It’s the last year of the fire-breathing, shape-shifting MotoGP monsters ahead of a massive rule overhaul for 2027, but they’re still all chasing Marc Marquez.
Photography by Gold & Goose
As MotoGP moved through last summer, it was hard to find a reason to tune in. Aside from Marc Marquez’s comeback story, there was little else to excite fans. Yes, we witnessed a historic sports accomplishment, but there was no championship fight to get excited about. Ducati kept dominating every race, and the Catalan was winning so easily that it was hard to imagine anyone challenging him in 2026, let alone the rest of 2025.
But here we are, eight months on, and the prognosis is a good deal brighter. While next to no one is questioning Marquez’s chances of adding a 10th crown to his haul this year, there is a sense he won’t have it quite as easy in this final season of the current regulations, defined by 1000cc engines, Michelin tires, untamed aerodynamics and those blasted ride-height devices.
First, Marquez has had to return from yet another serious injury. Endless physio on a broken right shoulder blade replaced what should have been a holiday spent coiffing champagne heroically. While fast and confident during preseason, he appeared thin and gaunt (this level of dedication isn’t as easy to maintain as you edge your way into your mid-30s). Plus, a host of names got a taste of the winner’s bubbly during his four-race absence last October and November.
Sure, Ducati appears to retain its superiority over the rest. The Bologna bikes occupied five of the top seven spots at the Sepang test. What was more, the longer runs during testing offered bleak reading for the rest. Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was the fastest of the lot, with an average time over 10 laps of 1:58.027. Pecco Bagnaia’s (Lenovo Ducati) was 1:58.166, Marc Marquez’s was 1:58.289. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM)—the first non-Ducati—was more than six-tenths slower per lap.
But the winners of last year’s Triple Crown know they won’t have it their own way. Aprilia had grounds to boast of the grid’s best bike in the final rounds of 2025, and Marco Bezzecchi has flown under the radar during testing.
And after a year of financial uncertainty, KTM has enjoyed a calm off-season with chief shareholder Bajaj now at the helm. Honda hasn’t stood still, either, after its best season in four years. Looking at the grid, there are as many as 12 names that could possibly win races. Only Yamaha still lags behind.
Plus, as each factory shifts focus and intensifies development of its 850cc machine ahead of next year’s technical changes, the current fastest machines will remain as they are from May on, if not earlier. In theory, that should lead to closer competition as the season moves past the midway point.
Just like 2025, this season will be another whopper. A total of 15 World Champions—including the current king of WorldSBK, Toprak Razgatlioglu—grace the grid with 32 titles between them. For the second year in succession, a 22-round series will stop off in 19 countries. Brazil’s revived Autodromo Internacional de Goiania replaced Argentina’s Termas de Rio Hondo in March. Austin’s Circuit of the Americas will host the Grand Prix of the Americas a week later, on March 27-29.
Ducati | 2026 MotoGP Preview
It speaks of Ducati’s recent domination of the class that Aprilia’s three wins toward the end of 2025 felt like a crisis for the Bologna factory. As well as Marquez’s latest injury, MotoGP’s concessions system, introduced at the close of 2023, started paying off. Now restricted in the amount they can test during the year, the red bikes’ domination has been curbed ever so slightly. From scoring 96 percent of the points on offer in the 2023 Constructors’ Championship and 97 percent in 2024, that number fell to “just” 94 percent last year.
Perhaps that’s why General Manager Gigi Dall’Igna pledged to “risk a bit more” going into 2026 than the previous term. From having relevant data and information from three full factory bikes in 2025, there is now an extra one this term, with Alex Marquez rewarded for his brilliant runner-up campaign.
Regarding this year’s machine, Technical Director Davide Barana pointed to updates to the bike’s ride-height device, with chassis revisions to reduce vibration and enhance stability at high speeds.
Also, the performance of the motor has been addressed despite the engine freeze in place for 2026. “We’ve worked on that—air intake, improving airflow, also lubricant oil—and we’ll bring a new aero package, which will improve top speed by reducing drag,” Barana explained at the Team Presentation in January. Four Ducatis topped the top-speed charts on the final day of testing in Malaysia.
Testing has indicated the Marquez brothers, who scored an incredible 14 victories (and 17 Sprint wins) between them in 2025, will once again feature high up. Also, Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) appeared reborn at the Sepang test. Even if it was at a great track for both riders and bike, they were no longer limited by the vague feeling offered by the GP25 in braking. “From the first lap on day one, I felt better,” said a quietly confident Bagnaia.
Going off early evidence, it will take a legendary performance from a rider at another manufacturer to prevent them from winning their fifth Riders’ crown in a row.
Aprilia | 2026 MotoGP Preview
There was no escaping the fact that Aprilia scaled new heights in 2025. And all despite its star signing completing just five race weekends and undergoing a prolonged fight with his employers for three months.
With two new riders, a new technical director in Fabiano Sterlacchini, and a new crew chief in Daniele Romagnoli, last season was supposed to be one of transition. Instead, the Noale factory walked away with 19 podiums, four race wins (and three Tissot Sprints) and a top three finish in the Riders’ Championship for the very first time. It pointed to an organization and decisiveness behind the scenes that until recently had been lacking.
There have been no such upheavals this winter. While Jorge Martin appears set to leave the factory at the end of the year with a mooted move to Yamaha, Aprilia was the first to confirm a major signing for 2027, tying down Marco Bezzecchi to a two-year deal. It also appears to have successfully evolved its RS-GP. Looking at this year’s machine, its aerodynamics are radically changed, including a different seat unit. Plus, its electronics package has been improved.
