Just four rounds into the 18-race 2013 MotoGP World Championship, Ducati factory rider Nicky Hayden is already talking about having surgery at the end of the season to remove a screw from his right wrist.

Hayden has complained about pain in that joint for some time. After the Spanish GP in Jerez, the 31-year-old Kentuckian posted a photo on his Twitter feed showing both arms side-by-side. The right arm was visibly misshapen.

“A lot of fans were asking, ‘How’s the wrist?’ So, I showed ’em,” said Hayden. “Plus, I wanted to make it clear this wasn’t something I was making up. There’s a chance we’ll have to take the screw out at the end of the year.”

Hayden hyperextended his wrist exercising. “It was bothering me in Austin,” he admitted, referring to the second GP of the year, held at Circuit of The Americas. “When I got on the plane to come over to Europe, it really swelled up.”

I asked Hayden if the injury had anything to do with his dramatic highside crash during qualifying at last year’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. He sat out that race with a concussion and two fractures in his right hand.

“No,” he replied. “If anything, it could be related to Valencia a year and a half ago, that Turn 1 crash when [Alvaro] Bautista took out three of us. That’s when I first had to put a screw in the scaphoid.”

Despite the pain, Hayden finished seventh in Spain, beating his teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, by 16 seconds. “Jerez was really tough,” he said, “but I’m glad that I was able to get through the weekend and get a result. I hope I don’t have to suffer like that again any time soon.”

After Jerez, Hayden and Dovizioso tested at Mugello in Italy. “The Mugello test wasn’t easy, either,” said Hayden, “but it was worth doing. I think it will pay off when we go back for the race [in early June].”

This past weekend at Le Mans, which Hayden calls “maybe my worst track; never had a podium, never had a front row,” the swelling had gone down significantly. Hayden qualified 10th and finished fifth, battling close to the front. Dovizioso qualified third-quickest, led and finished fourth. Post-race, Hayden hardly mentioned his wrist.

“I really enjoyed the first 15 laps,” he said. “We know the Ducati is good in the rain, and when the track was wet, I had really good feeling. Unfortunately, when Valentino [Rossi] crashed, I picked it up and went straight to avoid him. I thought I could still recover the gap to Dovi and Cal, and then I ran off again.

“Qualifying wasn’t great, but overall, we had pretty good pace this weekend. I’m really looking forward to Mugello—I love the track, I love the race, I love the country. I don’t know if it’s the best GP of the year, but it’s right up there.

“We’ll regroup, get the hand even better and really go for it.”

second place in the French Grand Prix,

his best result in MotoGP.

Crutchlow overcame treacherous conditions on a soaked Le Mans circuit to stand on the podium for the first time in 2013, saying his Tech3 Yamaha team “deserved” a strong result after some promising performances in the opening races.

Race winner Dani Pedrosa takes over the championship lead from his Repsol Honda team-mate Marc Marquez, who finished third, after claiming his second consecutive grand prix victory.

The pair were running second (Rabat) and third (Espargaro) at the time. Both remounted, but were left outside of the points.

Previous title leader Rabat has now dropped 24-points from Scott Redding, with pre-season favourite Espargaro a massive 35 points adrift after two non-scores in the opening four rounds.

While the double-fall looked to most like a freak incident caused by the damp conditions, Espargaro suggested that Rabat was overriding and called for the Pons team to ‘relax’.

“After Tito passed me in the first corner he was long [wide]. In the second corner he was long too. I followed his line because always in the race you have to follow the line of your position. And he has crashed because there was water in the track,” Espargaro told MotoGP.com. “Not happy because we have to relax a little bit…”

Asked specifically if he felt Rabat was ‘too aggressive’, Espargaro replied: “Yeah sure. All team we have to be a bit more relaxed. It is a long race, not a four lap race. We have to take care about the first laps and think about the championship. All the team we have to think and we have to relax a little bit.”

Presented with the ‘aggressive’ claim and that he had pushed too hard, too early, a surprised Rabat responded:

“No. I made a bad start. Pol and Nakagami made a good start. I don’t know why he [Pol] says this, because he started unbelievably fast! He went ‘full’ at the beginning. Then after I overtook him I made a mistake… touched something wet and crashed. Sorry to the team.”

Sito Pons, boss of the Tuenti HP 40 squad, dismissed Espargaro’s suggestion of a link between the two incidents.

“Sorry, Tito pushed Pol, or did Pol crash alone? I think Pol crashed alone, no? Then I don’t understand this,” said the former double 250cc world champion. “This class is so competitive. Every rider races at the maximum he can. Sometimes they go over the limit. Many riders crashed today, most of them because they made a mistake. You must learn from this, everyone who makes a mistake.”

Jorge Lorenzo may have taken a dominant victory for Yamaha at the season-opening Qatar MotoGP, but Repsol Honda riders have now won the three events since – including Dani Pedrosa’s wet victory at Le Mans.

After Sunday’s French Grand Prix rival riders talked about how comfortable the Honda looked when being ridden at the limit.

The race began in fully wet conditions before drying in the second half of the race. The treacherous conditions made it very easy for any rider to make a mistake, with Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso profiting from Pedrosa’s early errors.

After the race the Italian spoke about his fight with Pedrosa in the first half of the 28 lap race:

“Dani was faster than me,” commented the Ducati rider. “He was able to brake much harder and turn faster than me in every corner, but he made a few mistakes and I was able to pass him. In braking it was easy to lose the rear and he made three mistakes.”

Some suggested that the small errors may have been a consequence of the confidence Pedrosa felt, in being able to push his RCV right to the very limit in the slippery conditions.

“Today in the wet the Honda was very strong and Dani was a lot faster than us,” said Valentino Rossi. “It looks like they can control the slide in the wet better than us. Dani made two or three mistakes but he was still able to win.”

