Marc Márquez won his second MotoGP world title, and fourth world title overall, by finishing 2nd place inMotegi.
The2014 FIM MotoGP World Championship was the premier class of the 66thF.I.M.Road Racing World Championship season.Marc Márquez started the season as the defending riders' champion in the MotoGP category, withHonda the defending manufacturers' champions.
Winning a premier class record 13 races during the season,[1] Márquez won a second successive title, finishing 67 points clear of his nearest rivalValentino Rossi. Márquez won each of the first 10 races to be held in 2014,[2] beforeRepsol Honda teammateDani Pedrosa was able to inflict his first defeat, atBrno. Rossi had taken eight podiums in the season, before he was able to win a race, when he won atMisano. He also won atPhillip Island, as he finished as the championship runner-up in a Grand Prix class for the first time since2006, when he finished second toNicky Hayden. Despite bookending his season with retirements, Rossi'sMovistar Yamaha MotoGP teammateJorge Lorenzo finished third in the championship. Finishing 32 points behind Rossi, Lorenzo took back-to-back victories inAragon,[3] andJapan, as part of a nine-race podium streak that was ended by his retirement in Valencia. The only other race winner was Pedrosa, with his Brno triumph being his sole victory in the 2014 campaign.
The Espargaró brothers were each able to take one of the sub-classifications available to them. Pol Espargaró finished as the best place rookie in the final championship standings,[4] finishing sixth overall; the next best rookie wasScott Redding in twelfth place.Aleix Espargaró was the best placed rider that was competing with an Open-specification motorcycle.[5] He finished seventh overall in the championship, taking a pole position atAssen and a second-place finish in Aragon. Just like the rookie of the year standings, Redding was the next best rider. Márquez was a comfortable winner of the BMW M Award for the best qualifying rider,[6] with 13 pole positions during the season. Repsol Honda were the winners of the teams' championship,[7] as the results for Márquez and Pedrosa allowed them to finish 50 points clear of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, while Honda won the constructors' championship for the 21st time – and their 63rd title in total[8] – 55 points clear ofYamaha.
TheFédération Internationale de Motocyclisme released a 19-race provisional calendar on 2 October 2013.[9] The calendar was updated on 13 December 2013[10] and again on 24 February 2014, resulting in a calendar of 18 races.[11]
The following Grands Prix took place in 2014:[12][13]
TheUnited States Grand Prix, present since2005, was taken off the calendar because the race could not initially be run with all 3 classes in the United States due to Californian environmental laws, and that in turn caused the race at theLaguna Seca Raceway to become unsustainable.[14]
A race in Brazil at theAutódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet in Brasilia was scheduled for 28 September, but was subsequently removed from the calendar.[11] The round atMotorLand Aragón was moved back by a week, following the cancellation of the Brazilian round.[11]
Starting in 2014, the rules governing the eligibility of entries changed. MSMA prototypes were reclassified as the new "Factory" class, whilst the Claiming Rule Teams sub-category was restructured as the "Open" class. All bikes used the approved MotoGP Electronic Control Unit, with bikes in the "Open" class using both the MotoGP ECU and identical software, and those competing as "Factory" entries permitted to use their own custom software.[15] The Factory option bike had their allocation of engines reduced from twelve to five, and those five had their design frozen.[15] The amount of fuel allowed was reduced from twenty-four litres to twenty litres.[15]
A subsequent modification, only officialized in March, stated that a manufacturer who had not achieved a win in dry conditions in the previous year, or a new manufacturer entering the championship, could enter under the Factory option with all the concessions available to the Open class; these benefits were reduced in case of a determined number of podiums or wins.[16]
Ducati Team andPramac Racing were due to enter their bikes in the Open class[17] but revised regulations meant that they were finally entered under the Factory option with Open concessions.[18]
2014 MotoGP specifications
Factory
Open
Fuel tank (litres)
20
24
Engines allocated (per rider)
5
12
Engine development
frozen
free
ECU hardware
various
spec Magneti Marelli
ECU software
free
standardized
Tires' compound
medium, hard
soft, medium
A provisional entry list was released by theFédération Internationale de Motocyclisme on 20 November 2013.[19] An updated entry list was released on 14 January 2014.[20] Teams had time until 28 February to decide if a rider would be assigned to the "Factory" or "Open" class.[15] The final entry list was released on the same day.[21]
Forward Racing intended to use Yamaha-leased YZR-M1 engines withFTR frames, however the team started the season with a complete Yamaha YZR-M1 engine-frame-swingarm package[50] with other parts supplied by FTR, while developing new Forward-designed frames to be introduced mid-season. At the Mugello round Colin Edwards debuted the new frame built byHarris Performance.[51] Following Edwards' retirement from racing, the new frame was passed to de Angelis, while Espargaró remained with the Yamaha-derived chassis.[52]
Gresini Racing competed with a full Honda package in the Open class, having contested the 2013 season with an FTR chassis and Honda engine.
IodaRacing Project intended to enter a second bike ridden byLeon Camier, but he was not included on the final entry list due to an apparent lack of funding.