MotoGP issues 24-bike 2018 entry list

The entry list does not confirm any new riders, with all 24 seats having been already filled, but it does clarify the rider numbers and official entrant names that will be used next year.

Four rookies - Xavier Simeon, Thomas Luthi, Franco Morbidelli and Takaaki Nakagami - arrive in the premier class in what is the largest full-season MotoGP entry since the 2015 season.

The increase from this year comes courtesy of an extra bike for the LCR squad, which for the last two seasons has run a sole Honda for Cal Crutchlow but has now added Nakagami to its line-up.

Nakagami and Crutchlow will ride with title sponsorship from Idemitsu and Castrol and respectively.

While Luthi, Morbidelli and Nakagami will all use their rider numbers from Moto2, Simeon will use the number 10, as his usual number 19 is already in use by Aspar rider Alvaro Bautista.

Of this year's grid, Avintia Ducati pair Loris Baz and Hector Barbera and Aprilia's Sam Lowes are absent from the 2018 entry list.

Barbera and Lowes will both step down to Moto2 with the Pons and Interwetten squads respectively, while Baz returns to the World Superbike championship after signing a deal with Althea BMW.

It means a total of 10 nationalities are represented on the 2018 grid, an increase of three from this year.

Provisional 2018 MotoGP entry list:

No.	Rider	Entrant	Bike
4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	Ducati
5	Johann Zarco	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha
9	Danilo Petrucci	Octo Pramac Racing	Ducati
10	Xavier Simeon	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati
12	Thomas Luthi	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda
17	Karel Abraham	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati
19	Alvaro Bautista	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati
21	Franco Morbidelli	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda
25	Maverick Vinales	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha
26	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda
29	Andrea Iannone	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki
30	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda Idemitsu	Honda
35	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda Castrol	Honda
38	Bradley Smith	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM
41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia
42	Alex Rins	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki
43	Jack Miller	Octo Pramac Racing	Ducati
44	Pol Espargaro	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM
45	Scott Redding	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia
46	Valentino Rossi	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha
53	Tito Rabat	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati
93	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda
94	Jonas Folger	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha
99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati Team	Ducati