It is the arms vigil on the Losail site which will launch the first battle of the 2019 MotoGP season at Qatar. A review of the workforce is necessary at the time when the group photo has just been taken. And the entry list says a lot about the quality of the show that awaits us: eleven World Champions will be on the starting grid and only two teams are leaving with the same drivers as last year. There is even one that has completely changed manufacturer…
In 2019, there will be 11 Grand Prix world champions on the full-time MotoGP entry list. Not bad, even if it's one less than last year. These 11 drivers have won a total of 30 world championship titles, two fewer than last year. Eight of the drivers on the list have won races in the premier class. These eight winners alone have won a total of 202 races in the major discipline.
19 riders registered on the MotoGP entry list have achieved success in at least one of the three Grand Prix categories, with a total of 419 victories. The oldest driver on the entry list is Valentino Rossi, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in February. The youngest runner is now fabio quartararo, who will be 19 years and 324 days old when he lines up on the grid in Qatar. Quarterly will become the third youngest rider to start a starting season in MotoGP, with Michelle Fabrizio et John Hopkins, since the class was launched in 2002.
Note the absence of Dani Pedrosa, now a KTM test rider,Alvaro Bautista who excels in WorldSBK, Tom Luthi, who joined Moto2, Scott Redding refugee in BSB, Xavier Simeon, recycled in MotoE, and Bradley Smith, new Aprilia test rider.
Four new drivers join the grid in 2019. They were all victorious in the intermediate categories: Miguel Oliveira (12 victories), Joan Mir (11) Francis Bagnaia (10) et fabio quartararo (1)
On the team side, there are six Ducatis, four Hondas, four Yamahas and four KTMs. Four manufacturers are competing with customer teams in 2019. Only Suzuki and Aprilia do not have a private team. Dorna's boss, Carmelo Ezpeleta, however, wanted, in 2018, a satellite team for each factory.
The composition of the teams has changed radically, leaving only two teams identical to those of 2018. Either Monster Yamaha with Red et Casa Particular in Viñales and LCR Honda with Crutchlow et Nakagami.
Repsol-Honda is without Dani Pedrosa, but with Jorge Lorenzo as teammate of the superstar Marc Márquez. The Ducati factory team includes two Italians, Andrea Dovizioso et Danilo Petrucci. The Red Bull KTM Factory team relies on Johann zarco et Pol Espargaro. Olive tree et Syahrin are part of the new Red Bull Tech3 KTM customer team. Suzuki Ecstar has the youngest factory team under contract with Joan Mir (21) et Alex Rins (22)
Finally, Spain has seven MotoGP riders (Márquez, Rins, Viñales, Pol and Aleix Espargaró, Rabat and Lorenzo) and Italy five (Dovizioso, Petrucci, Iannone, Morbidelli and Bagnaia). France has two: Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo.
