2016 Moto2 season

The 2016 Moto2 season is a part of the 68th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Johann Zarco will start the season as the defending World Champion, having secured his first championship title at the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix.^[1]

List of planned races

The following Grands Prix are provisionally scheduled to take place in 2016.^[2]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit
1	20 March	Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar	Losail International Circuit, Doha
2	3 April	Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina	Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo, Santiago del Estero
3	10 April	Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas	Circuit of the Americas, Austin
4	24 April	Gran Premio bwin de España	Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera
5	8 May	Monster Energy Grand Prix de France	Le Mans Bugatti, Maine
6	22 May	Gran Premio d'Italia TIM	Mugello Circuit, Mugello
7	5 June	Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya	Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló
8	26 June	Motul TT Assen	TT Circuit Assen, Assen
9	17 July	GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland	Sachsenring, Hohenstein-Ernstthal
10	14 August	Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg
11	21 August	bwin Grand Prix Ceske Republiky[3]	Automotodrom Brno, Brno
12	4 September	Octo British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone
13	11 September	Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Misano Adriatico
14	25 September	Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón	Motorland Aragón, Alcañiz
15	16 October	Motul Grand Prix of Japan	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi
16	23 October	Pramac Australian motorcycle Grand Prix	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Phillip Island
17	30 October	Shell Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Selangor
18	13 November	Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana	Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia

Calendar changes

• The 2016 season looked set to see the return of the Austrian Grand Prix to the series' schedule after 19 years absence. The race will be held at the Red Bull Ring, which was the venue of the last Austrian Grand Prix, when the track was called A1 Ring.^[2]
• Having been on the calendar since 2008, the Indianapolis round has been discontinued.^[4]

Teams and riders

A provisional entry list was announced on 7 November 2015.^[5]

Team	Constructor	Motorcycle	No.	Rider
Stop and Go Racing Team	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	2	Jesko Raffin[6]
			39	Luis Salom[7]
Speed Up	Speed Up	Speed Up SF16	3	Simone Corsi[5]
Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	5	Johann Zarco[8][9]
Forward Team	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri[10]
			10	Luca Marini[5]
Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	11	Sandro Cortese[11]
			94	Jonas Folger[11]
Derendinger Interwetten Technomag Interwetten	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	12	Thomas Lüthi[5]
			70	Robin Mulhauser[5]
			77	Dominique Aegerter[5]
IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	14	Ratthapark Wilairot[5]
			30	Takaaki Nakagami[5]
IodaRacing Project SRL	Suter	Suter MMX2	17	Efrén Vázquez[5]
QMMF Racing Team	Speed Up	Speed Up SF16	19	Xavier Siméon[12]
			60	Julián Simón[5]
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	21	Franco Morbidelli[13]
			73	Álex Márquez[13]
Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	22	Sam Lowes[14]
AGR Team	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	23	Marcel Schrötter[15]
			49	Axel Pons[5]
FGV Malaysia Racing[16]	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	25	Azlan Shah[16]
			88	Ricard Cardús[16]
Tech 3	Tech 3	Tech 3 Mistral 610	32	Isaac Viñales[15]
			97	Xavi Vierge[17]
Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	33	Alessandro Tonucci[5]
Páginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	40	Álex Rins[18]
			57	Edgar Pons[19]
Leopard Racing	Kalex[20]	Kalex Moto2	44	Miguel Oliveira[21]
			52	Danny Kent[22]
Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	54	Mattia Pasini[5]
Petronas Raceline Malaysia	Kalex	Kalex Moto2	55	Hafizh Syahrin[5]

Team changes

• JiR Moto2 announced that they will withdraw from the championship at the end of the 2015 season.^[23]
• Dynavolt Intact GP will expand to enter second bike.
• Suter also announced that they will withdraw from the championship as they only have three riders to compete the 2016 season.
• Leopard Racing will return to the Moto2 class after previously competing as Kiefer Racing from 2010 to 2012. They will use Kalex bikes, with Danny Kent and Miguel Oliveira as their riders.
• AGP Racing, which was on provisional entry list, was withdrawn from the championship due to financial problems, leaving Federico Fuligni and Remy Gardner without job.^[24]
• JPMoto Malaysia, which was on provisional entry list, was taken over by FGV Malaysia Racing.^[16]

Rider changes

• Luis Salom will leave Paginas Amarillas HP 40 at the end of the 2015 season to join Stop and Go Racing Team. His place will be taken by 2015 FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship winners Edgar Pons.
• Danny Kent will return to the Moto2 class with Leopard Racing, marking his second season in Moto2 following a season with Tech 3 back in 2013.
• Franco Morbidelli will move to Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS, following Esteve Rabat's decision to join MotoGP class with Marc VDS for 2016.
• Simone Corsi leave Forward Team at the end of 2015 season to join Speed Up.
• Jonas Folger leave AGR Team to join Dynavolt Intact GP.
• Sam Lowes will replace Xavier Siméon at Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 as part of a contract-signing for a MotoGP seat with Gresini in 2017.
• Xavier Siméon will join QMMF Racing Team following his departure from Gresini.
• Mika Kallio will leave Moto2 to join KTM as a test driver for their 2017 MotoGP project.
• Miguel Oliveira will move up to the Moto2 class, becoming Danny Kent's teammate at Leopard Racing.
• Randy Krummenacher will leave Moto2 to join World Supersport Championship following JiR's withdrawal from the championship.
• After competing in the mid-half of 2015 season with Tech 3 as subtitution riders, Xavi Vierge will make full-time competition with the same team for 2016 season.
• Azlan Shah, which was on provisional entry list with JPMoto Malaysia, was initially withdrawn from the championship due to financial problems,^[25] but later back when the team was taken over by FGV Malaysia Racing.^[16]
• Efrén Vázquez will move up to the Moto2 class with IodaRacing Project SRL replacing Florian Alt, thus marking his second season in the intermediate class following a season back in 2007.
• Valentino Rossi's half-brother Luca Marini also step up to Moto2 class and join with Forward Team.
• Isaac Viñales move up to Moto2 class with Tech 3 replacing Marcel Schrotter who join to AGR Team.
• Alessandro Tonucci move up to Moto2 class with Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 replacing Louis Rossi, with the team will switch to Kalex bikes for 2016 season.
• Ratthapark Wilairot will make full-time return to Moto2 with IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia.

References

External links

• The official website of Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons Unrestricted era 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 Transitional era 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 Safety-conscious era 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 MotoGP era 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Moto2 Moto3 2015 Moto2 Moto3 2016 Moto2 Moto3