Paddock Pass Podcast

What attracts a sponsor to MotoGP and what do the likes of CryptoDATA gain from their stake as part of RNF Racing? CEO Ovidiu Toma tells us about his discovery of the sport, why the company chose to get involved with the team and what gains they make from being in the MotoGP paddock.

Safely home after a sojourn at Spielberg, Neil Morrison and Adam Wheeler are joined by homebody David Emmett to discuss an eventful yet unexciting Austrian Grand Prix from the Red Bull Ring. The crew give their ratings for the event, and discuss why KTM can't have two more grid slots. The ask what the future holds for Marc Marquez, and whether the combination of Johann Zarco's move to LCR and Marco Bezzecchi's likely decision to stay at VR46 will precipitate a bigger seat shake up than we expected, especially in light of the empty seat at Pramac, and they ask what happened to the talk of tire pressures.

In the run up to the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, we have a special guest. After Steve English, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett chat about developments in the silly season and some of the ongoing discussions about the future of Marc Marquez and KTM, they give a quick preview of the race in Spielberg.

After that, there is a 20-minute interview with Jack Miller, who gives a deep insight into the development process of KTM, and how he has adapted to the Austrian bike. Miller is always interesting and worth listening to, but this was a particularly frank and open interview.

On the Monday after Silverstone, Adam Wheeler and Neil Morrison popped into David Emmett's parental abode to look back at a dramatic weekend of racing. Obviously it was Aprilia that made the headlines, with Aleix Espargaro's dramatic victory, and Miguel Oliveira and Maverick Viñales making it three Aprilias in the top five. David grabbed Aprilia Racing engineering boss Romano Albesiano and RNF Racing boss Razlan Razali to hear from them on the weekend.

There's much more to talk about too. The role that tire pressures may or may not have played in the result, whether this is rock bottom for the Japanese factories, and whether Jake Dixon will be moving up to MotoGP in 2024. And we finish, as always, with our winners and losers.

A week on from Most, and Steve English and Gordo Ritchie take time to look back at the last round of the WorldSBK from the Czech Republic. They kick off with a discussion of how the battle between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista affected the dynamics of the championship, especially once Razgatlioglu crashed out. They discuss how the conditions affected the weekend, Danilo Petrucci's revival, and the crashes throughout the field.

In the latest episode of the RNF Unlocked podcast, Razlan Razali and Wilco Zeelenberg bring Adam Wheeler and Neil Morrison up to speed on what has happened during the long summer break. They discuss the new schedule, how they think the new tyre pressure rules will work - Wilco believes there were races in the past where RNF's riders would have finished much further up the field if the rules had been applied - and address some of the rumours from the summer break. And Silverstone marks the birthplace of the RNF Racing project, so Razlan tells us how the project came about.

With race week upon us, Adam Wheeler, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett gather to look ahead at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. After first going through the ramifications of the news that tyre pressures will be enforced from this weekend, they give their thoughts on Silverstone as a circuit and an event.

In this episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast, we take a look at the MotoGP calendar. In an interview with David Emmett, Dorna's Chief Sporting Officer explains the process of putting together a MotoGP calendar, with all of the political and logistical hurdles Dorna have to clear along the way.

Before the Ezpeleta interview, Adam Wheeler, Neil Morrison, and David give their thoughts on the calendar. They debate which tracks they would like to see on the MotoGP schedule, and which tracks they would choose to make way for those races.

Last week, after the WorldSBK paddock made a happy return to the magnificent Imola circuit, Steve English and Gordon Ritchie got together to discuss the events of the weekend. Gordo and Steve cover a lot of ground as usual, including how the different character of Imola made some riders feel more at home.

Steve and Gordo discuss Jonathan Rea's future, Toprak Razgatlioglu's joy at winning a main race, what Scott Redding will be doing next, who will be alongside Alvaro Bautista, and how the nature of Imola may have helped Bradley Ray to have a stronger weekend.

A couple of special interviews in this episode of the Paddock Pass Podcast. Neil Morrison interviews Marco Bezzecchi about life in the VR46 project, and how that makes him so competitive. Meanwhile, David Emmett interviews Joan Mir about how hard his first six months in the Repsol Honda squad have been, and the mental strength required to keep pushing despite crashing.