Written by Silvia Cojocaru, Edited by Gabriel Tsui
Traditionally in the world of MotoGP, factory teams have had the edge over satellite teams, who had to work with older models and equipment. However, in 2024 a satellite team rider named Jorge Martín was able to win the Championship, beating Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia and becoming the first independent rider to achieve this in the MotoGP era.
While this is an incredible feat, does it mean that satellite teams could now take over the motorcycle racing world?
Factory vs satellite teams
Currently, in MotoGP, there are 11 teams in total, five of which are factory-based, backed by five massive manufacturers: Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha and KTM. Each of these manufacturers supports at least one other independent team.
Martín was able to win last year’s championship with the Prima Pramac team, which had Ducati as its manufacturer. While this is a historic achievement, it's worth noting that Martín’s bike was basically identical to his championship rival Bagnaia.
Satellite teams used to run on older technology than their factory counterparts, but in recent years this has changed.
Manufacturers are now able to supply their independent teams with the same engines and even the same chassis as their factory teams. This favors both the manufacturers, getting more opportunities to analyze their bikes on track and more riders competing on their brand new machinery, and the independent teams, which are now able to close the gap to factory teams.
In the quest to make racing more exciting, several changes have also been made in order to aid competitiveness of the smaller teams. Some of the most significant ones includes the 2016 single ECU system, a mandatory single official software that all teams have to use, and the manufacturers concession system.
Then what are the real differences between factory and satellite teams?
The main one is the budget. With no cost cap in MotoGP, factory teams are able to spend much more than independent ones. This leads to better engineers and technicians, as well as access to more advanced equipment, resulting in better strategy plans and developments as the season progresses. Satellite teams have to heavily rely on sponsorships in order to fund their campaigns and often have a much smaller staff.
In the present day
This season, Ducati’s manufacturer team seem to have reinstated the status-quo, with Marc Márquez dominating the first two races of the year. However, a new satellite rider is following closely.
Álex Márquez, Marc’s brother, finished right behind the six-time World Champion in the first two races of the season, riding a Gresini motorcycle and, at one point during the Argentinian Grand Prix, was even able to lead the race. By the end of the final lap, three out of the first five riders were part of a satellite team.
This might look impressive at first, but with a closer look we see history seemingly repeating itself, with the top five of the race all using Ducati powered bikes, with identical engines. This doesn’t mean that the Márquez brothers are running entirely identical bikes, as there are some small differences between the two, but it means that the MotoGP classifications are not as diverse as they might first seem.
A look to the future
With a lot of effort being put into making teams run on similar equipment, we could raise another interesting question: should all riders race on identical motorcycles?
While the possibility of equal racing seems intriguing, this would not be appealing to the manufacturers who are putting a lot of effort into developing their new models every year.
In motorsport, the competition is rarely just held on the track, but instead behind the scenes, between talented engineers and mechanics. Ducati’s current domination is the result of hours of hard work spent on development; while it might not be as intriguing to watch the race when Márquez is over a second in front of everyone else, it’s a well deserved outcome for the Italian team.
However, success does not last forever, and it’s just a matter of time before other teams start to catch up and a talented rider from another team gets their bike on the top step of the podium.
So, to answer the question addressed at the start, if a manufacturer decides to trust an independent team with their newest technology, all a satellite team needs is a couple of great riders to take them to the promised land.
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