MotoGP 2023 Season Preview

The 2023 MotoGP season is upon us! There are some big changes in the offing as we enter another year of enjoying the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. The biggest changes we are going to see in 2023, is the withdrawal of Suzuki from MotoGP, sprint races being added to every round, a new reigning world champion and only 2 inline-4s on the grid.

Last year, in a shock announcement, Suzuki told the world and their employees that they will be quitting MotoGP and all other formats of motorcycle racing. This came as a whammy to everyone, since the team was doing incredibly well in MotoGP. Suzuki were one of the only two teams to run inline-4s and now they have left. Yamaha the only other factory to go down the similar engine route lost its satellite team to Aprilia. Leaving just 2 Yamahas on the grid, easily the least powerful motorcycle amongst the 5 remaining factories.

Dorna, the organisers of this sport, also announced that next year will see the addition of sprint races on Saturdays. This move was made to improve the spectacle for TV audiences and track attendance. Whether it will work is difficult to say, but it will surely add to the pressure cooker atmosphere of the already stressed paddock. The 2023 season is set to be the longest ever, with the maximum number of races scheduled, including a race to be tentatively held in India. The other big change by Dorna is the introduction of standardised tyre pressure monitoring systems for all teams, this is a result of some teams claiming that other teams were cheating in 2022. This small change has the potential of shaking up the grid in a major way.

Francesco Bagnaia on his Ducati was the 4th different rider/ factory combination to win the MotoGP World Championship in 4 consecutive years. Just showing how incredibly competitive the riders are currently. For this incredible record to continue, 2023 will have to be won either by KTM or Aprilia riders. Unlikely, but not completely impossible!

Bagnaia will have a hard time defending his title not just against the entire field, but first and foremost against his new teammate Enea Bastianini. The Beast as he is known, showed his mettle in 2022 by pushing Bagnaia to the line on multiple occasions, it is now time for him to shine and show that potential in 2023. A lot of Ducati management eyes will be on him, watching his every move. Everybody expects Bastianini to be a title contender in 2023.

The Ducati duo will have to contend with the lone Yamaha force of Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman was the runner-up last season, but has two years of championship fighting experience with him. He has the swagger and confidence of launching another measured attack for the big prize. The biggest challenge for him is if Yamaha are able to give him a competitive motorcycle. Else he ends up looking like a rider who has brought a knife to a gun fight! Quartararo will also be looking for assistance from his teammate Franco Morbidelli. Last year saw the Italian fade away into oblivion. With just 2 riders on the grid, it is essential for the team to see both performing to maximum potential.

Repsol Honda is the only team in 2023 with two former MotoGP Champions. Marc Marquez and Joan Mir have both tasted success at this level and would surely want more. Marquez already showed that he has put his injuries behind him and can push to the limit like the Marc of old! With him back in the paddock, the entire racing dynamics will change. The Honda is a notoriously difficult bike to ride and master, and it will be a big task for Mir to adapt his riding style from the sweet handling Suzuki to the rowdy Honda. Mir is coming on the back of a lacklustre year, it will be interesting to see if he will perform or perish, as has been the case with all of Marquez’ teammates.

Aprilia had a strong start to the year in 2022 till three quarters of the season. And in the last bit they lost their way, when MotoGP went racing in the flyaways. But the Italian manufacturer showed they had a competitive bike and two excellent riders in the form of Aliex Espargaro and Maverick Vinales. The duo will have a season’s more data with them and will also be joined by a satellite team. RNF shifted from Yamaha to Aprilia for 2023 and with two distinctive riders. Miguel Oliveira won two races in 2022 and has shown his professionalism and clinical ruthlessness in the past and should push the factory riders to new limits. His teammate, Raul Fernandez is considered to be extremely talented, but so far hasn’t shown that in his rookie year. His temperament and professionalism have been questioned by his previous employers and it will be a make-or-break year for him.

Which brings us to the 5th and last of the factories, KTM. The Austrian brand showed a lot of promise early on in their MotoGP venture, but seem to have got a bit muddled in the last season. They suffer during qualifying and are left to make up places during the race. They have taken help from aerodynamics engineers from Formula 1, to help chase those last tenths to be competitive. If the bike does well, expect to see Brad Binder fighting for the podium on a regular basis in 2023 and maybe even for the championship. The factory will also learn a lot from incoming rider, Jack Miller’s experience on the Ducati. He might be able to give them direction to close the gap to the front.

Among the satellite squads, the most is expected out of the Pramac Ducati team. They have the experience, data, and support from Ducati, along with two great riders in Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin. The former has a wealth of experience and the latter is exceptionally quick over a single lap. Though the two are unlikely to be championship contenders, they qualifying and race positions will give direction to the final championship standings.

Gresini Ducati is another strong satellite team. Their rider finished third in the championship last year. But that rider has now moved on to the factory team. It is unlikely that they will be able to repeat those feats in 2023, but they do have two talented riders in the form of Fabio Di Giannantonio and new entrant Alex Marquez. The latter will be looking to show off his potential after his tumultuous years on the Honda.

Much is also expected from the satellite Honda team of LCR. But that depends on how improved the new motorcycle will be from the Japanese giant. The team has Takaaki Nakagami, a temperamental rider who has had more downs than ups. He will be joined by Alex Rins, a rider who has bags of experience and race wins under his belt. Unfortunately for him, his experience is on the Suzuki, a very different beast in comparison to the Honda.

We can also expect to see flashes of brilliance from the Mooney VR46 Ducati team. They have been brilliant on occasion, with Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini, and we can expect more of the same from them in 2023.

The final satellite team is the Tech3 GasGas, essentially rebadged KTMs. This will see the return of Pol Espargaro in the KTM fold after two years of struggle on the Honda. He will be joined by the only rookie in the class, Augusto Fernandez. No great expectations sit on the shoulders of either of the two riders. But Tech3 will be hoping for a better 2023, as last year for them was miserable, as they sat at the bottom of the heap…

2023 will kickstart with two tests in Sepang in February, before heading to Europe for the third and final test. It will be followed by the first race, which is the first time since 2006, that MotoGP will start in Europe, with the first race planned in Portugal. The calendar is still tentative, with India and Kazakhstan added to the list. But with rising Covid-19 cases and a possible return of the pandemic, the calendar might yet change.

Irrespective of where the MotoGP circus heads in 2023, we can be rest assured of incredible racing once again. And for us MotoGP starved fans, it will be back to normalcy!