Why MotoGP Might be in for Surprises in 2025

Pre-season testing for the 2025 MotoGP season is in full flow as riders have already wrapped up the official three-day test at Sepang, and to nobody’s surprise, Ducati looks to be in fine form. But is it set for total domination like in 2024?

I say this with caution as Ducati could turn around and make me look very silly, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it will struggle to replicate last season’s success, even with Marc Marquez joining the factory Lenovo team. In fact, there’s cautious optimism to suggest MotoGP in 2025 will be much closer across all five brands.

Firstly, Ducati has two bikes fewer than last season while it also lost the reigning world champion; we’ll get on to Jorge Martin later. Marquez was second fastest on day-one behind Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, before Franco Morbidelli led much of the second day from the Frenchman, who was again on top form.

But it's Quartararo and Yamaha that I want to start off by highlighting, as it appears - yes, this is still testing so let’s not get completely carried away - as though the 2021 MotoGP champion and his M1 looks to be ready for a fight in 2025.

Ducati did return to top spot on day three of the Sepang test, as it featured in four of the top five positions, however, other brands, which needed to do a lot more than Ducati during the off-season to try and close the gap, appear to have done just that.

Yamaha were the most impressive, and while that was largely down to Quartararo, who went eight tenths quicker aboard his new M1 than he ever managed at the Malaysian circuit before, Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira both showed potential aboard their new Pramac Yamaha machines.

Does this mean Yamaha is suddenly going to be challenging for race wins? Probably not. But has there been enough evidence to suggest it can get in the mix with various Ducatis and the likes of Aprilia and KTM on a more consistent basis? Absolutely!

Then we have Honda, which is the brand that needed to make the biggest strides of anyone after several very underwhelming years. Honda’s downfall, while shocking, has led to changes at times that seemingly made no improvement at all.

That was the case for large parts of 2024 as its bike was consistently touring around the back of the grid and leaving its riders very frustrated. But, while testing remains testing and so we shouldn’t draw all our conclusions from it, like Yamaha, signs are there to suggest that real improvements have been made.

In fact, Joan Mir admitted after day-one of the test that he has never felt more comfortable aboard a Honda MotoGP bike, and his lap times on day three seemed to back that up as he mounted a top ten challenge, finishing eighth - one place behind fellow RC213V rider Johann Zarco in seventh.

Yamaha and Honda were the two companies in desperate need of improvements, both in terms of the development phase, but also on the timing sheet. That’s been achieved by all accounts, whereas Aprilia and KTM will both hope that it's their new star-studded lineups that will make the difference.

Yes, both brands will also need to make improvements again in 2025, but the riders signed are a clear indication that winning races is the aim as early as the season opener in Thailand later this month.

Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder have been joined at KTM by Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini, riders who both won at least one MotoGP race in 2024, while at Aprilia none other than world champion Martin has joined the factory team alongside Marco Bezzecchi.

But speaking of Aprilia, preparations for this season have been dealt a hefty blow as Martin suffered a nasty fall on day one and as a result fractured his right hand and left foot.

Ducati still appears to be the brand to beat as we approach the opening round, but the talent level at other manufacturers (Martin, Bezzecchi and even the Pramac team have all departed from Ducati), coupled with steps forward being made by others, suggests winning 95 per cent of the races once again is going to be a near-impossible task.

We’re predicting that Aprilia will win at least one race in 2024, as will KTM which would be the first time it's done so in a Grand Prix since 2022, while Yamaha will claim several podium finishes as it becomes a formidable contender ahead of 2026.

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