic was formed.

Below is a selection of highlights and milestone races from the previous Grand Prix events at the current Brno circuit:

• 1987 – The first 500cc race to be held at the current Brno circuit was won by Wayne Gardner (Honda) from his great rival Eddie Lawson (Yamaha).
• 1988 – Jorge Martinez (Derbi) won both the 125cc and 80cc races on his way to taking the world titles in both classes. This was the last ever occasion that a rider has won two Grand Prix races on the same day.
• 1989 – Kevin Schwantz took the win in the 500cc race from fellow American riders Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey. This is the only win for Suzuki at the current Brno circuit.
• 1991 – Alessandro Gramigni scored his first ever GP victory, which was also the first ever win in the 125cc class for Aprilia.
• 1993 – In the 500cc class, Wayne Rainey won from Yamaha team-mate Luca Cadalora. This was Rainey’s last ever race win, just two weeks before his career-ending crash at Misano.
• 1994 – Max Biaggi riding an Aprilia won the 250cc Grand Prix at Brno. Biaggi went on to take three more victo- ries in the 250cc class at the Czech GP and then added three more wins in the premier-class, making him equal with Valentino Rossi with seven wins, the two most successful riders at the current Brno circuit.
• 1996 – Valentino Rossi won the 125cc GP at Brno riding an Aprilia – his first ever Grand Prix win. The 500cc race ended with Alex Criville taking the win from team-mate Mick Doohan by just 0.002 seconds in one of the closest finishes of all time.
• 1998 – Max Biaggi (Honda), in his debut season in the 500cc class, won for the second time in 1998 – a victory often remembered for the near-vertical wheelie over the finish line.
• 1999 – Championship leader in the 125cc class, Masao Azuma, survived a spectacular crash virtually uninjured during practice when he collided with a young deer that had strayed onto the track.
• 2001 – Valentino Rossi (Honda) won the 500cc race to become the first rider to win in all three Grand Prix classes at the current Brno circuit.
• 2006 – Loris Capirossi’s MotoGP victory at Brno in 2006 came 16 years and 15 days after his first GP victory in the 125cc race at Donington in 1990, giving him the longest winning career in Grand Prix racing. The top 15 ri- ders across the line were covered by just 29.296 seconds; the closest top fifteen of all time in the premier-class.
• 2007 – Casey Stoner (Ducati) dominated the MotoGP race at Brno with a start to finish win from pole position. In second place was John Hopkins, taking his best ever Grand Prix result.
• 2008 – Valentino Rossi’s winning margin of 15.004 seconds at the Czech Grand Prix in 2008 is the biggest ever winning margin in the four-stroke MotoGP era in a dry weather race.
• 2009 – With his win in the MotoGP race, Valentino Rossi became the rider with most podium finishes in the history of Grand Prix racing with a total of 160.

Source: motogp.com