2023 MotoGP World Championship


2023 MotoGP World Championship


The 2023 FIM MotoGP World Championship was the premier class of the 75th Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) Road Racing World Championship season, the highest level of competition in motorcycle road racing. The season saw the introduction of sprints on Saturdays, a short-form race of approximately half the length of the main event, in addition to the traditional Grand Prix event on Sundays.

Francesco Bagnaia successfully defended his Riders' Championship at the final race in Valencia, marking the first repeat Riders' Champion for Ducati since the manufacturer entered the series. Winning 17 of 20 Grands Prix and 16 of 19 sprints, Ducati secured their fifth (and fourth consecutive) Constructors' Championship. Ducati satellite team Pramac Racing won the Teams' Championship.

The season was notable for having eight different Grand Prix winners and no back-to-back Grand Prix winners for the first time since the inaugural season in 1949. Manufacturer Yamaha failed to win a single Grand Prix for the first time since 2003.

Season summary

Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia won the inaugural sprint race in Portugal, ahead of Jorge Martín and Marc Márquez, and repeated the win in the main race. At the second round in Argentina, KTM rider Brad Binder took the sprint win, while Marco Bezzecchi took his maiden premier class victory in a wet race. At the Grand Prix of the Americas, Bagnaia took his second sprint victory. Álex Rins stood atop the main race podium ahead of Luca Marini and Fabio Quartararo, marking the LCR Honda team's first win since Argentina 2018.

Starting the European leg of the season in Spain, Brad Binder took the sprint victory head of Francesco Bagnaia, while Bagnaia won the main race ahead of Binder. Both racing sessions were affected by red flags, and KTM rider Jack Miller closed out both podiums. The French round marked the 1000th motorcycle Grand Prix since the series began in 1949. In the sprint, Jorge Martín took his first victory of the season, while Bezzecchi emerged as winner of the main race, followed by Martín and his teammate Johann Zarco. At Mugello, Bagnaia took his second weekend sweep of the season in front of the home crowd, winning both the sprint and main race. In Germany, Jorge Martín took his first weekend sweep, winning both the sprint and main race after several close duels with Bagnaia. At the Assen TT, Bezzecchi took pole position and victory in the sprint, before relinquishing the main race win to Bagnaia, finishing second. Heading into the summer break, Bagnaia led the championship with 194 points ahead of Martín on 159 and Bezzecchi on 158.

Returning to action in Britain, Marco Bezzecchi took his second consecutive pole position, but dropped the sprint win to Álex Márquez, while Francesco Bagnaia failed to score points. Aleix Espargaró took his first win of the season in the main race ahead of Bagnaia, while Bezzecchi crashed out. In Austria, Bagnaia took his third weekend sweep of the season, finishing the main race in dominant fashion 5.1 seconds ahead of Brad Binder, with Bezzecchi taking third. With this result, Bagnaia held a 90-point lead over Jorge Martín at the midpoint of the season.

In Catalunya, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaró swept his home Grand Prix weekend with a sprint win ahead of Bagnaia and a main race win ahead of teammate Maverick Viñales and Jorge Martín. The main race was a disaster for Ducati, who saw five riders crash in a single first-lap incident (Álex Márquez, Enea Bastianini, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Johann Zarco) followed a few corners later by a crash for championship leader Francesco Bagnaia. His legs were run over by Brad Binder's KTM, a resulting minor injury ruled him out of restarting the race and would have further implications for the championship. At the final race of the European leg in Misano, Martín completed a perfect weekend, taking pole position and victory in the sprint and main race, both times ahead of Bezzecchi and Bagnaia.

At the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, Jorge Martín won a rain-delayed sprint followed by Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez. In the main race, Bagnaia crashed out after being involved in a duel with Martín, and Marco Bezzecchi took his third and final victory of the season, over 9 seconds ahead of Martín and Fabio Quartararo. With this result, Martín had reduce the championship gap to 13 points with seven races remaining. At the Japanese round, Jorge Martín again had a perfect weekend, taking pole position and winning the sprint and main race. The main race was red-flagged due to adverse weather conditions on lap 13 of 24. A restart was abandoned by race direction after the race was again red-flagged during the warm-up lap of the restarted race. Per regulations, full points were awarded since at least 50% of the original race distance were completed.

