Next year, Suzuki and Aprilia join the MotoGP circus. With a couple of exceptions (noted below), the rider lineup has been finalized for 2015.
The dominant teams remain unchanged with both Factory Honda and Factory Yamaha seeing the return of their “aliens”, including champion Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.
Although many bikes are identified as “factory option”, teams without a recent win in MotoGP, including but not limited to Factory Ducati, Suzuki and Aprilia, will have the fuel, tire, engine and testing advantages discussed in our earlier article on the subject.
Suzuki and Aprilia will bring something new to the series, which we hope will add some excitement. They have some talented riders, but breaking the dominance of the top four aliens will be difficult. For 2015, the full factory machines at Yamaha and Honda can continue to use their proprietary, custom software, and this may be where these bikes will continue to have a performance advantage, although that will change for 2016 (when all machines must use Dorna-spec ECUs and software).
| # | Rider | Nat. | Team | Machine |
| 4 |
|
ITA | DUCATI TEAM | DUCATI* |
| 6 |
|
GER | NGM FORWARD RACING | FORWARD YAMAHA |
| 8 |
|
SPA | AVINTIA RACING | DUCATI |
| 9 |
|
ITA | PRAMAC RACING | DUCATI* |
| 17 |
|
CZE | CARDION AB MOTORACING | HONDA |
| 19 |
|
SPA | FACTORY APRILIA GRESINI | APRILIA* |
| 25 |
|
SPA | TEAM SUZUKI MotoGP | SUZUKI* |
| 26 |
|
SPA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | HONDA* |
| 29 |
|
ITA | DUCATI TEAM | DUCATI* |
| 35 |
|
GBR | CWM LCR HONDA | HONDA* |
| 38 |
|
GBR | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | YAMAHA* |
| 41 |
|
SPA | TEAM SUZUKI MotoGP | SUZUKI* |
| 43 |
|
AUS | CWM LCR HONDA | HONDA |
| 44 |
|
SPA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | YAMAHA* |
| 45 |
|
GBR | MARC VDS RACING TEAM | HONDA* |
| 46 |
|
ITA | MOVISTAR YAMAHA MotoGP | YAMAHA* |
| 50 |
|
IRL | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | HONDA |
| 63 |
|
FRA | AVINTIA RACING | DUCATI |
| 68 |
|
COL | PRAMAC RACING | DUCATI* |
| 69 |
|
USA | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | HONDA |
| 76 |
|
FRA | NGM FORWARD RACING | FORWARD YAMAHA |
| 93 |
|
SPA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | HONDA* |
| 99 |
|
SPA | MOVISTAR YAMAHA MotoGP | YAMAHA* |
| TO BE CONFIRMED | FACTORY APRILIA GRESINI | APRILIA | ||
| TO BE CONFIRMED | OCTO IODARACING TEAM | TBC |
* Factory Option
It will only get harder for Marquez to win another championship, we are already seeing it, the Yamahas and even the Ducatis are running upfront, both machines and riders are getting better, so 2015 will be an even more exciting season.
re: “It will only get harder for Marquez to win another championship, we are already seeing it”
ok, but are sure you know what you’re looking at…? ’cause I just saw the Sepang lap record go down like a 2 dollar whore.
#93, Marcus, 1m 59.791s.
I’ve never gotten a deal as good as that.
you’ve never visited to Pattaya (Thailand).
I thought Montana was affordable…
re: “I thought Montana was affordable”
not so much.
ps: #93 Marcus takes the W. yes, not only takes the win, but also resets the race record… 2m 01.150s. we call that the TRIFECTA.
gentleman, lean not on your own understanding.
Prediction. First the easy part, Marquez wins the championship. Lorenzo 2nd, Pedrosa 3rd, Rossi 4th, Dovizioso 5th, A. Espargo 6th, Redding 7th, Ianone 8th, Crutchlow 9th, P Espargo 10th. You read it here. I’m a Rossi fan, but I have to realistic, it doesn’t get easier as you get older.
I hear aprilia will run a hotted up 2002 Falco.
Hahahaha!!!
Is Marquez once again going to use #93 instead of #1 on his bike? Is he superstitious?
who is developing the Dorna-spec ECUs? Its probably Honda, just like in F1 and Ferrari….
And?
junk
MM has pretty good junk, eh?
Wrong site for that sort of talk.
“who is developing the Dorna-spec ECUs?”
Magneti Marelli, a Fiat subsidiary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneti_Marelli
Crutchlow doesn’t deserve a factory bike.
it’s your lucky day.
Crutchlow and Redding are both getting factory bikes just as Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith are on the Tech3 Yamaha team and Pretrucci and Hernadez are on the Pramac Ducati team. Honda is just allocating its two second string bikes to different teams. All the other Hondas are “customer” bikes although I hear that they will have more horsepower than the Open Hondas do this year.
re: “Crutchlow and Redding are both getting factory bikes”
this bridge you see behind me…? 50% off.
Read the article more closely. What exactly do you think that the term “factory option” means? I’ll tell you it means that they will be getting 2015 spec bikes. I will admit that as new parts become available during the season the top team or even just top rider will get them first and the second teams will most likely not but there is still a world of difference between what for instance the Pramac team has versus the Avintia team. A lot bigger difference than between the first string Ducati team and Pramac.
The current rules allow for each factory to only run four top tier bikes each season.
Q: “What exactly do you think that the term “factory option” means?”
A: f@#%kall.
it means fluff your pillows and get comfy ’cause the 2nd decade of MotoGP is going to be EXACTLY like the 1st only with many of the reoccurring roles having now been recast with Spaniards.
unbeknownst, it’s a 2-wheeled “Telenovela”.
it means fluff your pillows and get comfy ’cause the 2nd decade of MotoGP is going to be EXACTLY like the 1st only with many of the reoccurring roles having now been recast with Spaniards.
And Italians. The two counties who actually give a darn about motorcycle road racing.
Re: “Crutchlow doesn’t deserve a factory bike.”
He proved otherwise last week in Australia. Besides, only those with the means to supply a factory bike are qualified to make that assessment.
If anyone deserves a shot at a factory ride, it’s Crutchlow.
re: “deserves a shot”
since when does deserving mean anything…? (MCPON Billy Sunday)
“he proved otherwise last week in Australia.”
Yeah by ***crashing*** out of the race. LOL!!! With Crutchlow it’s always something. He’s basically a bum.
At least ‘Crutch got the satisfaction of running down, passing and dropping Lorenzo before he went down.
Marquez and 7 other racers crashed out too. Off to Moto2 with them then?
Crutchlow repeatedly fails to deliver on race day. Lorenzo was on the podium. DNF’s don’t count for squat.
“only those with the means to supply a factory bike are qualified to make that assessment.”
Only those who supply factory bikes can make that decision. Millions of MotoGP fans can and do make their own damn assessments whenever they see fit.
Prilia and Suz, welcome back, I hope the best for you!
Yes, let’s hope for more competition !