MotoGP announces 2014 entry list, Mike di Meglio gets deal

The division between prototype and CRT has been abandoned for next season, with 'Factory' or 'Open' status instead decided by whether a team uses its own ECU or the standard version.

Standard ECU equipped Open bikes get 24 litres of fuel per race compared to 20 for Factory teams, and can use 12 engines per season while the Factory bikes are limited to five.

The aim is to close the performance spread of the field compared to the CRT era, without a parallel cost increase.

Eleven of 2014's 24 full-season entries will have Factory status, with the remaining 13 all Open bikes.

Pramac and Gresini will both split their entries between the two classes, with Pramac's Yonny Hernandez on an Open Ducati and Moto2 runner-up Scott Redding on an Open Honda with Gresini.

The announcement of the official entry list also finalised several rider line-ups among the Open teams.

Avintia gives 2008 125cc champion Mike di Meglio his MotoGP debut alongside Hector Barbera. The Frenchman took part in post-season testing at Valencia with the squad.

Paul Bird Motorsport will retain Michael Laverty for a second season, but has yet to announce his team-mate.

Among the Factory teams, the main rider move of the winter is Cal Crutchlow leaving Tech 3 for Ducati.

Moto2 champion Pol Espargaro is promoted to Yamaha's satellite squad in his place, while Nicky Hayden shifts to Aspar's new Open Honda programme after losing his Ducati seat to Crutchlow.

The entry list also suggested former Pramac MotoGP rider Niccolo Canepa would return to the series as Danilo Petrucci's team-mate at Ioda, replacing Lukas Pesek.

Both Canepa and Ioda subsequently denied having reached an agreement however, with the team therefore still searching for its second rider.

Provisional 2014 MotoGP entry list

#    Rider             Team        Bike        Class
4    Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati      Ducati      Factory
5    Colin Edwards     Forward     FTR/Yamaha  Open
6    Stefan Bradl      LCR         Honda       Factory
7    Hiroshi Aoyama    Aspar       Honda       Open
8    Hector Barbera    Avintia     FTR         Open
9    Danilo Petrucci   Ioda        tba         Open
17   Karel Abraham     Cardion AB  Honda       Open
19   Alvaro Bautista   Gresini     Honda       Factory
26   Dani Pedrosa      Honda       Honda       Factory
29   Andrea Iannone    Pramac      Ducati      Factory
35   Cal Crutchlow     Ducati      Ducati      Factory
38   Bradley Smith     Tech 3      Yamaha      Factory
41   Aleix Espargaro   Forward     FTR/Yamaha  Open
44   Pol Espargaro     Tech 3      Yamaha      Factory
45   Scott Redding     Gresini     Honda       Open
46   Valentino Rossi   Yamaha      Yamaha      Factory
63   Mike di Meglio    Avintia     FTR         Open
68   Yonny Hernandez   Pramac      Ducati      Open
69   Nicky Hayden      Aspar       Honda       Open
70   Michael Laverty   Paul Bird   PBM/ART     Open
93   Marc Marquez      Honda       Honda       Factory
99   Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha      Yamaha      Factory
tba  tba               Ioda        tba         Open
tba  tba               Paul Bird   PBM/ART     Open