In Indonesia, Jorge Martín won his third consecutive sprint, ahead of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi, securing Ducati its fourth straight Constructors' Championship. With his victory in the sprint, Martín took over the lead of the standings for the first time in the season by 7 points. In the main race, Francesco Bagnaia quickly returned to the top of the standings, after winning from 13th position on the grid and Martín crashing out. The race marked the 500th Grand Prix victory for tyre marque Michelin, whose first victory was in 1973 with Jack Findlay. On Phillip Island, heavy wind conditions caused a weekend schedule change, with the main race taking place on Saturday and the sprint on Sunday, weather permitting. In the main race, Johann Zarco took his maiden win in MotoGP, ahead of Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio. The sprint was cancelled due to inclement weather. At the Thai round, Jorge Martín had his third perfect weekend of the year, with pole position and sprint and main race wins. In Malaysia, Álex Márquez won the sprint ahead of Martín and Bagnaia, while Enea Bastianini took his first win of the season ahead of Márquez and Bagnaia.

At the penultimate round in Qatar, Luca Marini secured his second career pole position with an all-time lap record at the track. Jorge Martín took the win at the sprint race, while Francesco Bagnaia only managed 5th place. In the main race, Fabio Di Giannantonio took his maiden MotoGP win ahead of Bagnaia and Marini, while Martín struggled to a 10th-place finish. The final round at Valencia saw Martín win his ninth sprint race of the season, cutting the championship gap to 14 points for the finale race. Martin crashed out of the main race while attempting to recover from an early mistake, while Bagnaia took the race victory, sealing his second consecutive MotoGP world title.

Teams and riders

All teams used series-specified Michelin tyres.

Team changes

  • RNF Racing switched to Aprilia after a season with Yamaha.
  • Suzuki withdrew from the MotoGP class at the end of the 2022 season.
  • Tech3 KTM Factory Racing were rebranded as GasGas Factory Racing Tech3. The team used KTM bikes. Tech3 continued to own and operate the team.

Rider changes

  • Jack Miller moved to the KTM factory team from the Ducati factory team, replacing Miguel Oliveira. Oliveira then moved to RNF Aprilia MotoGP Team.
  • Álex Márquez moved to Gresini Racing MotoGP from LCR Honda, replacing Enea Bastianini. Bastianini was then promoted to the Ducati factory team, replacing Jack Miller.
  • Álex Rins moved to LCR Honda from the now defunct Suzuki MotoGP team, replacing Álex Márquez.
  • Pol Espargaró moved to the newly rebranded GasGas Factory Racing team from the Honda factory team. He was replaced by Joan Mir, who moved from the now defunct Suzuki MotoGP team.
  • Raúl Fernández moved to RNF Aprilia MotoGP Team from Tech3 KTM Factory Racing.
  • Remy Gardner left MotoGP for the Superbike World Championship. He was replaced by 2022 Moto2 World Riders' Champion Augusto Fernández, who entered the MotoGP class with the rebranded GasGas Factory Racing team.
  • After being left without a place in the MotoGP grid, Darryn Binder went down to Moto2 to make his debut in that class.