“It shows that Noale is quite a good company, able to improve the performance every year,” said CEO Massimo Rivola. He’s quite right. Come the middle of 2025, Bezzecchi was regularly pointing jabs at Marc Marquez as he produced podium challenges at each of the last 13 races, bar two. Consistency, a previous bugbear of the Aprilia operation, is now a given. After showing searing speed on used tires in Malaysia, expect the Italian to be a regular front-runner again.
It’s not all been perfect this winter, though. Martin missed the Sepang test after undergoing further surgery on the left wrist and right shoulder he damaged last year. For the second year in succession, he enters the season well behind the curve. Plus, the fortunes of Trackhouse Aprilia have been muted at best, with neither Raul Fernandez nor Ai Ogura gelling with the new bike. Still, there’s good reason to believe the black bikes will be Ducati’s toughest opponents once more.
KTM | 2026 MotoGP Preview
KTM bosses are bullish going into the new season. And for good reason. A year ago, they fought a draining battle just to survive after the company went into receivership in November 2024. But with a new chief shareholder, Bajaj, it’s not only worked on its current package, it already has its 850cc bike up and running.
All this stems from a return to relative normality. “This year we have a stable budget, strong planning,” said Motorsport Director Pit Beirer. Despite the RC16 suffering from a lack of rear grip last term and using up its rear tire far too quickly, it still matched its points haul from the year before.
Since then, it’s added significant new aerodynamics, enhanced its electronics and tweaked its chassis and swingarm. “Some problems we wanted to fix, they are solved,” Beirer said confidently in January.
The final day at Sepang was something of a reality check, as lead rider Acosta trailed the Ducatis during longer runs. But the gutsy Spaniard noted the new bike allows him to be faster without risking everything on the front end. Plus, he proved himself capable of overriding the bike to live with the faster Ducatis and Aprilias from last summer onward, scoring 13 podiums (Sprints included) along the way. He’s a more mature figure than this time a year ago and is physically stronger too.
“He’s still so young and learning so quickly,” said Beirer. “We saw the progression even last year. I’m not saying we are coming out and winning immediately, but I feel we’ll pick up where we left off. I feel we can do that more consistently.”
Plus, there’s no guarantee Acosta will remain factory number one. Maverick Vinales has returned from a serious shoulder injury. Now under the tutelage of ex-champ Jorge Lorenzo, he appears more focused and dedicated than before. He and Acosta should push one another to even greater heights this year.
Honda | 2026 MotoGP Preview
When Marc Marquez left HRC at the close of 2023, the future looked fairly bleak for GP’s most successful manufacturer. But in two seasons, Honda has completely turned its fortunes around and enters a MotoGP campaign in its best shape since 2019.
Last year Japan’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer surprised everyone. It won a race with Johann Zarco (Castrol LCR Honda) and scored three further podiums with the Frenchman and Joan Mir. The concessions offered to Honda allowed them to score 210 points more in 2025 than the previous year, thanks to a renewed enthusiasm and development direction, a massive step forward.
Despite this recent success, HRC hasn’t stood still during the winter months. Now in “Category C” concessions, instead of “D,” it will face an engine freeze from the first race on. But this was celebrated by the factory, rather than mourned. And testing showed they were in good condition.
Team personnel are largely unchanged. Plus, an updated engine and aerodynamics mean HRC riders have genuine aspirations to win races this year. Test Rider Aleix Espargaro claimed the new RC213V is “the best MotoGP bike I’ve ever ridden.” Factory riders Joan Mir and Luca Marini agree. “It is every little detail improving, and the bike is improving in many parts of the riding,” said Marini. “I think the Japanese did a fantastic job this winter, and they improved the top speed of the bike, the entry phase, and the turning.”
Still, a lack of rear grip during acceleration has not improved sufficiently. “This must be our focus now,” said Mir. And both factory names were a little down when they compared their longer runs to Ducati on the final day.
Yet Honda has shown its ambition by signing Fabio Quartararo for 2027. And its top brass envisions a promising year ahead. “The target is to win as soon as possible, clearly,” said Alberto Puig. For the first time since Marquez’s exit, it’s not an entirely unrealistic aim.
Yamaha | 2026 MotoGP Preview
The prognosis isn’t positive for Yamaha on the eve of the season. Tough days lie ahead as it kicks off a new era with its V4 YZR-M1 replacing the inline-four engine design that won the Iwata factory eight Riders’ Championships in the four-stroke era.
Sepang was nothing short of disastrous as it battled injury (Fabio Quartararo missed two days after cracking a finger), reliability (all its bikes sat out day two in Malaysia due to engine concerns) and a serious lack of pace. Pramac’s Jack Miller was some 1.4 seconds slower than the fastest Ducatis per lap during a longer run.
But it was always going to be this way. At the close of 2025, the V4 was essentially a new engine in the old bike during Test Rider Augusto Fernandez’s wildcard appearances. After a winter of work, a raft of updates was brought for the Sepang test, including “chassis, swingarm, fairing, engine and other” changes, according to Technical Director Max Bartolini.
At the Sepang test its riders were still making substantial adjustments to chassis and swingarms, suggesting they are some ways from finding a settled base setting. Team Manager Massimo Meregalli is viewing the year ahead in two parts. “We are starting from zero, almost,” he said. “In the first one, we’ll try to get used to the new bike in a kind of learning process. Then, in the second, for sure, we expect Alex [Rins] and Fabio to gradually improve their results.”
Just how that will sit with Quartararo, clearly one of the grid’s fastest names, remains unclear. The Frenchman has given the impression he’d rather be anywhere else than at Yamaha in recent months. Plus, star signing Razgatlioglu is also prepping himself for a tough season of adaptation to Michelin tires on a bike that’s well off the pace. The winner of 21 WorldSBK races last term was 19th overall, 1.9 seconds off the top in the year’s first preseason test.CN
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