The ability to slide the bike with ease was key at Le Mans, with Pedrosa able to use this strength to exit turn five with extra speed and be in position to overtake at Garage Vert, the double right hander where Pedrosa finally took the lead for good.

Lorenzo meanwhile struggled throughout the race. The Spaniard suffered from a severe lack of rear grip that made it impossible for him to stay with the lead group. The reigning world champion is now 17 points adrift of Pedrosa in the championship.

When asked about the strength of the Honda, the Spaniard said:

“The Honda is in extremely good form and the riders, Dani is really focussed and doing a great job and Marquez being a rookie is doing an extremely good job without mistakes,” said Lorenzo. “But the bike is working better than our bike at this moment.”

After a slow start, Marquez rode through the field from eighth to third.

Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden believe Ducati was flattered by the adverse conditions of Sunday’s MotoGP race at Le Mans.

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“The atmosphere is incredible and it’s so great to see so many people here,” Hamilton told motogp.com in an exclusive video interview. “This is my first time at a MotoGP race so I’m buzzing. I love racing all together, but I’ve been watching this sport for a long time so to be here at one of the races is just incredible. I’m a big fan of motorbikes and have a couple at home.”

Hamilton also spoke of Repsol Honda Team newcomer Marquez, who has taken the establishment by storm much like he did in F1 with McLaren in 2007:

“You know, it’s a huge roller-coaster ride and that’s probably the same for him. He has come in, is up there with the big boys straight away and that is how it was for me. To do that is very surreal. All you have to do is just take it in your stride and enjoy every single moment of it.”

Having watched Dani Pedrosa race to his second consecutive race victory, Hamilton himself will be back on-track in Monaco next weekend.

“We did an important test after Jerez, and the results were satisfying. We are using the new software here, which includes a lot of small things. The main things are something that helps wheelie control and on the exit of corners. And all of the riders are happy, so all of them are using it now.”

Speaking about the challenges Marelli faced coming into the championship he added: “The one thing nobody sees, is making the ECU work for all the machines. That’s something that nobody really understands, but it’s really a lot of work. The big challenge is to match all our customers’ requirements, which means asking all the teams what they need, and what they would like to have, and try to bring it on track as soon as possible.”

With regards to future improvements throughout the season, Cecchinelli spoke of the importance of the appropriate timing for upgrades: “We plan to introduce…let’s say…‘not so small steps’ in the after-race tests, because we do not want to introduce them during a race weekend where it could upset a team’s work. So the plan is more or less to introduce something at any after-race test.”

Magneti Marelli will provide the hardware for the entire MotoGP™ grid from 2014, with teams being able to run their own software – with a 21-litre fuel limit – or that of Marelli with a 24-litre fuel limit. Cecchinelli, when prompted about the competitiveness of the package said: “I think it’s the best you can have…I think it will become the best we can have, for a common-purpose software of course. You will never have the same tailor-made software you can have if you work on just one machine.  

“We are [confident ahead of 2014]! We see where we are now, and because I trust the people in the project. But as I told you, it will always be a general-purpose software – so it will be, in my opinion, much better than what the independent teams could have by themselves, but not at the level of the top factories.”  

Soon after the race had finished in Le Mans on Sunday, word began to circulate in the paddock that Lorenzo had been suffered from a defective rear tyre.

“It was clear during the race that Jorge had an issue, as he couldn’t keep the same pace as the leading group,” says Shinji Aoki, Manager of the Tyre Development Department at Bridgestone Motorsport.

“Immediately after the race he had a debrief session with his tyre engineer where he explained his lack of rear grip. As is always the case in these situations, his engineer thoroughly examined Jorge’s race tyres which were found to be in good working condition. In addition, I examined the tyre myself and personally discussed the matter with the Yamaha engineers and we all agreed that Jorge’s lack of rear grip was not attributable to his tyre.”

Aoki stresses that the issue was not a faulty tyre, but more setup-related.

“We received many different comments from the riders after the race on the feeling on the track, even though they all used the same specification of wet tyre and endured the same track conditions,” he continues. “In these low grip situations, machine setup is critical as the smallest setting change can have a big effect on performance.

“In any case, it was a shame for Jorge as he was so strong in morning Warm-Up and we all expected a better result from him, but he is a champion and I know he will be back to his competitive best at the next race.”

Not since Indianapolis 2011 had Lorenzo finished a race, but off the rostrum. He now sits third in the championship and 17 points in arrears of Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa.

The main game modes are: Official MotoGP will additionally offer players the opportunity to experience the 2013 Worldwide Championship, try the exclusive IRTA Test or prove their ability in a Quick Race. Career, the newly revamped career mode, will put gamers into the shoes of the riders, as it runs from first until the final race of the season. This particular game-mode will mix-in third and first person elements as well. Multiplayer will re-create exciting events – inspired by reality – to MotoGP’s classic elements, that will keep fans glued to their sofa.

MotoGP 13 will include all the tracks and riders of the 2013 MotoGP season. The game will also include a new engine, which will allow Milestone to manage all the elements such as graphics, physics, bikes, environment modeling and in-game sound.

The Circuit Of The Americas is the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the U.S. near Austin, Texas, with a 5.513km track and a capacity for 120,000 fans. Construction of the impressive 1000-acre facility was completed late in 2012. One of its more distinctive features is a near 41m-elevation change with an impressive incline at the end of the home-straight followed by a sharp left. The circuit is one of the most varied on the GP circuit, with a mix of fast straights and tight hairpins, with most sections mirroring at least some part of a famous track around the world. It was designed by a well-known German architect and circuit designer Hermann Tilke. The driving direction is anti- clockwise and has a total of 20 corners with 9 right turns and 11 left turns.

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