This year’s exciting MotoGP 2019 Championship season has arrived. Compelling as the races may be, there are clear favourites expected to win. There’s no way, of course, to determine who is going to take the top spot for this year’s thrilling two-wheeled Championship in which anything can happen.
Regardless, many are sticking to their guns with Marc Marquez expected to take home the title once again. It is the Spaniard who is the 8/15 odds-on favourite to land the crown* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 8th, 2019 at 11:22 pm)
Reigning Champion
Last year Marc Marquez took the championship title winning a total of 9 rounds. On two occasions he won three consecutive races in a row. Just to put that in context, Andrea Dovizioso who finished second to Marquez in the championship, claimed four wins all season.
Five of the wins that Marquez took were in the first half of the season, which meant that come the halfway stage of the Championship, he was pretty much out of sight already. Looking at his track record it’s easy to see why he is the favourite and considered one of most likely to win the title again this season.
He won his first MotoGP back in 2013, breaking the 30-year long record of the youngest MotoGP race winner. Since then he has taken home the trophy every year except 2015 but even then he still came in 3rd. His ability speaks for itself. His betting odds this year look pretty good at 8/15 according to bet365* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 8th, 2019 at 11:22 pm).
MotoGP 2019 Winner Odds*
Marc Marquez 8/15
Andrea Dovizioso 9/2
Maverick Vinales 11/2
Jorge Lorenzo 8/1
Valentino Rossi 12/1
Danilo Petrucci 14/1
Alex Rins 25/1
Jack Miller 40/1
Fabio Quartararo 40/1
Cal Crutchlow 66/1
bar 80/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 8th, 2019 at 11:22 pm)
List of Races and Dates
10th March – Qatar
31st March – Argentina
14 April – USA
5th May – Spain
19th May – France
2nd June – Italy
16th June – Spain
30th June – Netherlands
7th July – Germany
4th August – Czech Republic
11th August – Austria
25th August – Great Britain
15th September – Italy
22nd September – Spain
6th October – Thailand
20th October – Japan
27th October – Australia
3rd November – Malaysia
17th November – Spain
List of Teams and Riders
TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR
Joan Mir, Alex Rins
RESPOL HONDA TEAM
Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo
RED BULL KTM TECH 3
Hafizh Syahrin, Miguel Oliveira
RED BUL KTM FACTORY RACING
Johann Zarco, Pol Espargaro
REALE AVINTIA RACING
Karel Abraham, Tito Rabat
PETRONA YAMAHA SRT
Fabio Quartararo, Franco Morbidelli
MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA MOTOGP
Maverick Viñales, Valentino Rossi
MISSION WINNOW DUCATI
Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci
LCR HONDA
Takaaki Nakagami, Cal Crutchlow
APRILIA RCING TEAM GRESINI
Andrea Iannone, Aleix Espargaro
ALMA PRAMA RACING
Jack Miller, Francesco Bagnia
New Rule Change
A little over a week ago a new rule was implemented during the Qatar testing. Riders that cut corners and exceed track limits will now be penalized by having to take an outside slow corner lane, which will result in giving them a time penalty of approximately 3 seconds. This is to prevent riders from gaining any unfair time. This has been considered better than what was being done of riders being forced to drop a position in the race, which meant a loss of 1 second or 5.
Main Contenders
For the MotoGP 2019 season there a few contenders worth mentioning. We have the crowd favourite Marc Marquez of course who is the man in the field to beat, without question. The nearest challenger to him last season was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, but the Italian still finished 76 points back of Marquez in the final standings.
Dovizioso is the 9/2 second favourite for the Championship win* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 8th, 2019 at 11:22 pm). Are the Ducati team likely to have done enough to close the gap on Marquez’s Honda? There also have Maverick Vinales and legend Valentino Rossi, but it is unlikely that either are going to turn into genuine contenders at the end of the season.
Jorge Lorenzo is among one of the top contenders despite claiming the above riders are the most likely to win in a recent interview. Maybe he’s just being humble. Lorenzo should not be overlooked as an underdog option after taking three race wins last season. He is coming back from injury though having suffered a broken foot at the Aragon Grand Prix last season, forcing him to miss pretty much the end of the season.
MotoGP 2019 Prediction
Marquez has had an amazing streak in the sport and the Spaniard will have already been pencilled in by many as the outright favourite. He should be, he is extremely talented and has proven his ability. But how many years in a row can he keep this streak going? Can he do a fourth year?
The return of Lorenzo is definitely an aspect of the season to keep an eye on, while the other key aspect of the 2019 MotoGP season is going to be how much of a gap Dovizioso can close on reigning champion Marquez.
