MotoGP will have five premier class champions competing for the 2025 title alongside others, with as many as 13 world champions.
Jorge Martin’s 2024 MotoGP World Championship victory sets up a special scenario for next season. With the title recently won by the new Aprilia rider, there will be five MotoGP World Champions on the grid who will line up alongside another 17 riders who have enviable track records.
The Five Kings of MotoGP
After creating history in the season finale with Prima Pramac Racing on the GP24, ‘Martinator’ joined an illustrious list of MotoGP World Champions on the current grid, which also includes – in chronological order – Marc Marquez (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 with Honda), Joan Mir (2020 with Suzuki), Fabio Quartararo (2021 with Yamaha) and Pecco Bagnaia (2022 and 2023 with Ducati).
With the exception of KTM, which will have four potential contenders, all other manufacturers in the running will have at least one MotoGP World Champion on their roster. Ducati will field their own dream team in the factory squad with Bagnaia and Marquez, while Martin will make his highly anticipated debut with Aprilia. Yamaha will continue to back Quartararo, with Honda remaining committed to Mir.
13 World Champions on the track
In addition to the five MotoGP kings, the 2025 premier class grid will also feature eight other World Champions in other World Championship categories. Therefore, a total of 13 World Champions will be present on the track when the 2025 season gets underway at the end of next February in Thailand. After the departure of Augusto Fernandez – who joins Yamaha’s project – the rookie Ai Ogura will keep the list of World Champions at a total of 13 riders.
The Japanese rider reaches the premier class as the reigning Moto2™ World Champion, a crown that was also held in their time by Johann Zarco (2015 and 2016), Franco Morbidelli (2017), Alex Marquez (2019), Enea Bastianini (2020) and Pedro Acosta (2023), as well as the aforementioned Bagnaia (2018) and Marc Marquez (2012). The #93 had also previously been crowned in the lightweight class (2010), where Maverick Viñales (2013), Alex Marquez (2014) and Brad Binder (2016) also reigned years ago, along with the aforementioned Mir (2017), Martin (2018) and Acosta (2021).
2025 MotoGP launches –
[The story is as per press release]