MotoGP 2018 entry list TEAM RIDER NUMBER Honda Dani Pedrosa 26 Honda Marc Marquez 93 Ducati Andrea Dovizioso 4 Ducati Jorge Lorenzo 99 Yamaha Maverick Vinales 25 Yamaha Valentino Rossi 46 Tech3 Yamaha Johann Zarco 5 Tech3 Yamaha Jonas Folger 94 Pramac Ducati Danilo Petrucci 9 Pramac Ducati Jack Miller 43 Aspar Ducati Karel Abraham 17 Aspar Ducati Alvaro Bautista 19 Suzuki Andrea Iannone 29 Suzuki Alex Rins 42 LCR Honda Takaaki Nakagami 30 LCR Honda Cal Crutchlow 35 Marc VDS Honda Thomas Luthi 12 Marc VDS Honda Franco Morbidelli 21 KTM Bradley Smith 38 KTM Pol Espargaro 44 Avintia Ducati Tito Rabat 53 Avintia Ducati Xavier Simeon 10 Aprilia Aleix Espargaro 41 Aprilia Scott Redding 45
It will be interesting to see how Franco Morbidelli gets on. No changes at Suzuki, or satellite Suzuki teams
Also watch Nakagami on the LCR Honda. We know the LCRs are good (when Crutchlow stays on) but Nakagami can be a bit hot and cold. Perhaps we can hope also that Lorenzo finally finds rhythm with his bike.
Let’s hope Crutchlow manages to stay on it this year. It always saddens me to see him fall off, but it never surprises me.
I know, sometimes he falls off twice in a race. Interesting to see how Nakagami gets on - I seem to remember him winning a race this season. And interesting to see how he gets on against his team mate Crutchlow. Ducati must have deep pockets - there are 8 Ducatis in there and only 2 Suzukis.
If you think about it though......if you were the owner of a privateer team.....would you run Suzukis???
That is the point - Ducati are spending heavily on it, whereas Suzuki are not. To quote Suzuki MotoGP team boss Davide Brivio: "Suzuki is a very large company, but the budget it dedicates to racing is not so high. Creating a satellite team would deplete the factory team's resources." Could be better for Suzuki next year though, depending on tomorrow's race result. If Suzuki do not finish on the podium at tomorrow's GP, then they will have the technical concessions restored - allowing them unlimited testing during the season, and engine development. And Ducati will have a considerable advantage. They have even paid for an exclusive 2 year deal with software company MegaRide - a company that produces tyre performance modelling - Michelin tyres only work at their best over a narrow temperature range, so having this software helps understand and predict best tyre choices across the race season. So there are 8 Ducatis that will be able to provide tyre data for this software, and be able to benefit from it. Gives some idea of the scale of Ducati's title challenge. https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/suzuki-downplays-2018-satellite-motogp-team-prospects-912825/
