Its only been a month ago since the 2011 Moto gp season was completed and yet everyoens raring to go ready for the new season which kicks off on the 8th of April at the traditional season opener in Qatar.
Testing for the 2012 campaign has already kicked off with several changes in store for the season ahead. For example, in Moto GP they will revert back to 1000cc engines rather than the 800cc engines they had last year, there will also be more privateer team entries with some moto 2 teams being promoted to the top tier on new chassis. Plus the late 125cc class will make its long awaited change to moto 3 with new 250cc bikes being run and newer chassis and teams being run in this new class.
The expected front runners for the new Moto GP season will be current world champion Casey Stoner, team-mate Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and 9 time world champion Valentino Rossi. Rossi's fate will depend on whether Ducati have finally compiled a new bike which will actually be able to compete with the title contenders, last season Rossi's bike was surprisingly nowhere near competative enough to keep up with the very best. The dark horse for next years crown will be Ben Spies, he had a few moments of magic during last season and if he can keep these moments consistant then he could be there or thereabouts. He has the bike to do it and he just needs to keep injury free for the season. It will be interesting to see how last years Moto 2 champion Stefan Bradl fares on being promoted to the top tier on the LCR honda, if he's able to re-capture his form from last year then he could go places in his rookie season.
In the Moto 2 class, there's a vast range of riders who could win the championship this year round. The favourite for the title will be Marc Marquez, the young 19 year old rider who in his rookie season came so close to winning another title, a year after he won the 125 title but injury prevented him from sustaining a challenge. Other main front runners include Toni Elias te 2010 Moto 2 winner, Andrea Iannone, Nico Terol and Brit Bradley Smith. But the exciting prospect to next year is that almost anyone can win it. Plus this will potentially be the best chance for Brit's Bradley Smith and Scott Redding to really come of age this year. They have both been electric in testing for next year and Redding has fallen in love with his new Kalex frame and he's topped both Jerez and Valencia testings. Nico Terol will be the dark horse of the class as he finally got round to winning the last ever 125cc series and he's now teamed up with the ever reliable Mapfre Aspar team alongside Toni Elias, which should be a very hard team to beat in this category.
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