David Hurst – expert PHP/MySQL developer

The MotoGP 2011 season is behind us, notable for Casey Stoner’s demolition of the entire field, and the tragic death of Marco Simoncelli. 2012 looks set to be an interesting year with 1000cc factory bikes, some older 800cc bikes and 1000cc CRT bikes.

Here’s my best stab at the team and rider line-ups for 2012. Please comment below if you know any different, or if I’ve made any mistakes.

Repsol Honda
The factory Honda team are dropping back down to two bikes for 2012, which will be ridden by:
27 – Casey Stoner (AUS)
26 – Dani Pedrosa (SPA)

Yamaha Factory Racing
No changes at Yamaha in 2012, so the line-up will be:
99 – Jorge Lorenzo (SPA)
11 – Ben Spies (USA)

Ducati Team
After a very disappointing year, Ducati will be hoping for better in 2012 but aren’t making any changes to their riders:
46 – Valentino Rossi (ITA)
69 – Nicky Hayden (USA)

Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Tech 3 have announced that Bradley Smith will be joining in 2013, and have in the meantime signed Dovi on a 1 year deal. The pressure will be on for Cal, but let’s hope for an all British line-up in 2013. For 2012 the riders are:
35 – Cal Crutchlow (GBR)
4 – Andrea Dovizioso (ITA)

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
After running only one bike in 2011 and seeing Alvaro Bautista jump ship, Suzuki will not contend the 2012 MotoGP at all. They are looking at a return with a new bike in 2014.

San Carlo Honda Gresini
After the untimely death of Marco Simoncelli and Aoyama’s move to World Superbikes, Gresini has had to adjust the team around. They are joining forces with British frame manufacturers FTR and will be running the second bike with a Honda CBR1000 based engine as a CRT (claiming rules team) in 2012. Bautista will ride the Honda RC213V factory bike.
19 – Alvaro Bautista (SPA) - Honda factory bike
CRT bike – rider yet to be announced

Pramac Racing Team
After the retirement of Loris Capirossi, Pramac announced the signing of Barbera. Randy de Puniet is also out and it would seem that Pramac will run one bike in 2012.
8 – Hector Barbera (SPA)

LCR Honda MotoGP
After talks with both Randy de Puniet and John Hopkins, LCR have instead settled on 2011 Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl to ride their RC213V in 2012. It looks like Toni Elias is headed to World Superbikes.
65 – Stefan Bradl (GER)

Cardion AB Motoracing
No changes at Cardion, which is no surprise given Karel Abraham Senior owns the team…
17 – Karel Abraham (CZE)

Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP
Alvaro has left and Mapfre Aspar have announced they are ditching the satellite factory bike in favour of CRT bikes with Aprilia engines.
14 – Randy de Puniet
40 – Aleix Espargaro

NGM Forward Racing
A new CRT entry to the premier class, Forward Racing have confirmed one bike so far, which will be a Suter chassis and a BMW S1000RR based engine:
5 – Colin Edwards (USA)

Speed Master
Another new CRT entry, Speed Master will be running an Aprillia engine (no word on chassis yet) and have secured the services of former top class rider (Honda 2001, Kawasaki 2007-2008) Anthony West.
13 – Anthony West (AUS)

Marc VDS Racing Team
Like Forward Racing, Marc VDS will use a Suter/BMW combination as a CRT team. Looks like one bike to be ridden by:
36 – Mika Kallio (FIN)

Paul Bird Racing
A very recent announcement from Paul Bird Racing confirms their entry as a CRT team for 2012, likely using a FTR/Aprillia bike, with a British rider who has previous premier class experience:
77 – James Ellison (GBR)

IODA Racing
Another CRT team not on the original CRT entry list. IODA will be running a Suter/BMW bike ridden by:
9 – Danilo Petrucci (ITA)

By Queroseno Racing (BQR)
Limited information is available on BQR’s CRT entry for 2012. It seems they will be using a FTR chassis with a Kawasaki engine and running a second bike by Inmotec. During testing the following riders featured:
68 – Yonny Hernandez (COL) - FTR/Kawasaki
22 – Ivan Silva (SPA) - Inmotec

Team Laglisse
I don’t know much about this CRT team, but in testing they ran a Suter/BMW bike ridden by:
31 – Carmelo Morales (SPA)

Grillini Racing Team
I know less than nothing about this team. They fielded a bike for the Valencia test with two different riders. I’ll post more when I find it.