(Updated 20.2.25 to reflect the changes for the 2025 season)
What was once thought to be impossible happened in 2024.
Jorge Martin, a satellite team rider for the Prima Pramac team, won the 2024 MotoGP Championship.
An incredible feat for a non-factory independent rider.
Francesco Bagnaia, a factory Ducati rider was second and another satellite rider (Marc Marquez from the Gresini team) was third.
Keep reading to know all about the difference between factory and satellite teams below.
Farewells in 2025
Riders
We bade farewell to several big names at the end of 2024 with Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami retiring.
They will both now take up a place as test riders for Honda Racing Factory team.
Augusto Fernandez has also exited the paddock of the premier class and will be heading over to Yamaha factory racing as a test rider.
We wish them all the best in their new ventures.
Teams
Pramac on the heels of taking the Championship has ended its partnership with Ducati and became the new Yamaha Satellite team.
In recent years the march of the Ducati has not only been across the podiums it is also evident in the number of teams Ducati has enjoyed on the grid.
With Yamaha having no satellite teams it seemed a good opportunity for Pramac to take a new partner.
It is hoped the additional bikes on the grid will assist Yamaha with much needed improvement.
In addition, we will no longer see the iconic orange Repsol Honda on the grid in 2025 with Factory Honda taking on new sponsor Castrol.
What’s new in 2025?
Only 2 teams remain unchanged for 2025 with Factory Yamaha and Factory Honda retaining the same riders as they did in 2024.
Fabio Quartararo will remain in blue until the end of 2026 along with teammate Alex Rins.
Honda teammates Joan Mir and Luca Marini also continue riding for the troubled team.
One of the biggest seats up for grabs was the Factory Ducati rider to join Bagnaia and while we thought it may go to Jorge Martin it was ultimately Marc Marquez who won the off-track battle to ride in red.
This was the most talked about contract in some time with many believing they should have given the seat to their satellite rider Jorge Martin who ultimately took the title and became the first non-factory rider to seal the championship.
But Ducati had already decided and MM93 had signed on the dotted line long before the end of the season.
Fans of Bastianini also cried foul at this decision to drop Enea so soon after recovering from a major injury and questioned if he really had been given a fair chance to prove himself.
But it has long been seen with Ducati Factory they demand results immediately and if they are not forthcoming then the rider is replaced.
We saw this several years ago with Miller being bumped quickly after being signed once it was clear he would not be a regular podium contender.
Jorge Martin will now join Aprilia alongside Marco Bezzecchi who has taken the chance at a factory ride leaving VR46.
Fabio Di Giannantonio remains at the Rossi garage to partner with the newly signed Franco Morbidelli.
Despite serious financial troubles announced in 2024 KTM has held firm with their MotoGP teams for 2025 and have assured fans they are not going anywhere.
For the 2025 season they have signed "The Beast", Enea Bastianini, following his exit form factory Ducati. He will partner with Maverick Vinales in the Tech 3 team, while Pedro Acosta has been moved over to the factory seat with Red Bull KTM Factory.
He will replace Jack Miller to join Brad Binder.
Jack Miller almost missed out on ride in the upcoming season before being given a saving grace from the new Pramac Yamaha, formerly Pramac Ducati where he will join Miguel Oliviera.
The paddock will see 3 rookies join the ranks this year with Fermin Aldeguer joining Alex Marquez at Gresini Ducati, Somkiat Chantra taking over from the now retired Takaaki Nakagami for LCR Honda and Ai Ogura will join forces with Raul Fernandez at Trackhouse Aprilia garage.
Keep reading to know all about the difference between factory and satellite teams below and brush up on your knowledge for the 2025 season.
Decades of division are finally over between the factory and satellite teams in MotoGP.
Looking back, for years it was almost like watching two races.
There didn’t seem to be any change in sight until Dorna decided this no longer provided fans with the best possible racing experience.
Closing the gap between the factory and satellite teams has taken place over almost 10 years, starting in 2016, and has certainly proven very successful.
If you are new to MotoGP first, we need to understand the difference between factory teams and satellites teams.
A factory team such as Honda Racing team Castrol (formerly Repsol Honda) and Lenovo Ducati are directly managed and funded by the factory who manufacture the bike.
In theory this means the factory riders have the latest bike with the latest technology and access to the best engineers, mechanics and so on.
A satellite team has the bike on lease or purchased from a factory i.e. LCR Honda or VR46 Ducati and so on.
The team is neither managed nor funded by the factory and they do not build the bikes themselves.
They will also in theory have technology from at least the year before, as well as an older version of the factory teams’ bike.
However, it is not always black and white.
It really depends on the contract each independent (satellite) team has with the factory they are purchasing or leasing the bike from.
And more than ever we see Satellite teams with the same bike as their factory rivals.
For example, for 2024 the Prima Pramac Ducati team enjoyed identical bikes as the official Ducati Factory team.
