In 2025 some of the top riders in MotoGP will change teams and even manufacturers. Jorge Martin will leave Prima Pramac Racing and Ducati to join Aprilia. Other notable moves are Marco Bezzecchi to Aprilia, Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini to Red Bull KTM Tech3.
These are not the first MotoGP riders to leave the comforts of their current teams to switch up their career. However, not all of these moves have been successful...
The most recent manufacturer change that was a success was Marc Marquez's move to Ducati. Marquez had become Honda's 'golden boy' as he won six titles for the Japanese manufacturer between 2013 and 2023.
The Spaniard struggled between 2020 and 2023 due to injury woes and poor bike performance. After 11 years with Honda, Marquez decided it was time to leave the comforts of the Repsol Honda garage. In the end, he ended up inside the Gresini Racing MotoGP garage on a Ducati GP23.
This decision has ended up being the saving grace of Marc Marquez's MotoGP career. The 31-year-old won three Grands Prix and stood on seven further Grand Prix podiums. Marquez will make another big move in 2025 as he has joined the Ducati Lenovo Team.
The 2007 and 2011 MotoGP World Champion is one of only two riders to win premier class titles in the MotoGP era with two manufacturers. Casey Stoner began his MotoGP career with LCR Honda in 2006, before moving to Ducati in 2007. While with the Italian manufacturer Stoner won a MotoGP title and won 23 races, but after four years he decided to leave.
Ducati's first MotoGP World Champion decided to move back to Honda into the Repsol Honda garage in 2011. The Australian rider won 15 races with the Japanese manufacturer and a second MotoGP World Championship.
After two years in Repsol Honda colours, Stoner decided to retire from racing at the end of the 2012 season. The #27 could have won a third title in his final season but his 2012 season was ruined by ankle injuries that he sustained in Indianapolis.
Danilo Petrucci had been in the MotoGP World Championship for three years with Ioda and ART. However, for the 2015 season, the 23-year-old signed a two-year deal with Octo Pramac Racing.
Before joining the Ducati satellite team Petrucci had scored 70 points across his three previous seasons. The 2015 season was the start of Petrucci's six-year career with the Italian manufacturer in MotoGP. During his first season on the Desmosedici, he scored 113 points and stood on his first MotoGP podium.
Petrucci remained with the manufacturer until the end of the 2020 season and spent two years in the factory Ducati team. Across his six years with Ducati, he won two races and stood on eight further podiums.
Before joining Ducati, Marco Melandri rode for both Yamaha and Honda. The Italian rider found success with Honda, won five races and stood on 12 further podiums for the manufacturer. The idea of an Italian rider having success on an Italian bike was Ducati's great idea for several years.
However, the 2008 season was Melandri's undoing in the MotoGP World Championship. The Italian rider had a terrible time with Ducati in MotoGP as he ended the year 17th in the standings and only scored 51 points.
After only completing one year of his two-year deal the Italian left Ducati. Melandri went on to join Kawasaki in 2009, despite the Japanese manufacturer leaving MotoGP at the end of the 2008 season.
In his third year in the MotoGP World Championship, Johann Zarco moved to the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team. The French rider spent his first two seasons with the Monster Energy Yamaha Tech3 squad, where he had podium success.
When Zarco signed with the Austrian manufacturer he put pen to paper on a two-year deal. The #5 was supposed to be with KTM for the 2019 and 2020 MotoGP seasons, but this did not happen. After only 13 races in the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing garage, Zarco parted ways with the team.
Across Jorge Lorenzo's 12 years in the MotoGP World Championship, he rode for three manufacturers. The Spaniard started his career with Yamaha in 2008, where he stayed until the end of the 2016 season. Lorenzo went on to spend two years at Ducati for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. However, his one-year stint at Honda was by far his worst.
Lorenzo joined Repsol Honda on a two-year deal for the 2019 and 2020 MotoGP seasons, but only lasted a year. The end of the Spaniard's career was plagued by multiple injuries, but also by poor results with the Japanese manufacturer.
The five-time World Champion only scored 28 points with Repsol Honda and ended the year in 19th. Lorenzo's best result for Honda was an 11th-place finish in France after winning with both Yamaha and Ducati in the past.
One rider in the MotoGP era who loved an ambitious career move was Valentino Rossi. The nine-time World Champion rode for three different manufacturers in MotoGP from 2002 until 2021.
Rossi started the MotoGP era in 2002 with Repsol Honda where he won two titles in 2002 and 2003. The Italian and Honda were an unstoppable force together, but Rossi wanted a new challenge. The #46 decided to move from Honda to Yamaha for the 2004 season.
Despite Yamaha's winless season in 2003, Rossi turned the Japanese manufacturer around in 2004. Rossi went on to win the 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009 MotoGP World Championships with Yamaha. But once again decided to move on for the 2011 MotoGP season as he moved from Yamaha to Ducati.
Rossi rode for the Italian manufacturer in the 2011 and 2012 MotoGP seasons. But it went drastically different from his move from Honda to Yamaha. This time Rossi struggled and did not win a title, instead he finished seventh and sixth in the standings with Ducati.
'The Doctor' finally returned to Yamaha in 2013, where he stayed until the end of his career in 2021. In his final stint with Yamaha, he did not win another title but won 10 races after returning to the Japanese manufacturer.
