The 2023 MotoGP season kicks off in Portugal today. And while we don’t yet know who the fastest rider or team will be, we know who has the best looking bike.
The MotoGP pre-season is always a wild, speculative time. Most of the news happens on the track, where teams frantically test out the tech that they hope will take them to victory in the race season. The team launches that happen over January, February and March are, by comparison, mostly just posturing.
It’s where teams get to show off their new riders on their new bikes in their new team colours. And while a livery doesn’t make a bike go faster or corner better, we’d all be lying if we said that we didn’t have our favourites.
With every bike finalised now, I’ve ranked them from worst to best.
10. GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3
Remember Tech3’s blue, silver and orange KTM from 2020? Or the blue GO!!!!!!! Yamaha from the early 2000s? How about last year’s Tech3 bike; mostly orange with a bold KTM logo splashed on the side.
This year’s Tech3 contender is nowhere as cool as any of those.
Rebranded as GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, the pairing of Pol Espargaro and Augusto Fernandez will basically be running KTM RC16s under the GASGAS banner (if you didn’t know by now, KTM owns GASGAS). So they’ve taken the same approach as last year, and kept the livery dead simple—the brand’s signature colour, accompanied by their logo.
It’s not that dissimilar to the bikes that GASGAS fields in other disciplines, like motocross, enduro and rally racing. Except that the brand’s primary colour is red… just like another marque who has much more experience in MotoGP. If there’s one livery that needs a serious injection of imagination before 2024, it’s this one.
9. CryptoDATA RNF
The new CryptoDATA RNF livery would have landed at the bottom of the list, if not for the fact that, unlike GASGAS, they actually added some graphics to their bike. Using what the team punts as a “bold combination” of green, black, blue, red and rose gold, the team’s Aprilia RS-GP looks like each part of it was conceived by a different designer, without each one knowing what the other was doing.
Parts of it look great. But throw it all onto one canvas, and it’s a mishmash that’s seriously lacking in cohesion.
I’d wager that this one’s not the fault of the team’s designers though. RNF has reinvented itself for 2023, swapping from Yamaha to Aprilia for their bikes, and from WithU to CryptoDATA as their title sponsor. Chances are, the graphic designers behind this were handed an impossibly long list of colours and motifs that had to be included.
The mass of blue used up front looks great, as does the olive green tail section. But the line that divides them (they call it rose gold but it’s closer to a faded coral pink) doesn’t do the bike any favours. And spare a thought for the Italian dairy company, Sterilgarda; they must have been the last sponsor to sign on, because their logo looks like it had to be tacked on at the last minute.
8. Yamaha Factory Racing
If you don’t know Aldo Drudi’s name, you definitely know his work. He’s been responsible for countless helmet designs and race bike liveries, and he’s designed all of Valentino Rossi’s helmets. Drudi penned this year’s Yamaha MotoGP design too—but despite his pedigree, I’m not feeling it.
Last year’s Yamaha bike was slick and menacing; a striking blue and black design punctuated by Monster Energy logos that somehow managed to not look garish. This year’s bike keeps the colour scheme, but mixes in some grey to splash the YZR-M1 in an urban camo-inspired design.
Yes—urban camo. Welcome back to the mid-90s.
The YZR-M1’s ‘funky’ design is likely a bid to appeal to a younger audience. But, like a balding, middle-aged man in skinny jeans and Converse sneakers, it’s trying too hard.
7. Ducati Lenovo
The biggest news out of the factory Ducati camp, is that Pecco’s opted to run the #1 plate on the front of his bike this year. It’s a bold move from the defending champion; the last time someone won back-to-back championships with the #1 plate was when Mick Doohan did it in 1998.
The second biggest news, is that Monster Energy have come on board as a sponsor. As for the rest, most of the Desmosedici GP’s design remains unchanged for 2023, save for a few subtle tweaks.
Which is fine… I guess. Ducati has been racing in MotoGP for 20 years now, and pretty much have the monopoly on red bikes. Sure, it’s not as stylish as the tricolour design that Rossi and Hayden piloted in 2012—but it’s not the worst-looking bike on the grid.
6. Mooney VR46 Racing
Valentino Rossi’s team is another that hasn’t changed it’s livery much (or at all) for 2023. But that’s a good thing.
Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi’s satellite Ducati race bikes wear a black base coat, with bold stripes running down the sides. One is in Rossi’s signature yellow, and the other an orange hue to represent the team’s title sponsor, Mooney.