Now that Pramac is going to be the Satellite team for Yamaha they will have the same bike as the Yamaha factory team.
The honour of having the factory Ducati as a satellite will now belong to VR46 riders.
It all depends on the contractual arrangements each team makes with the factory they represent.
There can be funding provided by the factory to cover wages, they may agree to provide technology and technicians.
There are so many variations of how a factory team may contract with an independent team, it is impossible to say exactly how each team works.
The general rule is a factory team manufactures the bike and manages the team, a satellite team or independent team do not manufacture their own bike and have a contract with a factory to utilise their bikes and technology.
What is the unified software and how has it closed the gap between teams?
Before 2016 satellite teams were at a disadvantage due to software available.
Not only did factory teams have advanced technology they had the technicians to utilise it better.
There were also questions around how far certain software could be manipulated to gain an even bigger advantage in terms of bike performance on race day.
So, in 2016 Dorna began a unification process of software across the field that has proven a huge success in achieving a more exciting race each round.
Then Satellite team rider Fabio Quartararo pursuing Factory Team rider Marc Marquez at the 2019 Valencian MotoGP Image courtesy of Box Repsol on Flickr
Here is a quick look at exactly what this process entailed.
Closing the software loophole
MotoGP bikes are fitted with what is called an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU).
What do these units do?
The IMU system tells the bike what it is doing.
It collects data and measurements sending the results to the ECU which uses this data to operate functions like braking control from the riders’ input, acceleration, traction and launch control.
In 2016 we saw the software for the ECU be unified across the field. Further to this, as of 2019 unified software for the IMU and the Controller Area Network (CAN) connections leading to the ECU were also provided by Dorna.
MotoGP Electronic Control Unit (ECU)
Providing unified software for these systems eliminates the ability to manipulate this data to create the effect of increased traction control or braking advantages.
Dorna decided it was easier to unify and supply the software that manages these systems than to try to police the manipulation of them, which is a direct breach of the rules, but almost impossible to monitor.
So, who are the 2025 Satellite Teams:
And the 2025 Factory Teams:
Big names and big talent
Some may think because a team is a satellite team, it will have less talented riders.
The evidence is before you that that is not the case as we saw the first Satellite team rider take the Premier class crown ahead of factory Ducati.
Also, many of the big names taking podiums, pole position and giving the front of the pack a good run for their money, are from satellite teams.
Let’s take a look at satellite team success over the past few years
The likes of Jack Miller for example, and Fabio Quartararo who won the Independent Rider Championship and claimed a massive 197 of the Petronas Teams 307 points while riding in satellite teams before landing seats with Factory teams.
Miller held the much sought after number one rider of the Factory Ducati team before moving to Red Bull KTM and Fabio Quartararo moved up to Factory Yamaha and was 2021 world champion.
In 2024 we saw Marc Marquez, one of the most iconic riders in Premier class racing, switch to a satellite team after leaving the factory Honda team.
The move paid off proving he could handle the Ducati and for 2025 we see Marc Marquez back on a factory bike.
Following the Championship win by Jorge Martin for Pramac in 2024 the future of satellite teams seems set to keep soaring.
Dorna promised unification would bring better racing and they have delivered.
They have since backed this up with a change to the concession point system to bring more parity to teams and therefore the racing.
The concession points system change is covered in more depth in our 2024 season preview.
Of course, this raises the always present argument that too much interference and unification through rules or gadgets will result in parade races where no one is really racing they just get in position and ride the whole race.
So far that has not been the case.
There are always some races where very little happens and a parade race occurs, but it is highly unlikely this will become the norm.
In fact, fans have been treated to more race lead changes and podium contention from the satellite teams than we saw before software unification was introduced in 2016 and we are loving it!
Now that independent teams have the machines to match their talented riders it is providing fans with more excitement across the race weekends.
Why does Brad Binder score as an independent team rider?
Excellent question! I was wondering the same thing and in researching the answer, learned some new things. First of all, it appears that “Independent Riders” and “Independent Teams” do not equal “non-Factory”. It looks like MotoGP includes the “concession Factory Teams” (Asprilla and KTM) in with the Independent Standings. Hence, Brad (even though he is a KTM factory rider) is listed with the independents. NOTE: “non-concession” factory teams (Yamaha, Honda, Ducati, and Suzuki) have stricter limits on number of engines available, etc
Hi. So why isnt Pol on the list?
I am sorry Andrew but we don't understand your comment? Brad rides for the Red Bull KTM factory team.
Why did HRC draft in Bradl instead of promoting Nakagami (or Cal)? Surely they have the ability to demand LCR lend them their rider? Honda are suffering big time without Marc and they are losing all championships. Taka or Cal on a factory bike should be able to deliver wins. Madness
You raise some interesting questions which would be worth exploring so thanks for that 🙂