MotoGP 2022: What is MotoGP, who is racing and more

The start of a new MotoGP season is always an exciting affair and 2022 is no different, as a stacked grid gets set to do battle for the world championship.

Six manufacturers, 12 teams and 24 riders will contest the 2022 season.

Two new teams joins the fray in the form of nine-time grand prix world champion Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Racing, which will field Ducati machinery, and RNF Racing Yamaha – which has been rebranded after Petronas SRT pulled out of grand prix racing last year.

Gresini Racing has broken ties with Aprilia for 2022 and returns to being a true independent team this season having agreed a deal to be a Ducati satellite squad.

Ducati is the manufacturer with the most representation on the grid with eight bikes spread across its factory squad, Pramac Racing, Gresini and VR46. This is the first time since 2016 that Ducati has fielded eight bikes.

Aprilia and Suzuki are once again the only manufacturers with no satellite teams and will field just two bikes each.

MotoGP is a world championship dedicated to grand prix motorcycle racing and is the highest echelon of bike racing on the planet.

It started in 1949 at the Isle of Man TT and has run every year since. While there have been multiple classes of racing in the world championship, the three main ones have been the premier class, intermediate class and lightweight class.

The names of these championships have changed over the years to reflect the changes in motorcycles, with MotoGP (formerly the 500cc world championship) coming into existence in 2002, Moto2 (formerly the 250cc world championship) in 2010 and Moto3 (formerly the 125cc world championship) in 2012.

In the MotoGP world championship there are three main championships to be won.

The first is the