It’s a striking colour combination, but what really makes it great, is how well the graphics complement the silhouette of the bike. Despite the fact that there will be no less than eight Ducatis on track this year, the VR46 team won’t have any trouble being spotted.
Of course, I wouldn’t be opposed to an audacious all-yellow livery, either.
5. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Has the KTM factory team even updated their livery for 2023? I can’t tell. Is there anything going on here other than a ma-hoosive Red Bull logo? Unsure. Does the RC16 look wildly cool and as fast as greased weasel shit out of a catapult? Yup.
Remember when tobacco brands were allowed to sponsor race teams? That era produced some of the most iconic liveries ever seen. Suzuki and Lucky Strike, Yamaha and Camel, Ducati and Marlboro, Honda and Rothmans; you’re picturing them as I list them, right?
Here’s the deal: energy drink companies are the new tobacco sponsors. In fact, Red Bull isn’t even an energy drink company any more—they’re a ginormous sports media company that also happens to produce an energy drink.
Just like Red Bull Racing’s F1 cars, the Red Bull KTM factory bikes are already iconic. 20 years from now, we’ll be remembering Brad Binder’s glory days together—and commenting on how rad the KTMs of the 2020s looked.
4. Aprilia Racing
The 2023 season will be notable for Aprilia for two reasons. For starters, they’ll have an extra two bikes on the grid, running in the RNF Aprilia team. Secondly, they’ve lost their concessions, courtesy of Aleix Espargaró’s standout 2022 season.
One thing that hasn’t changed, is Aprilia’s race livery. The factory team’s RS-GP race bikes wear the same black, red and purple colours that they did last year, with little to no changes. And I’m totally fine with that.
Visually, the RS-GP is my favourite bike on the grid, with or without paint. And the combination of a black base coat with kinetic red and purple stripes only improves it. Standing still or in motion, the Aprilia A-team’s RS-GP is simply one of the best-looking bikes on the grid.
My only gripe? It needs more purple. Much more purple.
3. Gresini Racing
Gresini’s 2022 bike smashed together the team’s Pantone 2122 blue with Ducati’s signature red. But it felt a little slap dash.
The team’s designers have cleaned up the Gresini bike’s graphics for 2023, and it looks sharp as heck. There’s a clearer division between the powder blue and red, with red stripes cutting their way across the middle of the bike. A lick of white on the grips and inside the fairing wings add a neat touch.
The sponsor logos don’t vie for attention—and, best of all, the design on Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio’s leathers integrates perfectly when they’re in attack position.
There’s no telling whether either of them will be able to squeeze as much performance out of the Desmosedici GP as what Bastianini did last year. But there’s no doubt that this is one of the best looking machines on the track.
2. Repsol Honda
It’s an important year for Repsol Honda. They’re the only team with two MotoGP champions on their team, and everyone’s dying to know if Marc Marquez will fully return to form, or if Joan Mir can push his way to the top of the timesheets.
One thing that hasn’t changed, is Honda’s relationship with Repsol. They’ve been in this together for almost three decades now—so it’s no shocker that their livery hasn’t changed for 2023.
The Honda RC213V will once again wear its signature white, orange and yellow Repsol graphics. Although this year, they seem to have tweaked them to be ever so slightly brighter, making the bike pop even more than before. (Bonus points for orange wheels, too.)
There’s no denying it—Honda and Repsol are an iconic pairing. And that makes the RC213V the closest thing to a modern classic currently in the MotoGP paddock.
1. Prima Pramac Racing
Pramac kicked off their 2022 season with a frenetic white, blue and red livery. Then the Italian insurance company Prima signed on as a title sponsor, and Pramac changed their design mid-season. Blue was swapped out for purple (Prima’s corporate colour), and the team’s Desmosedici GP went from distinctive to completely unmissable.
There’s a big difference between shoehorning a new colour into an existing design, and creating a livery from scratch with an established palette. Which is exactly why the Prima Pramac Racing design has come into its own for 2023.
The red hue seems like an obvious nod to Ducati—but it’s actually Pramac’s corporate colour, and substantially brighter than Ducati’s red. It’s splashed onto a striking white base and interspersed with the purple bits, with the whole design tapering to the rear.
The new look is somehow more tidy and more chaotic than before. And as it stands, it’s the best looking bike on the grid.
[Update 25 March 2023] With every team launch now done, I’ve added the remaining teams to the list. I’ve excluded LCR Honda though, because my dumb brain is too lazy to process a team with two different liveries, neither of which is particularly exciting to look at.
Image sources: MotoGP.com, Ducati Press, KTM Press
