The 2022 season is a thing of the past and with the change of year, those who changed motorcycles have already visited the new facilities or donned the new colors, as was the case with Álex Márquez or Joan Mir, respectively. Bearing in mind that the first tests are scheduled to take place in just under a month, it is important to remember what changes for the next season.
Starting with the factory teams, Ducati welcomes Enea Bastianini. After a debut season in 2021 where he scored two podiums and a top ten at the end of the year, the Italian had an even better second year of MotoGP. In addition to the pole position won in Spielberg, Bastianini won four races and finished on the podium on two more occasions, also being the best independent rider of the year. Next to him will be Francesco Bagnaia, the 2022 champion.
Moving on to Honda, the Japanese manufacturer received the two riders who were defending the Suzuki colors. With the GSX-RR being a bike that is no longer present in the championship, Honda welcomed Joan Mir and Alex Rins with open arms. If Mir was hired to race in the official colors, sharing a garage with Marc Marquez, Rins will also race on an RC213V, but with LCR livery. As for Lucio Cecchinello’s team, Rins’ teammate will be Takaaki Nakagami who managed to secure another year in MotoGP.
With the arrival of two riders at Honda, Pol Espargaro and Alex Márquez left to compete on different bikes. As for Espargaro, the rider returns to the KTM universe after signing a contract that allows him to race for Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing. This is seen by KTM as a second factory team and is for Espargaró a return to a machine he helped develop between the 2017 and 2020 seasons.
As for the younger Marquez, the brother of the eight-time world champion said goodbye to the RC213V after three seasons in which he failed to reach the podium on more than two occasions. In this period with Honda, Márquez won a total of 194 points… In order to turn his career around, the Spaniard, who was champion in Moto2 and Moto3, will ride for Gresini Racing and will have access to a Ducati Desmosedici: the same bike that helped Bagnaia crown himself champion last year.
With the focus still on the factory teams, Aprilia Racing and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP remain with Aleix Espargaro/Maverick Viñales and Fabio Quartararo/Franco Morbidelli, respectively. But the same doesn’t happen with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing… The austrians receive Miller who brings with him members from Ducati while keeping Brad Binder who already had a contract lasting until 2024. Contrary to what happened at Ducati, Miller now has a two-year contract with KTM.
As far as the satellite teams are concerned, Gresini remains with Fabio Di Giannantonio. Who also didn’t change teams were Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi who remain in Valentino Rossi’s team (Mooney VR46 Racing Team); the same goes for Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin who will race again in Pramac Racing colours.
Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing welcomes Augusto Fernandez who, as far as he is concerned, will have the help of Pol Espargaro. Fernandez owns last year’s Moto2 title and will see greater understanding from KTM after difficult debuts, which resulted in some leaving, like Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez. When Gardner went to WSBK, Raul Fernandez got a place in MotoGP to race with Aprilia.
Although the Italian manufacturer has not made changes to the riders with regard to the factory team, Noale’s home will have its first satellite team in 2023. To this end, he signed a contract with R. Fernandez who, in turn, will be alongside Miguel Oliveira. In this way, Aprilia took two young riders from Mattighofen and placed a pair with potential in the RNF, guaranteeing in the team founded by Razlan Razali an experienced man who has already won four Grands Prix.
Briefly, the lineup of teams and riders for this 2023 season is as follows:
- Aprilia Racing
- Alex Espargaro
- Maverick Vinales
- Ducati Lenovo team
- Enea Bastianini
- Francesco Bagnaia
- Gresini Racing MotoGP
- Alex Marquez
- Fabio Di Giannantonio
- LCR Honda
- Alex Rins
- Takaaki Nakagami
- Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
- Fabio Quartararo
- Franco Morbidelli
- Mooney VR46 Racing Team
- Luca Marini
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Prima Pramac Racing
- Johann Zarco
- Jorge Martin
- Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
- Repsol Honda Team
- CyptoDATA Aprilia RNF MotoGP Team
- Miguel Oliveira
- Raúl Fernández
- Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing
- Augusto Fernández
- Pol Espargaro