Pramac Racing Shifts Gears: Joins Forces with Yamaha as New Satellite Team for MotoGP 2025

Pramac Racing has officially inked a deal with Yamaha to become its new satellite team starting in the 2025 MotoGP season.

A significant development for the 2025 MotoGP season has been confirmed: the leading Pramac team, currently topping the standings, will part ways with Ducati and join Yamaha as their new satellite team.

The future of Pramac with Ducati was uncertain following the exit of championship frontrunner Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez's statement that Pramac was not a possibility for him, and Yamaha's search for an additional MotoGP team.

Following this, Marquez was chosen for the official Ducati position, which led to Martin joining Aprilia.

As other prominent riders like Enea Bastianini (Tech3), Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM), and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) have also secured contracts for 2025, rumors about Pramac-Yamaha have resurfaced.

Despite the fact that the M1 hasn't secured a victory since the middle of 2022, Yamaha's boosted investment in its MotoGP efforts and its sustained stability (amid speculation about a potential closer alliance between VR46 and Ducati) made it appealing for Pramac.

Paolo Campinoti, the team owner, informed GPone.com that Ducati's management was thrilled when Enea Bastianini passed Martin at the last corner in Mugello. Additionally, the agreement with Yamaha spans seven years.

Yamaha officially announced on Friday afternoon during the Dutch MotoGP round that they have reached a deal with Pramac for the provision of factory-spec M1 motorcycles.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. is pleased to reveal a new multi-year partnership with Prima Pramac Racing. This agreement ensures that starting in 2025, two additional Factory Yamaha YZR-M1 motorcycles will join the MotoGP lineup.

The newly established second Factory Yamaha team will continue to be independently owned and will maintain their headquarters in Rugby, United Kingdom.

The roster of riders for the Prima Pramac Racing team in 2025 will be revealed at a later date.

By increasing Yamaha's participation in the MotoGP circuit to twice its current level next year, the company aims to clearly demonstrate its commitment to regaining its winning form soon.

Not long after, Pramac issued a statement:

Prima Pramac Racing is excited to partner with Yamaha as a second Factory Team starting in the 2025 MotoGP season.

A new phase begins for Prima Pramac Racing as they partner with Yamaha, ushering in thrilling possibilities and a fresh wave of ambition. Yamaha's storied history and success in MotoGP complement Prima Pramac Racing's future goals seamlessly.

Over the last two decades, Pramac Racing has built a powerful partnership with Ducati, making a significant impact in the MotoGP™ arena. The choice to end this collaboration was difficult, and we express our gratitude to Ducati for an extended period of success and cooperation.

Prima Pramac Racing aims to keep up their strong performance and team morale with Ducati for the rest of the season.

'Prima Pramac Racing and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. are eager to start this thrilling new collaboration, aiming for mutual achievements and a collective vision for triumph in MotoGP.'

Pramac entered the MotoGP scene in 2002, achieving Bridgestone’s initial podium finishes and race victories with rider Makoto Tamada on Honda bikes. Eventually, Pramac combined forces with the d’Antin team, which had been competing with Ducati motorcycles since 2004.

As a newcomer in 2021, Martin secured Pramac's first win riding a Ducati, following podium finishes alongside racers such as Alex Barros, Toni Elias, Scott Redding, Danilo Petrucci, Jack Miller, Francesco Bagnaia, and Johann Zarco.

In the previous year, Pramac reached unprecedented success as Martin competed against Bagnaia for the world championship up to the last race, while Zarco secured his first race win, helping Pramac clinch the teams' title.

Martin is once more aiming to be the inaugural satellite racer to secure the ‘MotoGP’ title and is presently ahead in the rankings by 18 points over Bagnaia. Meanwhile, his new teammate Franco Morbidelli sits in 14th place after being unable to participate in any pre-season testing because of a head injury.

Former teammate of Morbidelli, Quartararo, ranks as the leading Yamaha rider in 13th place. His best performance was a fifth-place finish in the wet Jerez Sprint, although he originally crossed the line in third but received a penalty for having low tyre pressure.

It is anticipated that Morbidelli, who is considered unlikely to wish for a return to Yamaha, will join VR46, replacing Bezzecchi, who has secured a new contract with the factory Aprilia team.

Several accomplished MotoGP race victors remain potential candidates for Pramac Yamaha in 2025. These include Alex Rins, who currently races alongside Fabio Quartararo and is rumored to be renewing his contract with the factory team. Other contenders are Miguel Oliveira from Trackhouse, Joan Mir of Repsol Honda, VR46's Fabio di Giannantonio, as well as former Pramac riders Jack Miller, now with Red Bull KTM, and Andrea Iannone, currently competing in WorldSBK.

Yamaha, similar to Honda, benefits from the complete set of technical allowances because of its recent lackluster performance. The brand has been without a satellite MotoGP team since RNF moved to Aprilia in 2022.

Before partnering with RNF, Tech3 operated as a satellite team for Yamaha from 2001 to 2018. After that period, the French team transitioned to a collaboration with KTM. Subsequently, Yamaha supported the new Petronas SRT initiative, which achieved the first satellite Yamaha victories in the MotoGP era with riders Quartararo and Morbidelli in 2020.

As up-and-coming talent Quartararo moved up to the official Yamaha team, Valentino Rossi traded spots with the French rider and became part of SRT for both his and the team's last MotoGP season in 2021.

Rossi's deep-rooted relationship with Yamaha positioned his VR46 team as the natural choice for a satellite M1 partnership. However, VR46 emphasized that the performance of Ducati was crucial and has been actively working to enhance its collaboration with the Bologna-based company.

It is now anticipated that they will receive at least one of Pramac’s factory-spec bikes for the next season.

In other news, Moto2 standout Fermin Aldeguer, who has already secured a contract with Ducati for the 2025 MotoGP season but has not yet been assigned to a specific team, will either compete for Gresini or VR46.

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