Camel Yamaha retains Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards.
Ducati Marlboro retains Loris Capirossi, parts with Sete Gibernau and signs Casey Stoner.
Gresini Racing loses title sponsor, Fortuna Honda, but will carry on with Toni Elias and Marco Melandri.
Honda LCR parts with Casey Stoner and signs Carlos Checa.
Kawasaki Racing parts with Shinya Nakano, signs Olivier Jacque and retains Randy De Puniet.
Konica Minolta Honda parts with Makoto Tamada and signs Shinya Nakano.
Pramac d’Antin Ducati signs Alex Barros and retains Alex Hofmann.
Repsol Honda retains Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa.
Rizla Suzuki retains John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen.
Team Roberts retains Kenny Lee Roberts and hopes to add a second rider for 2007 season pending budget.
Tech 3 Yamaha parts with Carlos Checa and James Ellison and signs Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli.
The new Ilmor X³ team has two spots to fill for the full 2007 season after Garry McCoy raced the new 800cc, V4 machine in the 2006 Estoril and Valencia MotoGP rounds. The team is currently looking at Jeremy McWilliams, 41, who will be testing the X³ in coming weeks. McCoy, 34, and Alex de Angelis, 22, who just placed 3rd overall in the 250cc GP Championship, are also possible riders.
Spots Remaining
There are 21 total MotoGP rides available; two remain to be filled at Ilmor X³.
2006 MotoGP Riders Without Confirmed Rides For 2007
Jose Luis Cardoso
James Ellison
Sete Gibernau
New MotoGP Riders For 2007
Tech 3 Yamaha’s Sylvain Guintoli, 24, took 9th place in the 2006 250cc GP Championship as a privateer and was a stand-in at the 2002 Czech Grand Prix, his MotoGP class debut. He is also one of Tech 3’s current test riders.
Kawasaki Racing’s Olivier Jacque, 31, the 2000 250cc World Champion, has been a test rider for Moriwaki Racing and Kawasaki Racing since riding for the Yamaha Tech 3 MotoGP team from 2001-2003. He finished second on a Kawasaki as a wild card in the 2005 Chinese GP, substituting for an injured Alex Hofmann.
Pramac d’Antin’s Alex Barros, 36, has returned to the MotoGP class after a year with Klaffi Honda in which he finished seventh in the 2006 Superbike World Championship. Before joining Klaffi Honda for the 2006 season, Barros had a 15-year 500cc Grand Prix/MotoGP run, from 1990-2005.