Every MotoGP team’s 2025 New Year’s resolution

There is just under a month until MotoGP bikes are back on track again to begin 2025 preparations with the Sepang shakedown.

The 2025 season is a year of much change, with significant rider movement - most notably Marc Marquez at the factory Ducati squad and world champion Jorge Martin moving to Aprilia.

With any new season, it’s a chance for successful teams from the previous year to take stock and try to cement their position; for the rest, it’s a chance for a reset.

At the dawn of the new year, Crash looks at what every team’s resolution should be for the 2025 season.

Ducati Corse - World domination

Ducati is at the zenith of its powers right now, which is something not guaranteed for much longer as the 2027 regulations reset nears.

In 2025, Ducati has arguably its best factory line-up ever in the form of the marque’s double world champion Francesco Bagnaia and eight-time grand prix title winner Marc Marquez riding in red.

While it cost Ducati the 2024 world champion and its best satellite team, there is little doubt in Borgo Panigale that it hasn’t made the right decision. Marquez won three grands prix in 2024 on a GP23 that really very quickly became long in the tooth, while Bagnaia scored 11 victories, albeit missing out on the title by 10 points due to eight non-scores.

The GP24 can lay claim to being Ducati’s best bike ever and one of MotoGP’s best. So, it’s unlikely that the GP25 will have taken any significant steps backwards.

While it may have to contend with some intra-team tension between Bagnaia and Marquez, Ducati should have no other goal in sight for 2025 other than total annihilation of its competition with the grid’s most formidable line-up.

KTM/Tech3 - Keep their heads above water

Grouping KTM and Tech3 is cheating a little, but their fates are intertwined right now with the current financial crisis that has engulfed the Austrian manufacturer.

While the restructuring process is so far going in the direction KTM hoped for its survival, one measure the creditors are pushing for is the ending of the MotoGP project. Things will go ahead in 2025, but 2026 looks like it could be the end of the road for the brand.

As KTM continues to look for investment and a means to continue its grand prix project, its race teams in 2025 simply have to keep their heads above water and churn out results that will entice backers to put their money in their pockets.

The marque’s 2025 bike looks like a solid step forward based on current testing, though it remains to be seen how true the rumours are of a development freeze as a result of the financial problems.

Pedro Acosta’s ability to take the RC16 places it shouldn’t have been in his rookie campaign stunned the world, and more of that will be expected from a slightly more mature rider. Team-mate Brad Binder’s consistency in 2024 is something KTM can always rely on, though he needs to get going a bit more this year now he has a legitimately tough stable to compare himself to.

At Tech3, Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales bring some solid race-winning pedigree to the team. KTM needs them to ensure four RC16s are consistently in the top 10 from round to round.

Aprilia Factory Racing - Put its money where its mouth is

The Italian marque made a big money play to secure Jorge Martin’s signature for 2025 after he elected to turn his back on the Ducati stable after not getting the factory seat he wanted (and deserved).

This followed on from it not doing the same to beat Yamaha in negotiations with 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo. That hasn’t worked out too badly for Aprilia, as it gains the number one plate with Martin.

But it slid down the order in the second half of 2024, and now faces a rebuild with an almost entirely new line-up across its two teams as well as a new technical lead in Fabiano Sterlacchini.

While expecting a title challenge in 2025 is a touch unfair, Aprilia has to now prove that it is genuinely a place for top talents to consider as a viable career option rather than merely the back-up for the disenfranchised.

Honda Factory/LCR - Continue steady progress

There’s little hope that Honda will suddenly make a giant leap forward with its RC213V in 2025. Coming off of its third winless campaign in five and first without a podium in the modern era, Honda has hit its nadir.

The good news is that things can’t really get much worse. Towards the end of 2024, there were signs of improvement. A new aero package helped improve handling, with Johann Zarco for LCR scoring the marque’s best result in Thailand.

Simply breaching a hundred points in the constructors’ standings is a reasonably achievable target for Honda. In Joan Mir, Luca Marini and Johann Zarco it has a wealth of experience to help continue kicking the bike along.

New technical director Romano Albesiano brings with him ideas that improved a European manufacturer in Aprilia, while Honda has gained a great test rider in Aleix Espargaro.

