For Marc Marquez, this will be the second drastic team change in as many years, which will top the list of participants for the 2025 MotoGP and will hardly differ from that of its predecessor.

The majority of the entry list is now set, all factory rides have been officially allocated and only Yamaha’s new private partner Pramac has not yet announced any riders – but the line-up is looking increasingly predictable.

Below you can see the 2025 MotoGP starting grid in its current form.

Factory teams

Ducati

Pecco Bagnaia (Italy, born 1997)
Marc Marquez (Spain, 1993)

The most successful manufacturer in MotoGP in recent years will welcome six-time champion Marc Marquez to its factory team, creating a tempting and potentially explosive combination with established franchise rider Pecco Bagnaia.

Marquez and Bagnaia were largely on friendly terms, even after an accident in Jerez, but Bagnaia is inevitably exposed to the latter’s status as the most successful protégé of Marquez’s arch-rival Valentino Rossi.

But even without that context, the simple fact remains that these two drivers go into 2025 with the title as their only goal – but they cannot both win it.

KTM

Pedro Acosta (Spain, 2004)
Brad Binder (South Africa, 1995)

Pedro Acosta’s form as a MotoGP rookie has already confirmed his status as an exceptional talent and game-changing individual. A new multi-year contract and promotion from satellite team Tech3 to the factory team for 2025 represents the easiest rider decision ever for KTM.

Acosta’s emergence has tarnished the shine of KTM’s previous leader Brad Binder – whose contract had already been extended in 2023 – so much so that KTM had even left the door ajar for Binder to move to Tech3.

This has not happened and a Tech3 line-up with two more riders is now set, but Acosta is currently KTM’s most likely candidate for a title – perhaps as early as 2025.

Aprilia

Jorge Martin (Spain, 1998)
Marco Bezzecchi (Italy, 1998)

Having been rejected one too many times by a Ducati factory team, Martin immediately ran into the willing arms of Aprilia, becoming the biggest free agent in the team’s history – and there’s even a chance he’ll bring the champion’s number plate with him.

Martin has been positioned as a direct replacement for his good friend Aleix Espargaro, who is retiring from full-time racing at the end of the year and leaving Aprilia completely to become a development rider at Honda.

On the other side of the garage, Aprilia had made it clear that they wanted to continue with the incumbent Maverick Vinales – but Vinales himself had other intentions and signed a contract with Tech3 KTM.

And with Enea Bastianini, another potential target, off the table, Aprilia had to quickly switch to Marco Bezzecchi to complete the completely new lineup of Ducati’s current top satellite riders.

Yamaha

Fabio Quartararo (France, 1999)
Alex Rins (Spain, 1995)

Even though things are not looking so rosy on the track, Yamaha has completed its great Silly Season mission for 2024 by holding on to its talisman Fabio Quartararo, who ended a five-year title drought for the factory in 2021.

Rumours in the paddock suggest that there has been a lot of discussion about who will be Quartararo’s partner going forward, but it has been confirmed that incumbent Alex Rins will remain with the team after the summer break.

Honda

Luca Marini (Italy, 1997)
Joan Mir (Spain, 1997)

Luca Marini was the fourth fastest overall of Honda’s four regular riders in 2024 – both in the factory team and in the satellite team LCR. However, an early termination of the original contract signed by the two parties for 2024 and 2025 is out of the question, especially since he has made progress recently.

Marini, who was brought in from the Ducati camp, is also valued as a development aid and reassuringly pragmatic presence.

It sounded as if teammate Joan Mir had spent most of the year looking for alternative employment for 2025. However, despite a lack of progress on the track, he came up with the idea of ​​extending his contract with Honda and signed a two-year extension.

Satellite teams

VR46

Fabio di Giannantonio (Italy, 1998)
Franco Morbidelli (Italy, 1994)

Current VR46 rider Fabio di Giannantonio will get the only 2025 Ducati offered to a satellite team next year, a new deal for a rider whose entire MotoGP future seemed uncertain this time last year.

His new teammate will be Valentino Rossi’s long-time protégé Franco Morbidelli, who comes from Pramac and is demoted to an older-model Ducati (which means he will keep virtually the same bike).

Gresini

Alex Marquez (Spain, 1996)
Fermin Aldeguer (Spain, 2005) – provisional

Ducati’s new signing Fermin Aldeguer – a 19-year-old who was brought to Ducati after a fascinating end to the Moto2 season last year – was actually supposed to ride for one of the satellite teams.

Normally this would have been Pramac, but Ducati’s long-time runner-up is moving to Yamaha and the news that VR46 is full means Aldeguer will move to Gresini, although this has not yet been officially announced.

The only rider who has actually been confirmed for one of the Ducati satellite teams so far is Alex Marquez, who will remain with the Gresini team that his brother Marc is leaving.

Pramac

To be announced
To be announced

We know that Pramac is changing manufacturers, and after a long period of uncertainty over who would get the Yamahas, two leading candidates have now emerged for the Pramac seat.

Di Giannantonio was a target, but he wants to ride a potentially race-winning machine in 2025 and a Pramac Yamaha is unlikely to be that, so he was already a remote possibility before news of a VR46 extension and a 2025-spec Ducati came through.

Although Pramac is the only team that has not yet confirmed either rider for 2025, Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller are widely expected to make up the squad.

Oliveira has long been linked with the team, while Miller emerged as a potential new signing ahead of the Austrian GP. The deal would both give him some breathing room after his exit from KTM and block a move by outstanding Moto2 rider Sergio Garcia.

This end result became even more likely when a new Moto2 contract for Garcia for 2025 was announced at the Red Bull Ring.

Technology3

Enea Bastianini (Italy, 1997)
Maverick Vinales (Spain, 1995)

Bastianini and Vinales were unveiled as the team’s brand new line-up for 2025, representing a return to the team’s identity as a satellite company of KTM and no longer carrying the colours of the Pierer Mobility Group’s Gas Gas brand.

A KTM ride was always seemingly Bastianini’s fallback option if he couldn’t keep his seat at Ducati, but Vinales being lured over is something of a surprise, as his contract extension at Aprilia seemed to be the right path for both sides.

Instead, both Tech3 places were filled with established Grand Prix winners from other manufacturers – Miller and Augusto Fernandez are now on the job market.

Track house

Raul Fernandez (Spain, 2000)
Ai Ogura (Japan, 2001)

MotoGP’s newest team, now led by one of its most revered team bosses, Davide Brivio, made its first concrete foray into the premier class rider market by extending Raul Fernandez’s contract for two years.

And with the second signing, the conventions of the rider market were disrupted: they passed up the opportunity to give the American Moto2 leader Joe Roberts a promotion and instead opted for his Moto2 colleague Ai Ogura.

This was a major coup for Trackhouse, as Ogura, who had been closely associated with Honda up to this point in his career, had long been Honda’s planned successor to Takaaki Nakagami at its satellite team LCR, where half of the garage is supported by Japanese sponsor Idemitsu.

Honda newcomer

Johann Zarco (France, 1990)
To be announced

Johann Zarco had a largely unsuccessful first season with LCR, but always wanted to stay with the team until 2025. In the meantime, he also won the 8 Hours of Suzuka in the colors of Honda.

But on the other side of the garage, supported by Idemitsu, changes seem to be afoot.

Nakagami has been riding in the colors of the Japanese oil brand since his MotoGP debut. While his potential successor Ogura is moving to Trackhouse, it could well be that Nakagami will also move on. Thai rider Somkiat Chantra is set to ride the Idemitsu bike.