Just two days after Jorge Martin was crowned the premier class champion at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the circuit will host the annual post-season test.
Fans won’t have to wait long to see a raft of changes.
Pramac Ducati becomes Pramac Yamaha
Perhaps the biggest year-on-year change will see Pramac Racing switch manufacturers.
With Ducati, Pramac became the first satellite team to win the riders’ championship in the modern era of MotoGP.
However, Ducati will downscale from eight bikes to six across the factory team, Gresini, and VR46.
Pramac will become a Yamaha satellite team in 2025.
Crucially, the team will receive the same YZR-M1 bikes that the factory Yamaha team runs.
Yamaha languished behind Ducati in 2024, finishing eighth in the teams’ championship with Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins and fourth in the constructors’ championship.
GasGas becomes KTM (again)
The red hues of GasGas will be no more in 2025.
The satellite team will run under the Red Bull KTM Tech3 banner next year, bringing them closer to the leading Red Bull KTM Factory Team.
Ironically, the name change takes Tech3 back to where it began in 2022 when it was last known as Tech3 KTM Factory Racing.
Todo al rojo 🔴#MM93 pic.twitter.com/S9NLMU7Xde
— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) November 18, 2024
Nine riders on the move
The MotoGP silly season was headlined by some massive moves, headlined by Marc Marquez to Ducati and Jorge Martin to Aprilia from the title-winning Pramac.
The riders on the move are as follows:
- Jorge Martin – From Pramac to Aprilia
- Marc Marquez – From Gresini to Ducati
- Enea Bastianini – From Ducati to Tech3
- Maverick Vinales – From Aprilia to Tech3
- Marco Bezzecchi – From VR46 to Aprilia
- Franco Morbidelli – From Pramac to VR46
- Jack Miller – From KTM to Pramac
- Pedro Acosta – From Tech3 to KTM
- Miguel Oliveira – From Trackhouse to Pramac
Outside of Marquez and Martin moving stables, the rider with the greatest potential is Pedro Acosta.
The young Spaniard showed glimpses of grand prix-winning speed but was error-prone throughout 2024. On the factory KTM, there are high expectations in only his second season.
Martin’s move to Aprilia will be fascinating to watch. Maverick Vinales is no slouch and at the height of his career with Yamaha was a title contender. He was seventh in this year’s riders’ championship.
And what about Jack Miller? He moves to the title-winning Pramac who go into the unknown of a totally new Yamaha bike.
The story begins. pic.twitter.com/EIr9D89NIz
— Aleix Espargaró (@AleixEspargaro) November 18, 2024
Three riders say farewell
For three riders, it’s the end of the road.
Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro announced his retirement after a premier class career spanning nearly two decades.
For Takaaki Nakagami, there was no room at LCR Honda. The affable Japanese rider will be a Honda test rider in 2025 alongside Espargaro.
Augusto Fernandez missed out in the silly season game of musical chairs. The Tech3 rider was the worst-performing KTM rider this year but is expected to land at Yamaha as a test rider.
Three Moto2 graduates
There will be two Moto2 graduates in 2025, headlined by champion Ai Ogura at Trackhouse Racing.
The Japanese rider was uber consistent this year, claiming eight podiums, including three wins, and top 10 finishes in all but two grands prix.
Fermín Aldeguer, who finished fifth in the Moto2 world championship this year joins Gresini. The Spaniard won three races this year
Thailan’s Somkiat Chantra joins LCR Honda off the back of finishing 13th in this year’s Moto2 season.
Chantra graduates after six Moto2 seasons with two race wins and a career-best sixth in the standings in 2023.
How to watch MotoGP post-season test
Coverage of Tuesday’s test at Barcelona will be live and exclusive on Fox Sports.
Live coverage of Session 1 gets underway at 7:50pm AEDT.
Session 2 coverage begins at 12:00am AEDT on Wednesday.
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