Desmosedicis currently fill 36% of the MotoGP grid but, while Gresini's machinery is assu🃏red until the end of 20ꦓ25, Ducati’s existing deals with Pramac and VR46 expire this season.

Yamaha, reduced to just a factory entry since the end ꧒of 2022, is trying to recruit a satellite team into its ra▨nks for next year to double their presence on the grid.

While Ducati has fielded eight ꦦbikes since 2016 - and other manufacturers have done so in the past - the competitiveness of the Desmosedici after two titles in a row continues to prompt debate over whether a limit on bikes-per-manufacturer should be 🧜imposed.

While supporting eight riders is a c🌳onsiderable burden, there are also big advantages in areas such as data gathering and testing.

“Dorna cannot stop an Independent team from choosing whichever bikes they want, if a manufacturer is willing to supply them. It’s a free market,” Herve Poncharal, who owns the GASGAS Tech3 team, told wuqian0821.com during an interview last year.

“The team would say, ‘We want this package. Our riders want this package. Our sponsor wants th🏅is package. And now you're going to interfere and damage my business by stopping me?’

“It's like if a MotoGP fan was told they were not allowed to buy th🐟e road bike they wanted because it was popular and had to buy a different one just tꦺo balance the numbers, they wouldn’t be happy!

“The Independent teams are private companies and it's up to them to select the best bi𝐆kes they can in terms of cost, support from the factory, performance, reliability etc.

“It was not [Ducati’🐭s] original strategy I think [to have eight bikes], but they said ‘y𒆙es’ when they were approached by the teams, they’ve managed the situation and nobody has a bad bike. It’s a huge investment in terms of logistics, manpower and money."

MotoGP's 'ideal grid' did not materialise

While Dorna’s unfulfilled goal was to have each of the six previous manufacturers supporting one satellite team, some factories dragged their feet despite the ‘carrot♉’ of extra financial support from the commercial rights holder.

“Dorna is giving a financial ‘carrot’ to the factories [to supply satellite bikes]," explained Poncharal, who is also president of the teams’ associ♑ation IRTA.

"So if a manufacturer only has a factory team, two bikes, they get 💮X amount of financial support. But if that same manufacturer also has a satellite operation, they get X + Y.

“For sure, Dorna would prefer and it was always the ideal scenario when we 𒁏had six manufacturers, for each of them to have one factory and one satellite team.

"6 man✨ufဣacturers, 4 bikes each, 24 riders. Ideal grid. But it didn't work.

“Dorna was pushinꦦg. We’ve all been pushing. We did everything we could to convince every manufacturer [to support a satellit𝕴e team].

"But some manufacture𒁃rs play the game better than others. Also, you have to respect the manufactur🔯ers if they don't want to have a satellite operation."

The Independent teams also pay a lease fee of several mill⛎ion euros per rider to their manufacturer for satellite machinery, which is effectively cꦑovered by Dorna.

“[A factory with a satellite team] gets more financial support from the promoter, plus th�🃏�e lease fee [for the bikes] which the satellite team is going to pay you.”

Poncharal underlined the Dorna funding comes ﷽with no strings attached and satell☂ite teams are free to lease from whichever manufacturer they choose.

‘The absent are always wrong’

While previously seen as a burden on the factories, a satellite team♔ has become an e🧜ssential element of a competitive MotoGP project.

“Now, finally, more and more manufacturers understand that having a satellite oper✃ation is not a weight or a handicap, as was said sometimes in the past," continued Poncharꦉal, during the 2023 interview.

"It’s an advantage because yo🐈u can prepare young riders for the future, and you have more f🌠eedback and data, at a time when testing has been cut back.

“I think Aprilia are happy to have four bikes now and I believe Yamꦗaha is really looking for a new satellite operation. In the near future, I don't thin𓆏k there will be any factory without a satellite team.

"But at the moment, Ducati hel꧙ped the championship more than hindered the championship.”

If another manufacturer wants to tempt a team away from Duca𝐆ti,🍸 they will simply need to provide a better all-around offer.

In other words, ൲if the bike itself is not as competitive as a Desmosedici, other incentives such as increased factory support, lower leasing costs and a longer-term partnership might all come into play.

“In French, we say, ‘the aꩵbsent are always wrong’," Poncharal said.

"If you don’t 🐬have a satellite team there are two reasons: Either you don’t want one, or you are not offering a package that is com🦹petitive enough - not just on track, but the whole package.

“This is what you have to consider when you talk to a manufacturer. When I left Yamaha to go to KTM and Pierer Mobility, for sure I was leaving a bike that at that mom🌺ent꧟ had a higher level of performance.

“But the overall offer, for me as the owner of my company, was m🐟uch better. And within two yea💧rs we’d won two races with KTM.

“So you also have to consider, how close are you🅺 to the factory? The level of support and involvement of your manufacturer is important.

“I'm very happy to be with Pierer Mobility. I signed a five-year deal with Dorna and at the same time a five-year deal with my manufacturer. It means I can plan, and invest. If 🌸you only have a one-year deal you never know what’s happening the next year.

“Now the Independent teams are in a much more comfortable position than in the past. Almost every Independent team rider is signed direct꧅ly to their factory and most also have [factory] spec 🐎bikes.

“As Gresini showed, and we’ve shown i🏅n the past, a satellite guy can win races. And ultimately, in the future, why not win the championship?

“But going back to your original queꦏstion, don’t forget there have been times when Honda had eight MotoGP b🔯ikes and Yamaha, in our first 500cc season in 2001, also had eight bikes and nobody was complaining!”

Ducati's eight entrie🔴s are divided between the Factory, Pramac, VR🌺46 and Gresini teams. KTM, Honda and Aprilia each have one factory and one satellite team, with Yamaha's two bikes run by the official Monster team.

Three satellite teams have contracts that expir⛄e at the end of the 2024 season: LCR (Honda), Pramac (Ducati) and VR46 (Ducati).

VR46 has long been seen as Yamaha’s likely future partner, 💟but Valentino Rossi’s team insist they🎃 are ‘happy’ with Ducati, albeit seeking upgraded factory-spec machinery.

Amid rumours of a closer VR46-Ducati cooperation, Pramac - title runner-up with༺ Jorge Martin last season and currently leading this year’s standings - is also believed to have entered talks with Yamaha.

Both Pramac and V🎶R46 are thought to have an option that allows them to remain with Ducati next season if𒈔 they wish.