With the long-anticipated announcement that Darryn Binder will move to MotoGP in 2022, that brings the number of family pairings on the grid to three.

Darryn Binder To MotoGP in 2022

MotoGP is becoming a family affair. With the announcement that Darryn Binder will join brother Brad on the MotoGP grid in 2022, the pair become the third pair of brothers on the grid, following in the footsteps of Pol and Aleix Espargaro and Marc and Alex Marquez. And then there's Rossi and his half brother Luca Marini, although with Rossi's retirement at the end of the year, that won't count in 2022.

Soon, you won't be in the running for a MotoGP seat unless you have a family tie!

Darryn Binder's promotion directly from Moto3 has been rumoured for a few months and is seen as controversial in some quarters but it isn't unprecedented. Jack Miller is the highest profile rider to have leap-frogged Moto2 and gone straight from Moto3 to MotoGP.

There will always be those who claim that any rider other than the one who has been chosen deserves the place more but that is an opinion borne more of favouring a particular rider for no other reason than he somehow resonates with you and you're a fan. The truth is, there is no reason on earth why Darryn Binder couldn't succeed on a MotoGP bike.

In fairness, his record in Moto3 isn't stellar - one win in seven seasons - but that owes as much to the fact that a victory in Moto3 has more to do with being in the right place at the right time on the last lap that it has to do with outright talent.

For too long Binder was hampered by inferior machinery, the result of having to pay for a ride and not having much choice about what machinery you're given. Once he got on a bike that had been tailored to his dimensions and perhaps calmed his youthful exuberance a little, he became a regular front runner.

His size is relevant: he has always been regarded as too tall for the diminutive Moto3 bikes so, while a MotoGP bike is worlds away in terms of power and performance, its size will enable Binder to realise his full potential without compromise. Yes, he'll crash a lot but tell me what rider hasn't in his first year of racing?

Binder will join what is this year the Petronas SRT team but next year will be called the withU RNF Yamaha, partnering Andrea Dovizioso.

Jack Miller was one of the riders to applaud Binder's move:

"I think all power to him. As I've stood by my whole MotoGP career, if you get the opportunity - this train doesn't come twice, if you know what I mean, for a lot of people," Miller said.

"If you've got the opportunity, you best get on and give it a crack because a lot of people don’t get to do this, they don't get to ride the fastest motorcycles in the world against the best riders in the world.

"So if you've got the opportunity, why not take it and if anyone can do it, I think it's Daz. He's got that wild style, he can ride a bike when it's moving around and what not. So I don’t think it'll be an issue.

"He's got plenty more experience on bigger bikes than I had when I moved to MotoGP, he's ridden Superbikes and 600s and stuff like that.

"But yeah, nothing can prepare you for one of these things , it's that far from everything else that you never know until you are here. So you best just try and get here."

Valentino Rossi might be leaving the sport after 25 years, but Binder's promotion shows that nothing stands still in racing and that there will still be plenty to look forward next year.