The 2023 MotoGP racing team is up to now – 11 turns, 11 turns

Official announcement that Alex Rins signed a two-year contract with the LCR Honda team which means the MotoGP 2023 grid is now officially half full. All seats from Yamaha, KTM and Aprilia have been confirmed, as is the Gresini Ducati team.

It has been officially confirmed by the teams Repsol Honda, Ducati Factory and LCR Honda.

Does that mean the remaining 11 seats are still wide open? Not all of them. There are some that are sure bets, while others are still plenty.

All Ducati seats have been pretty much taken away, the only question is who gets shuffled where.

Johann Zarco is definitely staying at Pramac Ducati, while Ducati is still debating whether to put Jorge Martin or Enea Bastianini in the second factory seat, the other going to be consigned for the second bike at Pramac.

Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi’s Mooney VR46 lineup likely won’t change in 2023.

Repsol Honda’s second seat will almost certainly go to Joan Mir, although there has been a delay in signing that contract. Mir’s recent slump has also shifted the balance of power in HRC’s favor.

The most likely scenario is that the contract will be announced before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but there could still be bumps in the road for the relationship.

The second seat at the LCR will depend both on Ai Ogura’s form and whether he feels ready to take part in MotoGP.

With Idemitsu backing the bill for a second LCR bike, it is certain that it will go to a rider from Asia, with Somkiat Chantra being another option should HRC decide to switch from Takaaki Nakagami. However, Nakagami is still running for election.

Ever since they switched from Yamaha to Aprilia RNF, the team has remained completely open to ideas about who they could put on the bike, although like Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola explained to Niki Kovács and meAprilia will also have a say in the racing ranks.

Raul Fernandez looks set to move from KTM Tech3, while the second seat is likely to go to Miguel Oliveira. Darryn Binder can be kept if either contract is approved.

At Tech3, Pol Espargaro looks set to return to KTM, albeit on the satellite team this time. It will be a reunion with both KTM, whom Espargaro drove from 2017 to 2020, and Tech3, where Espargaro drove the Yamaha from 2014 to 2016.

Remy Gardner is likely to stay at Tech3, but that is not guaranteed at the moment.

With Suzuki having lost two seats previously, there will be little space for anyone currently participating in Moto2, other than the slots reserved by Idemitsu for Asian riders. Riders like Pedro Acosta, Augusto Fernandez and Aron Canet will likely have to wait until 2024, or even 2025, when most contracts will once again expire.

Confirmed contracts are shown in the table below:

Photo: MotoGP