Private chancers: MotoGP riders that starred amid the satellite teams

Jorge Martin’s success in winning the 2024 MotoGP World Championship sees him become the first rider of the modern MotoGP era to clinch the prestigious title as part of an independent team.

It’s an achievement not to be dismissed, even if the notion of a satellite team in the premier class has certainly evolved during the MotoGP era since its inauguration in 2002.

Indeed, while the swansong 500GP season was of course won by Valentino Rossi on a Honda prepared outside of the factory Honda sphere for the most part, the early days of MotoGP saw a fairly clear divide between the works teams and their associated satellite counterparts.

However, recent years have seen manufacturers see the benefit in supplying on-spec machinery in the interests of hedging bets and accumulating more data to such an extent Ducati’s - many - wins in 2024 have been split fairly evenly between the works team and Pramac Racing.

While it wasn’t always like this, on occasion some satellite stars have emerged from the pack in recent years, much like these…

Fabio Quartararo

2019 - Petronas Yamaha SRT

Fun fact, did you know Fabio Quartararo very nearly didn’t make his MotoGP debut in 2019? In fact, his Petronas SRT Yamaha seat very nearly went to Dani Pedrosa until the Spaniard opted for a career change as a KTM test rider instead.

Even so, Quartararo - with just one Moto2 win to his name - didn’t seem an obvious choice for the new Malaysian-backed team, but once up to speed the Frenchman delivered some truly headline-grabbing performances, particularly in qualifying where six poles matched his seven podiums. The rest, as they say, would be history for the eventual 2021 MotoGP World Champion.

Cal Crutchlow

2016 - LCR Honda

Honda set the tone for years to come with its move to upgrade Cal Crutchlow to a current-spec RC213V for the 2016 MotoGP season despite his positioning within the satellite LCR set-up.

Manufacturers had previously preferred to keep their satellite teams at arm’s length with year-old machinery, so Honda’s decision to give Crutchlow the same specification machinery as Marc Marquez and Pedrosa was seen as a veritable litmus test to its rivals.

It would prove a shrewd move though, Crutchlow taking his first win in Brno to become the first British rider to win a premier class race since Barry Sheene. Since then, supplying current machinery to satellite teams has become the norm for MotoGP’s factories.

Marco Simoncelli

2011 - San Carlo Honda Gresini

We will never know what the late Marco Simoncelli would have been capable of had he not been tragically killed in an accident during the 2011 Malaysian MotoGP.

The Italian was seemingly on a fast-track to success, Simoncelli winning over fans with his brash attitude, unapologetic racing style and unmistakable mop of curly hair.

The 2011 MotoGP season was his second in the premier class during which he’d lived up to the tag as Valentino Rossi’s spiritual successor with podiums aboard the year-old Gresini Honda, while he was also touted to be a likely team-mate to Marquez in the factory Repsol squad.

Cruelly, his life would be cut short in Malaysia just a week after scoring his best result yet of second place in Australia.

Aleix Espargaro

2014 - NGM Forward Racing

The final round of the 2024 MotoGP season wasn’t just significant for Martin’s title win, the Catalunya event would also see the last ever appearance of Aleix Espargaro, who brought his time in the premier class to an end after 15 seasons.

Migrating through various teams in that time, it is Espargaro’s headline-grabbing 2014 MotoGP campaign that arguably stands out as his most impressive.

Having already spent two seasons slaying some giants aboard his production-engined CRT/Open class Aspar Aprilia, Espargaro struck gold with the well sorted NGM Forward Yamaha for 2014.

Though still limited compared to ‘full fat’ MotoGP rivals in terms of basic specification, Espargaro reeled off a series of impressive results to mix it with the front runners, peaking with a run to second in Aragon.

Marco Melandri

2009 - Hayate Racing Team

Who knows what might have been had Kawasaki not decided to abruptly can its MotoGP project in the lead up to the 2009 season.

So sudden was the decision that it occurred after it had signed two riders (Marco Melandri and John Hopkins) and after it had completed the leg-work on development of the Kawasaki ZX-10RR.

It was for that reason though that the show was able to go on for one more season, albeit with private funding under the Hayate Racing Team banner. As it transpires, Kawasaki had created a competitive machine while it was still involved, allowing Hayate - essentially Eskil Suter’s eponymous team competing under a Swiss flag and a different name - to notch up some decent results in the hands of Melandri, peaking with a second place finish in France.

Kenny Roberts Jr

2006 - Team Roberts

Team Roberts was certainly a family affair - it was owned and managed by triple 500GP World Champion Kenny Roberts, while the latter years of its existence saw his son, 2000 500GP Champion Kenny Roberts Jr, take up riding duties.

It didn’t always enjoy the best of times in MotoGP with Team Roberts’ collaboration with Proton and KTM lacking competitiveness and reliability, but a wholesale shift to running Honda V5 engines for 2006 showed what the combination was capable of with two podiums en route to sixth in the final reckoning.

Enea Bastianini

2021 - Avintia Esponsorama Ducati

2022 - Gresini Racing Ducati

We’re highlighting two seasons here for Enea Bastianini, whose rise to a privileged factory Ducati seat came on the back of two brilliant campaigns, the first with Avintia Racing, the second as a Gresini Racing rider.

While much wasn’t expected of the 2020 Moto2 World Champion aboard his decidedly dated customer Ducati GP19 during his maiden MotoGP season, Bastianini delivered some head-turning performances during the second-half of the year, among them a pair of podiums at Misano, both of which were achieved from way back on the grid.

They were performances that earned him a promotion to Gresini Racing for 2022, albeit still on year-old bikes. Nevertheless, Bastianini stunned the factory team to achieve four brilliant wins, including the Qatar opener which just also happened to be Gresini Racing’s first event since splitting from Aprilia and recalibrating itself as a mere independent outfit. It was also a very fitting tribute to former team owner, the late Fausto Gresini.

Ben Spies

2010 - Monster Tech 3 Yamaha

Few riders reach MotoGP on a wave of publicity and expectation as lofty as Ben Spies, while even fewer do so from the direction of the WorldSBK Championship.

However, after Suzuki (rather foolishly) passed up on the chance to sign its erstwhile protege for 2009, Yamaha savvily swooped to hire the highly-rated Texan to contest a season in WorldSBK. Spies returned the favour by winning in his debut season, earning him a seat on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha M1 in MotoGP for 2010.

Consistent and competitive despite lacking experience on prototype machinery, Spies two podiums on independent machinery during the ‘alien era’ of MotoGP stood out enough to land him a factory spot for 2011. It’s just a shame injury woes would conspire to hinder his career from hereon in.

Andrea Dovizioso

2008 - JiR Team Scot Honda

One of MotoGP’s longest-serving riders, Andrea Dovizioso earned his reputation in the premier class on the back of a steadfast skill-set of being unshakably consistent, error-free and quick.

He’d set the tone for a MotoGP tenure spanning 15 seasons with his maiden campaign on the little-fancied Team JiR Scot Honda in 2008. A small budget outfit with no prior experience in the top division, it nevertheless knew it had a strong hand in Dovi having run him to the runners-up spot in 250GP a year earlier.

And so it proved, Dovizioso finishing all but one race, claiming his first podium Malaysia and ten top six results - an impressive haul when you consider the quality of his rivals on full fat factory machinery.