Mid-season changes

  • Pol Espargaró missed seven consecutive Grands Prix starting from the Argentine round after suffering numerous injuries during Practice 2 of the Portuguese round. He was not replaced for the Argentine round, but was replaced starting from the Americas round by Jonas Folger.
  • Enea Bastianini missed several races during the season. He missed the Argentine and Americas rounds after suffering a fractured right scapula due to a collision with Luca Marini in the sprint of the Portuguese round. He was not replaced for the Argentine round, and was replaced for the Americas round by Michele Pirro. Bastianini also missed the French round after a failed return in the Spanish round which saw him withdraw from the race after Practice 2 due to continuous shoulder pain. He was replaced by Danilo Petrucci. Bastianini also missed the San Marino, Indian, and Japanese rounds after undergoing surgery on his fractured left ankle and left hand that were sustained during the Catalan race. He was not replaced for the San Marino round, and by Pirro again for the Indian and Japanese rounds.
  • Marc Márquez missed the Argentine, Americas, and Spanish rounds after suffering a broken first metacarpal due to a collision with Miguel Oliveira during the main race of the Portuguese round. He was not replaced for the Argentine round, replaced by Stefan Bradl for the Americas round, and was replaced by Iker Lecuona for the Spanish round.
  • Miguel Oliveira missed several races during the season. He missed the Argentine round due to the aforementioned collision with Márquez during the main race of the previous Portuguese round. Oliveira was declared unfit after further testing and was not replaced. He also missed the French round after he sustained a shoulder injury after a collision with Fabio Quartararo during the previous Spanish round and was replaced by Lorenzo Savadori. He also missed the Valencian round after suffering a fractured scapula during the sprint of the Qatar round, and was replaced by Savadori again.
  • Joan Mir missed the German and Dutch rounds after suffering a right hand injury during Practice 2 of the previous Italian round. He was not replaced for the German round, but was replaced by Iker Lecuona for the Dutch round.
  • Álex Rins missed seven consecutive Grands Prix starting from the German round after undergoing surgery on a broken right leg that was sustained during the sprint of the Italian round. He was not replaced for the German round, by Stefan Bradl for the Dutch and Indian rounds, by Iker Lecuona for the British, Austrian, and Catalan rounds, and by Takumi Takahashi for the San Marino round. Rins competed during Friday practice sessions for the Japanese round, before being replaced by Bradl after he was declared unfit for the rest of the weekend. Rins also missed the Thailand, Malaysian, and Qatar rounds after having surgery on a hernia on his leg previously broken during the Italian round. He was not replaced for the Thailand round, and by Lecuona again for the Malaysian and Qatar rounds.
  • Álex Márquez missed the Japanese round after suffering a double rib fracture during Qualifying 1 of the previous Indian round. He was not replaced.
  • Luca Marini missed the Japanese round after suffering a fractured left collarbone during the sprint of the previous Indian round. He was not replaced.

Rule changes

Sprint races were introduced at all Grands Prix. Sprints were held on the Saturday of each Grand Prix weekend and were approximately 50% of the total race distance. Points were awarded to the top 9 finishers on a 12–9–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis, similar to the system used in Superbike World Championship Superpole races. The grids for both the Sprint race and the Grand Prix race were set from qualifying, which retained its Q1–Q2 format. There was also one less practice session and the warm-up session as a result. Sprint race wins are not considered as regular Grands Prix wins and instead would have their own "Sprint race wins" statistic.

The weekend format was fixed for every event. Moto3 were followed by Moto2, followed by MotoGP.

Minimum tyre pressure rules were enforced. The use of any device that modifies or adjusts the motorcycle's front ride height while it is moving was forbidden.

Starting from the British round, only the results of the second practice session of each Friday, which is now simply called "Practice", were timed for direct qualification into Qualifying 2. The first practice session on Fridays and the practice session on Saturday were now called "Free Practice 1" and "Free Practice 2", respectively, and the results from both sessions would not be considered for direct Q2 classification.

Calendar

The following Grands Prix took place in 2023:

Grand Prix locations

Calendar changes

  • For the first time since 2006, Lusail in Qatar did not host the opening round due to "extensive renovation and remodelling to the paddock area and circuit facilities".
  • The British Grand Prix returned to the International Paddock of the Silverstone Circuit for the first time since 2012.
  • India and Kazakhstan were both scheduled to host their first World Championship motorcycle Grands Prix in 2023 at the Buddh International Circuit and the Sokol International Racetrack, respectively.
  • The Hungarian Grand Prix was scheduled to make its debut in 2023 but was postponed until at least 2024 due to the unstarted construction of the circuit.
  • The Aragon Grand Prix was omitted from the schedule for the first time since its introduction in 2010.
  • The Finnish Grand Prix at Kymi Ring was under contract to feature in 2023, but was not included in the provisional calendar due to safety concerns of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • The Kazakhstan Grand Prix at Sokol International Racetrack was cancelled due to ongoing homologation works at the circuit, paired with global operational challenges. The event was not replaced.

Results and standings

Grands Prix

Riders' standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers of the main race and to the top nine of the sprint. A rider had to finish the race to earn points.

Constructors' standings

Each constructor was awarded the same number of points as their best placed rider in each race.

Teams' standings

The teams' standings were based on results obtained by regular and substitute riders; wild-card entries were ineligible.

Notes

References

External links

  • Official website

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: 2023 MotoGP World Championship by Wikipedia (Historical)



 

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