Bleak outlook for MotoGP numbers in 2011
Premier class grid set to drop to 15 riders from next year
NEXT YEAR'S MOTOGP grid looks set to run on minimal numbers, following the news Suzuki are to drop a rider for 2011 and newly-formed Interwetten Honda MotoGP will completely disappear from the premier class line-up.
Interwetten will now focus on Moto2 and 125, with the team's current rider, Hiroshi Aoyama, expected to ride alongside Marco Simoncelli at Gresini Honda in 2011.
Aoyama's move would quash Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizio's rumoured switch to the Gresini satellite Honda squad; the Italian is contracted to ride a factory machine in 2011, which would then open the possibility of a three-rider factory team - Pedrosa, Dovizioso and Stoner – under the Repsol Honda banner.
And it doesn't end there. Pramac Ducati could follow Suzuki's lead by reducing their team to a one-rider set-up, potentially forcing the grid size down to just 15 bikes in 2011.
