The 2025 MotoGP season kicks off with the Thailand Grand Prix after a lengthy winter break.
Ducati will be looking to continue their dominance in the premier class after winning all but one race in 2024. Rider pairing Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia are set to produce an exciting battle for the title.
The Bologna-based outfit have been dealt a huge boost for the first race as Jorge Martin is set to miss the Thailand GP. The defending champion requires further surgery after a setback in his recovery from his Sepang crash.
But Ducati will face competition from Aprilia and KTM in Buriram. The former still look strong in Martin’s absence thanks to Marco Bezzecchi and the latter have four solid factory riders capable of challenging.
Yamaha have taken a huge step forward after an impressive pre-season. The Japanese manufacturer are hoping to return to form after a disappointing few years.
Honda have also seen signs of improvement thanks to the MotoGP concession system. But it is causing some ‘discontent’ within satellite team LCR.
LCR Honda feel ‘discontent’ as they are spending more time away in testing
LCR beat the factory Honda team last year as the manufacturer finished last in the constructors’ championship. The Monte Carlo-based outfit – who have won three races in MotoGP – will field Johann Zarco with rookie Somkiat Chantra in 2025.
Honda have been afforded more test time under the MotoGP concession system in a bid to bridge the gap in the field. While this will be hugely beneficial for the manufacturer, journalist Simon Patterson says this is causing ‘discontent’ at LCR as they spend more time out of the factory.
READ MORE: Everything to know about LCR from the MotoGP team’s riders to Honda ties
“The big step, the big, big improvement from last year has been this test team that they’ve built,” he said via The Race MotoGP YouTube channel.
“The fact that they’ve now got Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami who are doing all of this work for them, who are basically doing a role that Stefan Bradl wasn’t really up to doing in the final years of his time there.
“Where they have two essentially current MotoGP riders who are hopefully now going to start delivering parts to the team that are race-ready so that we’re not seeing the Honda guys spending a whole day, basically testing mid-race weekend.
“It’s sabotaging the notes before the weekend starts whenever you turn up with a load of new parts and they’re not hopefully going to do that this year.
“Part of that is also because they finally, finally done what we’ve been being basically screaming at them to do for about three years and embrace MotoGP’s new concession system.
“They are using the concessions so much that there’s actually a little bit of discontent within satellite team LCR who are suddenly spending a whole lot more time away from home because they’re at Mugello or Misano or Jerez every weekend.”
Somkiat Chantra surprised LCR Honda with his pace in pre-season
Honda had some encouraging signs of progression in pre-season. But Joan Mir and Luca Marini disagree about Honda’s progress, with the bike lacking speed but improving under braking.
Zarco says Honda will find four tenths ‘for free’ if they can fix their vibration issues. The Frenchman suffered his second-worst season in MotoGP with 17th in 2024 – the highest-ranked Honda rider.
Zarco’s LCR teammate Chantra is one of three rookies in the premier class this season. The Thai rider steps up from Moto2 alongside champion Ai Ogura and Fermin Aldeguer.
The 26-year-old heads into his first MotoGP race – his home Grand Prix – off the back of a decent pre-season. Chantra surprised LCR with his pace in Sepang as he improved on each day.
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