MotoGP
There’s changes up and down the grid as the new season takes shape. Let’s take a look at the new rider line-ups, rules and race calendar that make up the 2025 MotoGP™ World Championship.
01
Jorge Martín shakes up the established order
Jorge Martín made history in 2024 as he claimed his first MotoGP™ World Championship, becoming the first rider with an independent team to do so. Riding a Ducati GP24 for satellite team Pramac, the Spaniard combined his dominance in the sprint races, where he scored seven victories, with consistency in the Sunday race, where he took 16 podiums including three Grand Prix wins. It was also a display of nerve as he held off a title charge from Pecco Bagnaia who won the final three races of the season. With the title in the bag, Martín moved to a full factory ride where he’ll join 2023 title contender Marco Bezzecchi at Aprilia. It was quite the coup by the Italian team who will be eyeing a championship chase in 2025 and 2026.
02
The rise and rise of Marc Márquez
Marc Márquez continues to amaze as he masterminds his comeback from debilitating injuries while steadily making the switch on to machinery that he can use to take him to his seventh MotoGP™ crown and ninth World Championship. In 2024, he rode a 2023 model Desmosedici with Gresini to take third in the title race. On the way, he claimed a brilliant breakthrough win in Aragon, setting pole, winning the sprint race and setting the fastest lap on his way to the chequered flag. Even before then, he’d put pen to paper on a move to Bologna and a full factory ride. The puzzle pieces are falling into place. At Ducati, he will form a mouth-watering partnership with Pecco Bagnaia, who will have designs on reclaiming the MotoGP™ crown for himself.
03
MotoGP™ riders on the move along the grid
The most eye-catching moves outside of Márquez and Martín is Maverick Viñales who was the only rider to win in 2024 on anything other than a Ducati. In doing so, the Spaniard became the first rider in the modern era of MotoGP™ to win with three different manufacturers – Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia. He now leaves and moves to Red Bull KTM Tech3 to make it four makes with KTM and will team up with Enea Bastianini. Two exciting riders who both claimed victories in 2024 will bring a combination of experience and will to win to an ambitious Tech3 outfit.
04
Acosta joins Binder at Red Bull KTM
Brad Binder continues with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team as the South African repays his long-term contract with consistent results: the #33 rider was the highest-placed rider in the 2023 season not on a Ducati. He's joined by Pedro Acosta who had an impressive rookie season for Red Bull GASGAS taking pole in Japan and five podiums. Binder and Acosta will create another formidable partnership for KTM. Jack Miller makes way with a switch to Pramac and Yamaha machinery meaning the popular Aussie will have ridden for every constructor in the current championship. He'll be joined by Miguel Oliveira creating another strong partnership.
05
The rookies racing for the big time
Fermin Aldeguer takes over Marc Márquez’s half of the Gresini garage where he is teamed with 2019 Moto2™ Word Champion Álex Márquez. The 19-year-old turned heads in the MotoGP™ paddock with his flourish of four victories and six podiums in the final six Moto2™ races of 2023. In 2024 Ai Ogura became the first Japanese rider to become world champion in 15 years. And as reigning Moto2™ champ Ogura makes the step up to Trackhouse where he'll be in good hands working with team boss Davide Brivio, who most recently took Suzuki to the top as well as masterminding Yamaha’s glory years with Valentino Rossi. Over at LCR, Lucio Cecchinello will be steering the career of the first Thai rider in the elite level as Somkiat Chantra replaces Takaaki Nakagami at LCR, joining Johann Zarco.
06
MotoGP™ teams for 2025
07
Who to watch in the constructors
Ducati look to follow a dominant 2024 that saw their riders win all but one race. They won their sixth Constructors Championship, while Desmosedici teams occupied the top three places in the Teams Championship. By any measure it’s a massive victory for the elite’s top team, although critics could point out it wasn’t a factory rider who claimed the MotoGP™ Riders’ World Championship and his winning team, Pramac, is now leaving the Ducati fold. But the fact that Marc Márquez will be racing in the red of the Bologna team from 2025 on should silence any doubters. KTM finished second overall in the Constructors for the second year running and will likely look to consolidate that by edging its two teams up the overall standings. They will face stiff competition from Aprilia, but the superior power of that KTM engine should give them the advantage.
08
Pramac swap bikes
Privateers Pramac Racing have been a Ducati satellite team for 20 years, but that partnership has come to an abrupt halt and they join forces with Yamaha on a new seven-year contract. The move ends the Japanese manufacturer’s two-year stint without a satellite team. In those two years, Yamaha have gone backwards to fourth in the championship, but with double the bikes competing on track and double the engineers pooling performance data, the bikes should start to move back up the grid.
09
New rules for 2025
MotoGP™ will undergo minimal changes for 2025 as the championship eyes a big regulation change in 2027. That means there’s an engine freeze in place, so the leading constructors cannot develop their powerplants. That should suit the all-conquering Ducatis and the KTM unit is also strong. The big beneficiaries of the engine freeze will be Yamaha and Honda. The two giants have found themselves propping up the championships for the past seasons, but are exempt from the engine freeze. The big question is how much resources the Japanese manufacturers will commit to refining machinery that will be largely obsolete by 2027.
10
What’s in store for 2027?
The 2027 MotoGP™ World Championship promises a reset of the regulations. Some of the headlines include a reduction in the use of aerodynamics and ride height devices will be scrapped. Engines will be smaller and have less fuel to race with, although the minimum bike weight will drop from 157kg to 153kg.
11
2025 MotoGP™ calendar
In 2025, the riders take on the biggest-ever season and a record-breaking 22 rounds. The Czechia Grand Prix returns to the championship after last featuring in 2020 and the competition returns to Hungary for the first time since 1992, breaking fresh ground at the new Balaton Park Circuit. The opening race is in Thailand, while the traditional curtain raiser of Qatar becomes the fourth round to make room for Ramadan.
