– For the 2027 MotoGP season, only four riders have been officially confirmed so far, but two-thirds of the starting spots are already taken. The transfer market has started moving very early. Behind the scenes, the first decisions were already made in January.
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The teams are waiting to officially confirm their riders until a new framework agreement with the MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (MotoGP SEG) for the years 2027 to 2031 has been concluded.
Only Aprilia has already announced the contract extension with Marco Bezzecchi for the next two years. Before the start of the winter tests in Malaysia, a “wedding” was staged.
Aside from that, the two LCR-Honda riders Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco as well as Toprak Razgatlioglu at Pramac-Yamaha have contracts for 2027. These were already signed in 2025.
The fact that Aprilia officially announced Bezzecchi’s contract extension was met with raised eyebrows by the other manufacturers. Because no brand currently has a contract for MotoGP participation next year.
Therefore, manufacturers and teams basically agree that it makes no sense to officially announce a change before the commercial framework with MotoGP SEG is closed.
In this regard, Motorsport.com Spain, a sister platform of Motorsport-Total.com, assumes that Ducati and Honda have already agreed to the proposal from MotoGP SEG.
It is only a matter of time before Yamaha, Aprilia, and KTM follow suit. Once all teams have signed the new commercial contract, announcements of the already fixed rider contracts are expected.
Only one question mark left with the factory teams
According to the current status, four of the five factory teams should have fixed their riders. Ducati has agreed with Marc Marquez until 2028. Provided the recent shoulder operation allows him to fight for his ambitious goals.
Marc Marquez’s teammate will be Pedro Acosta. KTM reacted and initially agreed with Alex Marquez. Recently, Fabio Di Giannantonio accepted the offer from the Austrian brand.
In January, Fabio Quartararo set the transfer market in motion. He will leave Yamaha and become the spearhead of the newly restructured Honda project, which is also overhauling management alongside the rider change.
After eight years as team manager, Alberto Puig is stepping down. In the future, he will work for Honda as an advisor both in MotoGP and in the Superbike World Championship.
On paper, the spot next to Quartararo should be filled by David Alonso, who currently races in Moto2 with the Aspar team. However, Honda is said to reserve an opt-out clause according to Motorsport.com Spain.
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The preliminary contract Alonso signed can be terminated by the manufacturer upon payment of one million euros. The Colombian is currently focusing on recovering from his ongoing right shoulder problems.
The officials at Honda are closely monitoring his development in the meantime. Yamaha reacted quickly to Quartararo’s departure and already agreed with Jorge Martin in January. His teammate will be Ai Ogura.
At Aprilia, two close friends meet. After Francesco Bagnaia realized that Ducati is betting on Acosta instead of him for the future, he looked for alternatives.
Yamaha made Bagnaia an offer to become Martin’s teammate. Due to the sporting uncertainty of the new V4 project, Bagnaia decided to switch to Aprilia, where he will be Bezzecchi’s teammate.
Few free spots in the satellite teams
At Pramac, Razgatlioglu remains set. This is a clear decision by Yamaha director Paolo Pavesio. Everything indicates that Izan Guevara from Moto2 will become the second rider alongside the Turk as a replacement for Jack Miller.
Among the other satellite teams, Gresini has completed the signing of Joan Mir, who thus follows the example of Marc Marquez from 2024 and meets Daniel Holgado from Moto2 at Gresini.
Fermin Aldeguer moves from Gresini to VR46 and receives the status of a factory rider there with full support from Ducati. A big open question concerns his teammate.
Several candidates are applying for the second VR46 spot, including Nicola Bulega, Luca Marini, and Celestino Vietti. The latter two are members of Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Academy.
Finally, we look at the two teams that have not yet confirmed a rider: Trackhouse and Tech3. In the case of Justin Marks’ team, the signing of Enea Bastianini is planned, who wants to leave Tech3.
Much suggests that Raul Fernandez will extend his contract with Trackhouse. At Tech3, which recently confirmed in Barcelona that it will continue to use KTM motorcycles, the situation is still completely open.
Maverick Vinales, Brad Binder, and Senna Agius are three of the options currently being considered by Günther Steiner.
The provisional MotoGP field 2027:
Ducati: Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta
VR46-Ducati: Fermin Aldeguer, Bulega/Marini/Vietti?
Gresini-Ducati: Joan Mir, Daniel Holgado
Aprilia: Marco Bezzecchi, Francesco Bagnaia
Trackhouse-Aprilia: Enea Bastianini?, Raul Fernandez?
KTM: Alex Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio
Tech3-KTM: Maverick Vinales?, Binder/Agius?
Honda: Fabio Quartararo, David Alonso?
LCR-Honda: Johann Zarco, Diogo Moreira
Yamaha: Jorge Martin, Ai Ogura
Pramac-Yamaha: Toprak Razgatlioglu, Izan Guevara