There are enough tangible pieces of the puzzle to confidently predict that Honda will end 2025 with a lot to be optimistic about, so long as it can begin to consistently get at least one bike into the top 10 weekend to weekend during the season.

Yamaha Factory/Pramac - Return to the podium

Yamaha is very much in a similar position to Honda right now, but there were more positive signs of improvement for the Iwata-based marque in 2024.

A top six for Fabio Quartararo at the Malaysian GP was a good indicator of the direction Yamaha is heading. Consistently able to maximise the bike underneath him, Yamaha will reap huge rewards with every small step it makes with the M1.

The technical leadership of Max Bartolini has already boosted Yamaha morale, while the prospect of it racing a V4 for the first time next year at some point is an exciting indication of the push the brand is making.

Gaining a satellite structure in the grid’s best independent team in Pramac with two experienced riders - Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller - at the helm will almost certainly be the leg up Yamaha has been looking for.

Ending the season with a top six finish is a good target for it to be aiming for in the early stages of 2025, but with the visible push being made Yamaha should be setting its sights on a podium return.

VR46 Racing - “Annoy” the other factory Ducatis

The 2025 season is a big one for Valentino Rossi’s squad. It becomes Ducati’s official factory-supported satellite team, with Fabio Di Giannantonio getting a GP25.

It’s not the first time VR46 has had a factory Ducati, but it’s the first time it has been in a position to maximise the opportunity. Di Giannantonio put in a really solid campaign in 2024 with the squad on a GP23, regularly the top rider on that bike behind Marc Marquez.

Even missing the final two rounds due to surgery on his shoulder, Di Giannantonio still beat his highly-rated team-mate Marco Bezzecchi in the standings. Looking to 2025, Di Giannantonio says he wants to “annoy” the factory team Ducati riders on the GP25.

And that is exactly where VR46 should see itself: stepping into the void vacated by Pramac with its switch to Yamaha.

With Franco Morbidelli, it needs to get the 2020 title runner-up going again. His time on the factory Yamaha was fruitless, while his first year on the Ducati in 2024 - albeit one hindered by a pre-season concussion - saw him come away with just one sprint podium.

Remaining exactly on the bike he finished 2024 on, just painted in VR46 colours now, the team needs to get Morbidelli to the place again where being a consistent podium challenger shouldn’t be a surprise.

Trackhouse Racing - Make more of a mark

It’s fantastic that MotoGP has an American-owned team on the grid, and one particularly that is focused on expanding the series’ horizons both in the US and globally.

That is reflected in its line-up for 2025, with Raul Fernandez staying put while reigning Moto2 world champion Ai Ogura was picked over an American talent in Joe Roberts.

But Trackhouse Racing’s first year in the premier class saw it make little impression. Despite a sprint podium in Germany and a brace of sixths in Barcelona and Germany, Trackhouse never troubled the top five on Sundays.

A mid-season change of bike for Fernandez stunted his progress, while a late-season injury curtailed Oliveira’s charge.

For 2025, it needs to get Fernandez into a position where he can begin to justify the stay he’s been given in a so far underwhelming MotoGP tenure, while it must ensure a top young talent in Ogura has the surrounding to flourish.

Gresini Racing - Put Marc Marquez firmly behind it

The 2024 season was a standout one for the small Gresini Racing outfit. The attention it gained from having Marc Marquez on its books saw it morph into one of the best outfits in terms of fan engagement.

Three grand prix victories and consistent trips to the other steps of the podium - including an historic all-Marquez affair in Germany - meant the party never stopped in the Gresini box.

But the eight-time world champion has departed and Gresini needs to refocus itself. Results like it saw in 2024 are unlikely, but Alex Marquez has proven over the past two seasons to be a able to get his year-old Ducati into strong positions.

Fermin Aldeguer has a lot of pressure on his shoulders as a rookie whose Moto2 form in 2024 perhaps signified his promotion has come too early. But pairing him with Frankie Carchedi is the best thing the team could do.

Gresini will have a tough time challenging to be the top independent team this season, but it’s an achievable target if it quickly moves on from the Marc Marquez dream year and focuses on consistent top six finishes in 2025.