Coming into 2024, only three riders had contracts in their back pockets which guaranteed them a place on the 2025 grid.
That number has now jumped to seven with the latest announcement that Fabio Quartararo has signed on with Yamaha for two more years and Pedro Acosta will be promoted to the factory KTM squad.
Here is how the grid is shaping up for the 2025 season.
Ducati Corse
Rider 1: #1 Francesco Bagnaia – The reigning double world champion signed a new two-year contract with Ducati ahead of the 2024 campaign, taking him to the end of 2026.
Rider 2: TBC
Ducati has a number of options available to it for its second factory team seat, though at the Italian GP in June it appears that Jorge Martin will get the nod.
KTM
Rider 1: #33 Brad Binder – The South African already had a deal in place that ran until 2025, but a new contract penned last year extended this to the end of 2026.
Rider 2: #31 Pedro Acosta - The 20-year-old has stunned in his rookie season, scoring two GP podiums on the Tech3 GasGas, and has signed a multi-year deal to step up to KTM's factory team in 2025
Aprilia
Rider 1: TBC
Rider 2: TBC
Aleix Espargaro has announced he will retire from MotoGP at the end of 2024, while Maverick Vinales says he has not made any commitments to Aprilia for 2025 yet.
Aprilia has suggested it would be keen for an Italian rider to join its ranks, with outgoing factory Ducati star Enea Bastianini the favourite.
Yamaha
Rider 1: #20 Fabio Quartararo – The 2021 world champion was a key figure in the 2025 rider market and had been in contact with rival teams, as Yamaha’s lack of competitiveness forced him to think about alternate rides for his future.
But a blockbuster €12m per year offer from Yamaha – as well as confidence in the direction it was heading – has convinced Quartararo to put pen to paper with the Japanese marque.
Rider 2: TBC
Current Yamaha rider Alex Rins is only contracted to the end of 2024 after breaking out of his two-year Honda deal at the end of 2023.
While a strong option for Yamaha to continue with in 2025, a number of potential free agents could take his seat.
Honda
Rider 1: #10 Luca Marini – The Italian has struggled to get to grips with the difficult Honda so far in 2024, but Marini is in it for the long haul after signing a two-year deal with HRC, which was a stipulation of him leaving VR46 Ducati.
Rider 2: TBC
Joan Mir’s current Honda deal expires at the end of 2024 and his time with the Japanese marque has so far been fruitless. And there have been suggestions that he could well retire at the end of 2025.
Pramac Ducati
Rider 1: TBC
Rider 2: TBC
Pramac’s current line-up of Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli are both out of contract at the end of the year.
Martin is likely to step up to the factory Ducati team now, while Pramac's future with Ducati remains uncertain.
Moto2 star Fermin Aldeguer has signed a factory Ducati contract, which was set to see him race at Pramac. But with the ongoing Marc Marquez saga and the possibility of Pramac switching to Yamaha, Aldeguer's future is unclear at present.
LCR Honda
Rider 1: #5 Johann Zarco – The Frenchman gave up the best bike of the grid at Pramac Ducati to take a ride with LCR Honda, but the job security offered by his two-year deal proved too attractive for him to pass up.
Rider 2: TBC
The second seat at LCR has been specifically set up around an Asian rider since Takaaki Nakagami made his debut in 2018. Should this continue into next year, the Japanese rider will likely remain put providing Honda doesn’t have an alternate option.
Gresini Ducati
Rider 1: TBC
Rider 2: TBC
Neither of the Marquez brothers have contracts in place with Gresini Racing beyond this year.
Gresini has another year left on its current Ducati deal and Marc Marquez has said one of the two ways he will remain a Ducati rider is by getting a factory bike at Gersini. But should Pramac re-sign with Ducati, it guarantees it exclusive factory support, unless Ducati can renegotiate this.
VR46 Ducati
Rider 1: TBC
Rider 2: TBC
Like Gresini, neither of the VR46 riders have contracts beyond the current year.
Marco Bezzecchi elected to remain with VR46 instead of stepping up to the factory-supported Pramac team for 2024 – a move that has so far backfired as he struggles to adapt to the 2023-spec Ducati.
A VR46 Academy rider, should no factory team alternative come forth for Bezzecchi, it’s unlikely VR46 will part ways with him.
Fabio Di Giannantonio was offered a career lifeline by VR46 late last year after he lost his Gresini ride to Marc Marquez before going on to win his first grand prix in Qatar. With no strong VR46 Academy candidates waiting in the wings, strong showings from Di Giannantonio will go a long way to securing a place for 2025.
VR46 is also in the process of deciding whether to continue with Ducati or potentially partner up with Yamaha for 2025. The latter coming to pass would likely have big ramifications on which riders it would field.
Trackhouse Racing
Rider 1: TBC
Rider 2: TBC
Both Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez signed two-year deals with Aprilia in 2023 to race with the RNF squad, which was taken over by Trackhouse Racing for 2024 after the former collapsed due to irreparable problems with majority owner CryptoDATA.
Those contracts have been honoured by Trackhouse, but it will be keeping a keen eye on the rider market.
A strong showing from US racer Joe Roberts in Moto2 this year could earn him a step to MotoGP with Trackhouse next year – something new series owner Liberty Media would likely be keen to see as it looks to boost MotoGP’s presence in America.
Tech3 GasGas
Rider 1: TBC
Rider 2: TBC
The KTM satellite team’s line-up for 2025 is unclear at the moment.
Augusto Fernandez was chosen over Pol Espargaro to continue with Tech3 for 2024, but has struggled so far.
With Acosta stepping up to KTM's factory team, Jack Miller has said he would not turn his nose up at a move to Tech3 for 2025.
