His feeling that the learning curve for “mega-talent” Fernandez would be “steep – especially when you’re not on a Ducati” was echoed by Patterson. “But as the de facto team leader, he stands out as the weakest of them among the 11 teams.” ![]() “Espargaro is a far better rider than his (mostly) miserable factory Honda stint showed and I think a return to KTM is exactly what he needs,” he said. Josh Suttill, one of two who put the Tech3 line-up last alongside The Race MotoGP Podcast host Toby Moody, said the decision was “an unbelievably tough call to make”. MotoGP’s new ‘factory’ squad avoided the ignominy of last spot by a single point in our final reckoning, but neither incoming rookie Augusto Fernandez nor KTM returnee Pol Espargaro escaped questions about how long it would take them to adapt to the RC16. Worst ranking: 11th (Toby Moody, Josh Suttill) Will both outperform their own previous bests? All but certain.” 10 TECH3 GAS GAS Pol Espargaro, Augusto Fernandez “Will they do what Enea Bastianini managed last year for Gresini? Unlikely. “Two riders who clearly have potential still to unlock – Marquez already hinted in testing that he’ll be a lot better than on the Honda, and Di Giannantonio spent 2022 learning his trade in a consistent if unspectacular manner,” he said. MotoGP correspondent Simon Patterson gave Gresini its highest ranking of eighth, and expected both riders to easily be capable of exceeding their previous peaks. “Both are genuinely good riders who just haven’t quite shown it in MotoGP often enough so far – but may well do so in 2023,” said Khorounzhiy. Valentin Khorounzhiy suggested it was a “positive for MotoGP” that a low-ranking pairing comprised a rider who took a pole in his rookie season (Di Giannantonio) and a Moto2/Moto3 champion (Marquez). “Di Giannantonio may well step up but I can’t see Gresini reaching anything like the heights it hit in 2022,” he added. Glenn Freeman said second-season rider Di Giannantonio “will fancy his chances of assuming the team leader role” following Enea Bastianini’s promotion to the factory Ducati squad, while Jack Cozens made his concerns clear – saying he is “yet to see anything that convinces me that Marquez can be a genuine team leader”. The battle to avoid the wooden spoon was the closest in terms of points in our combined rankings, but four 11th-place votes consigned Gresini to bottom spot.Īmong those who placed Gresini at the bottom, there appeared to be consensus that there’s no defined team leader among Alex Marquez, fresh from a chastening season at LCR, and Fabio Di Giannantonio. ![]() Worst ranking: 11th (Matt Beer, Glenn Freeman, Jack Cozens, Valentin Khorounzhiy) 11 GRESINI DUCATI Alex Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio ![]() MotoGP’s points system was then applied to those rankings to create our definitive order on which roster looks strongest and weakest ahead of the new campaign. The rankings were based entirely on rider ability and discounting the pecking order and bike performance. We asked our writers to rank the 2023 line-ups from worst to best – a task made difficult for some because “the depth of talent in MotoGP at the moment is incredible” and for others because “one rider drags the other one down, or one or both riders have been so inconsistent (or injured) lately they’re capable of either winning or trundling to 18th on any given weekend”. The field for this campaign has long been set but, the question is, which team has ended up with the best rider pairing? ![]() The departure of Suzuki means the MotoGP grid has downsized for 2023, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that there was upheaval among the other manufacturers and teams – with only four of the 11 line-ups remaining unchanged from last year (also in part influenced by the cyclical nature of the rider market).
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