MotoGP announces 2014 entry list, Mike di Meglio gets deal
MotoGP will retain a 24-bike field for the first year of its revised Factory/Open rules structure in 2014
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
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