Signed, sealed and delivered
Let’s start with who has been signed, sealed and delivered for 2025. Brad Binder struck a new deal with KTM at the tail end of the 2023 season, which will see the South African remain until 2026 with the Austrian brand. Early in the 2024 season, Ducati tied down the services of defending World Champion Francesco Bagnaia until 2026, while they also secured the future of Moto2™ starlet Fermin Aldeguer.
At Yamaha, 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo committed his future to the Iwata factory for a further two years as the Japanese brand continue their rebuilding project. Whilst Honda have both Luca Marini and Johann Zarco locked in until the end of the 2025 season.
At the Italian GP, the Pierer Mobility Group then confirmed star rookie Pedro Acosta would make the jump across from the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 garage to the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing box.
A bombshell announcement then arrived after the Mugello Test as Aprilia Racing confirmed Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) would join them on a multi-year deal in 2025, replacing the retiring Aleix Espargaro. A huge, first piece of the silly season jigsaw now in place.
The rumour mill
Ducati
Martin’s confirmed departure to Aprilia now paves the way for the eight-time World Champion, Marc Marquez, to move from Gresini Racing into the factory team alongside Pecco in 2025. Enea Bastianini’s whereabouts for 2025 also remains to be seen.
Nothing has been confirmed for Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team’s Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio, and the same can be said for Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™).
Aprilia
We now know the retiring Aleix Espargaro will be replaced by Martin, with Maverick Viñales yet to put pen to paper on a new Aprilia deal. The Spaniard is in no rush to decide where he will be racing in 2025.
At Trackhouse Racing, Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez’ futures are up in the air as they continue to help bed the American team into MotoGP™. After a strong campaign and victory at Mugello, American Joe Roberts has been linked to one of the Trackhouse seats in 2025, but it’s all rumours and talk for now.
KTM/GASGAS
Mugello unearthed the news that it will be Acosta moving up to the factory team alongside Brad Binder, with both Jack Miller’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Augusto Fernandez’s (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) futures undecided.
Yamaha
With Quartararo’s contract extension sorted, the main attention after the Italian GP is whether Yamaha will have an Independent Team in 2025 or not. Meanwhile, Alex Rins’ future remains in question as silly season continues.
Honda
Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini and LCR’s Johann Zarco both signed contracts in 2023 that extend beyond the current season, both having joined from Ducati over the winter break. That leaves LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir seeking to resolve their futures over the coming weeks.
