The MXGP of Pays de Montbéliard represents the nineteenth and final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing's Romain Febvre and Jeremy Van Horebeek, and Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP's Shaun Simpson and Arnaud Tonus.

This weekend Yamaha's MXGP riders will be racing at a typical French style motocross track that sprawls the hills of Villars-sous-Ecot, in France. It is a place that resonates well with Romain Febvre as it is the circuit that saw him claim his first ever Grand Prix win in the premier class - back in 2015. The Frenchman has been gaining momentum throughout the season and landed on the second step of the podium, for the second time this year, at the MXGP of The Netherlands last weekend. He is currently sixth place in the provisional Championship Standings, only 6-points shy of the recently dethroned world champion Tim Gajser. A top-five finish in the championship classification is still possible.

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The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team starts the tenth MotoGP round with more determination than ever after a four-week abstinence from MotoGP racing. As the Monster Energy Grand Prix Ceské Republiky at the Automotodrom Brno is rapidly approaching, the team can hardly wait to get the show back on the road.

Maverick Viñales arrives in the Czech Republic in second place in the championship standings, five points from first, and with a great hunger to reclaim the number one spot.

Feeling refreshed after four weeks of training and spending time with family and friends, the young gun is ready to commence the title challenge in the second half of the championship, starting this weekend. He stood on the Czech podium once before in 2013, having secured second place in the Moto3 race. His best finish on a MotoGP bike in Brno is ninth place.

Teammate Valentino Rossi is also looking forward to stepping aboard his YZR-M1 again this weekend at the hilly circuit of Brno. Currently in fourth place, just ten points behind the championship leader, the Doctor has all to play for at a track where he holds a stunning record.

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Marc Marquez took his second win of 2017 and his eighth in a row at the Sachsenring after starting from pole position, with teammate Dani Pedrosa joining him on the podium to complete the fourth double-podium finish (Austin, Jerez, Catalunya, Sachsenring) for Repsol Honda in nine races.

Marc and Dani got away from the front row brilliantly at the start, entering the first corner in first and second places, respectively. On lap five, Jonas Folger moved past Dani, and he overtook Marc on the following lap. Marc moved back on top on lap 11 and went on to take a momentous victory that earned him the lead in the Championship before the four-week summer break. Marc dedicated his 31st MotoGP win (the same tally as Eddie Lawson) to Nicky Hayden, who passed away in May.

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Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) continued his astonishing Sachsenring record today, scoring his eighth consecutive race victory at the challenging, undulating German venue. Yesterday he had taken his eighth successive pole position at the track. This is a unique performance in 69 years of motorcycling’s World Championships, with Marquez scoring the pole/win double in the 125cc class in 2010, in Moto2 in 2011 and 2012 and in MotoGP in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Most importantly, the 24-year-old Spaniard’s second win of the year moved him into the World Championship lead for the first time this season. The reigning World Champion now leads the title chase by the narrowest of margins, with the top four riders separated by ten points, an all-time record in premier-class history.

Marquez led away from pole position ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V). But local hero Jonas Folger (Yamaha) soon closed in on the pair to take the lead on lap six. He stayed there for several laps but then Marquez went back ahead. The two stayed within metres of each other until the last few laps when Marquez’s pace on used tyres pulled him three seconds clear of Folger.

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Valentino Rossi who gave Honda its 500th Grand Prix win at Suzuka in 2001 came very close to also giving Yamaha its 500th Grand Prix success, but had to give best to his younger teammate Maverick Vinales who was first past the chequered flag to win this year’s French MotoGP at the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix circuit.

However the honor of being the winningest Yamaha rder in MotoGP with 55 Grand Prix wins still stands with Valentino Rossi. This comes almost 57 years to the day when Fumio Ito astride the Yamaha RD56 went on to win the 1963 Belgian 250cc Grand Prix. Some of the greatest riders in the world like Jarno Saarinen, Phil Read and Kenny Roberts cut their teeth on Yamahas while many established stars like Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi used it to further add to their glory.

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As we approach the halfway mark of the MotoGP season, some may say we are in a similar position to when we started – trying to decide between the three main protagonists – Andrea Dovizioso doesn’t count as one of these… doesn’t he?

Only, actually, we do have some answers to a lot of the questions we were wrestling with a few months ago. Maverick Vinales does feel pressure and does make mistakes. Any notions of him running away with the title have now surely been dismissed. Marc Marquez can muscle decent results out of the unruly Honda RC213V and Valentino Rossi can still be a force. It is Andrea Dovizioso that remains the most difficult question to answer: can he really threaten for the title?

