The Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini welcomes the MotoGP™ grid to Misano this coming weekend with the fight at the top of the premier class turning into a breath-taking spectacle with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo and Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa both on blistering form heading into this weekend.

With Pedrosa only 13-points adrift off his Spanish rival, he will undoubtedly be looking to claw back further points with only six races left in the season. Yet Lorenzo will have his say in the matter, having taken the win at Misano last year in dominant fashion. Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner is still recovering from his ankle surgery two weeks ago, and will be replaced by SBK Ten Kate Honda rider Jonathan Rea of Northern Ireland. He has had a total of three test days on the Honda RC213V machine, and will he aiming to put on a good show in his first MotoGP™ outing.

Lorenzo’s teammate Ben Spies, who last time out had a weekend to forget, will be hoping for a trouble-free outing at the track, and get back to challenging for the podium. He will as usual face the challenge from Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow. The British rider not only took his first GP podium last time out; he also topped the timesheets in the official Brno test, making himself known as a serious threat at the Misano round. His Italian teammate will not wish to be beaten at his home round however, and will most certainly look to get the upper hand once more.

Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, who held a private test at the track two weeks ago, will be looking for a positive result at his local circuit, as he seeks to improve the Desmosedici for a good finish to the season. His American teammate Nicky Hayden, who missed the last race due to injury, will be back for the Italian race. He has never finished a race there since joining the Ducati Team in 2008. The factory Ducati pair will be gunning to finish ahead of the satellite Hondas of Stefan Bradl and Álvaro Bautista. LCR Honda MotoGP’s Bradl, who last week tested a factory RC213V, came second in the Moto2™ race last year, and will be hoping to challenge for a podium at the team’s home race, albeit with his current satellite machine. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista will however have the same intentions and is likely to try and spoil the party.

The satellite Ducati machines will be back at full strength once more with Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá returning to the frame after recovering from his fractured vertebra, and Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham buoyed by his ninth place finish in Brno. The CRT contingent has undergone some changes since Brno, with Spaniard David Salom replacing Iván Silva in the Avintia Blusens team, and Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci lining up on a Suter-BMW machine. NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards will continue to race on his Suter bike, and will line up against the regular CRT grid of Power Electronics Aspar duo of Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaró, San Carlo’s Michele Pirro, Speed Master’s Mattia Pasini, Avintia’s Yonny Hernandez and Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison.

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