2025 Moto GP Rider Market Madness

The rider market for 2025 has swung into action over the last few weeks. The news that after one season at Gresini Marc Marquez is moving to a factory Ducati being the first piece of what is looking to become a complicated puzzle.

Ducati essentially had the choice of two riders to partner Bagnaia for next season. 

• Option one was Jorge Martin who pushed Bagnaia to the wire in the championship last year and was apparently already disgruntled that he wasn’t on a factory bike for 2024.

• Option two was seven time World Champion Marc Marquez. Whilst coming to the end of his career, Marquez’s impressive performances on last season’s factory bike have pushed him into front and centre for 2025.

With Marc Marquez confirmed on the factory bike, the battle and dynamic between him and Bagnaia will be fascinating to watch in 2025. 

As for Jorge Martin, his decision to leave Ducati to lead the Aprilla bike did come just before the Marc Marquez announcement but would surely have been due to the knowledge he had been overlooked for a factory Ducati ride again. The opportunity to replace the retiring Espargaro and lead a factory bike seems a good fit for both rider and manufacturer.

Fermin Aldeguer will ride one of the Ducati bikes in 2025 though confirmation has not been provided as to which one. 

The other manufacturer who have been quick to move is KTM. They had already secured Brad Binder for next season and they surprised no one in announcing that Pedro Acosta would partner him for 2025, replacing the out-of-form Jack Miller. As for the satellite KTMs the rebranded Tech3 team look like have an extremely strong partnership of Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales for 2025.

In terms of everywhere else, Yamaha have signed Fabio Quartararo to another year and with talks ongoing between Pramac and Yamaha over a potential manufacturer switch there could be another three riders that Yahama will need to snap up.

For Honda, Luca Marini is signed for 2025 on the factory bike and Zarco is already in place for the LCR bike. 

For the other riders unsigned it will be a scramble to secure a spot on the 2025 grid. The in demand seats will likely be anything Ducati related if previous seasons are anything to go by, with still three seats available if Pramac move to Yamaha, or five if they stay with Ducati. Alex Marquez, Fabio DiGiannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi will hope to have fate in their own hands though none have set the world alight on last year’s Ducati so far this season.

The factory Aprilla seat alongside Jorge Martin will also be up for grabs with multiple riders vying for the spot. Trackhouse are also yet to confirm a rider for next season with Miguel Olivera and Raul Fernandez not doing enough so far this season to warrant a quick decision.

Jack Miller has been quoted as saying he is confident of getting a ride for next season, saying he does not want to be judged on the results so far this season. Miller may risk being frozen out in search of a more competitive ride without the recent success to encourage someone to take him on.

The next few weeks are likely to see some more puzzle pieces fall into place, especially now that the bigger pieces are now set and ready to go for 2025.