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Yamaha MotoGP Team's Valentino Rossi brought his A game to the Motul TT Assen race today. The nine-time World Champion completed a challenging weekend due to mixed conditions with a superb win, giving him the longest winning career through all classes, spread over 20 years and 313 days. Teammate Maverick Viñales fought his way up from eleventh on the grid and was heading towards the leading group, but his efforts ended in a DNF after an unlucky fall.

The Yamaha YZR-M1 from Valentino Rossi was first, Danilo Petrucci on a Ducati was second and Marc Marquez came in 3th on his Honda RC213V.

Valentino Rossi kicked off the Dutch Grand Prix from fourth position as darker skies loomed. He quickly slotted in behind Johann Zarco and Marc Marquez in third place and was quick to respond as his rivals attempted to break away, setting a provisional fastest lap of the race on lap three and four, with Danilo Petrucci tagging along. The Doctor piled on the pressure with 17 laps to go and overtook Marquez a lap later in the first corner, making the fans cheer. He duplicated this manoeuvre on the next lap to take over the lead from Zarco, which was followed by a touch between the two in turn 4, but the Italian kept the lead. Four laps later the Factory Yamaha man inched away as his pursuers battled for second place. The Doctor increased his lead to about a second, but with 8 laps left white flags came out as rain started to fall. Rossi was forced to lower his pace, allowing his rivals to close up. Adrenaline levels reached an all-time high for the VR46 fans as their hero fought tooth and nail to hold off his rival. Petrucci passed him with five laps to go, but the nine-time World Champion wasn't going to let the win slip away that easily. A lap later he used his nimble Yamaha YZR-M1 to charge past his compatriot in the chicane to regain the lead. The last laps were filled with drama as the pair had to deal with backmarkers, but Rossi held firm, taking a sensational win with a 0.063s advantage.

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There is a wide array of characters in MotoGP. I’m not just talking about the character of the riders here – there is obviously much to be said about that – but the motorcycles themselves can be said to have personalities that vary a lot across the paddock. We’ve heard riders talking about their motorcycles and the mounts of their opponents often, so let’s look into this.

The most convivial machine prize has to go to the Yamaha YZR-M1. Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales on the factory Yamaha motorcycles and Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger on the Yamaha satellite team Tech3 machines enjoy what is considered the best-balanced machine out there. The crossplane in-line four is easy to use and delivers smooth and predictable acceleration that makes good use of the grip available most of the time, at the price of maybe not being the most powerful.

The Yamaha chassis is stable yet nimble and the all-important front-end feel is among the best there is. The Yamaha YZR-M1 is a superb-handling machine that shines in fast sweepers and in high-speed direction changes. Just like the YZR500 of a bygone era, when Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson were the heroes of our racing weekend, the DNA shows through in the current Yamaha YZR-M1.

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Movistar Yamaha MotoGP's Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi were back on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today to continue the development of new items for their 2017 YZR-M1. The teammates finished second and tenth respectively in the 2017 MotoGP Catalunya Test times.

Today the Yamaha Factory riders were each able to test one of the two new frames available. Tomorrow they will switch to get a feel for the other option.

After a challenging outing yesterday, Viñales was a man on a mission: he was one of the first riders to venture out on track again this morning and the last to return to the pit box as the session closed. His goal for today was to try one of the new frames as well as improve his feeling with the bike in hot conditions. Whilst consistently featuring at the top of the charts for most of the day, the Spaniard wasn't shy to put in 81 laps in total and set a best time of 1'44.437s on his penultimate lap to finish in second position, 0.366s off the front.

Teammate Rossi also made strides in the blistering Catalan sunshine. He started the day by setting the provisional fastest time of the session on his fifth lap, before it was time to switch his focus to the fine-tuning of his bike. The Doctor spent the day testing various settings along with the second new frame option and came back with positive feedback. After completing 71 laps, he ended the day in tenth place with a fastest lap of 1'45.635s, 1.564s from the top.

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Andrea Dovizioso takes his second win in a row one week after Mugello, this time in the Catalan GP at Montmelò. The Italian is now just seven points away from the lead of the championship. Jorge Lorenzo crosses the line in fourth place.

Andrea Dovizioso scored his second GP win in seven days with another superb performance in the Catalan Grand Prix. Just one week after winning the Italian GP at Mugello, the Ducati Team rider powered to victory, for the fourth time in the premier class, in front of almost 100,000 spectators at the Montmelò circuit outside Barcelona.

Starting off well from row 3, Dovizioso crossed the line at the end of the opening lap in third, and he moved up to second on lap 8 after passing his team-mate Lorenzo and then Marquez. Andrea hounded Pedrosa until lap 17, when he attacked his Spanish rival to take the lead, which he maintained until the chequered flag and finishing with a gap of more than three and a half seconds over Marquez.

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