– In the 2027 MotoGP season, five rookies are expected to start. Four of them will move up from Moto2 to the premier class. Three of them have been officially confirmed so far.
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David Alonso will race for Honda, although it is still open whether he will get the spot in the factory team or be placed at LCR if Diogo Moreira is promoted from the satellite team to the factory team.
Daniel Holgado will race for Gresini-Ducati next year, and Izan Guevara was recently confirmed as teammate to Toprak Razgatlioglu at Pramac-Yamaha. Razgatlioglu’s former Superbike rival will also come to MotoGP.
The move of Nicolo Bulega has not yet been officially confirmed, but he is expected to take Franco Morbidelli’s place at VR46-Ducati. Conversely, Morbidelli is expected to take Bulega’s place in the Ducati factory team in the Superbike World Championship.
There will also be a rookie in the Tech3-KTM team. Günther Steiner named the two IntactGP riders as his candidates. However, it is becoming clear that Senna Agius, not Manuel Gonzalez, will get the chance.
In 2025, Gonzalez led the Moto2 standings for a long time and lost the world championship title in the end to Moreira. He is also leading the world championship standings after 13 races this season. Nevertheless, he was not seriously considered by any MotoGP team.
“Every negotiation I conducted on Manu’s behalf failed for a different reason each time,” says his manager Edoardo Rovelli to GPOne.com.
“For us, given the situation, the chance to make it into MotoGP seems to be getting smaller and smaller.” When asked if the situation would be different with a passport other than the Spanish one, his manager replies: “One hundred percent.”
No interest despite good first test with Trackhouse-Aprilia
So far, Gonzalez has had one chance to test a MotoGP bike. That was in June 2025 during the Monday test at MotorLand Aragon. Since Ai Ogura was sidelined due to injury at the time, Trackhouse-Aprilia enabled this test day.
It was also explicitly emphasized at the time that this was a one-time opportunity and arose from the situation due to Ogura’s injury. IntactGP allowed Gonzalez this test day.
Although he made a good impression then, the MotoGP teams subsequently showed no real interest in him. In hindsight, was it perhaps a mistake to do that one test day at all?
Rovelli tells an interesting anecdote about this: “Just this weekend I sat down with Massimo Rivola and asked him for advice on certain things. We see each other from time to time and talk.”
“He told me something interesting: ‘You know, I was just thinking about that recently. I don’t know if that test we let him do helped him or not, because he did an incredible job. We didn’t expect it to go that way.’
“Massimo explained to me that the test surprised them because Manu was really strong. And what surprised him was that no one, neither Honda nor Yamaha nor anyone else, asked how that test went.”
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“No one asked for information, no one wanted to dig deeper. If I had to pick a rider and found out that Yamaha let him test a MotoGP bike, I would ask how the test went.”
“Instead, in my opinion, exactly this connection and the ability to really analyze all available information is missing,” says Rovelli, who himself has raced, among other things, in the Supersport 300 World Championship.
Rejections from Ducati and BMW in the Superbike World Championship
Since no door opened in MotoGP, he looked for opportunities in the Superbike World Championship. There were talks with Ducati about the spot freed up by Bulega’s MotoGP move, but the talks failed due to the Spanish passport.
“In the case of Aruba, I was told, Ducati needed an Italian. When you look at the four factory bikes in MotoGP and Superbike together, they already had two Spaniards in MotoGP and Iker Lecuona in the Superbike class.”
“At that point, they couldn’t afford a fourth Spanish rider, so they decided to continue with an Italian. That was the reason,” says Rovelli.
There was also a rejection from BMW: “The explanation I was given is that the bike was not yet at Manuel Gonzalez’s level at that time. They had to develop it further first.”
“And then, possibly, put this bike in Manu’s hands. I was told they want to continue working on it and might get back to us next year if the bike is more competitive.”
BMW is expected to compete next year with Brad Binder as the second rider. With Miguel Oliveira and Binder, two former KTM teammates would be reunited.
Since Ducati and BMW declined, Gonzalez will not move to the Superbike World Championship in 2027. “It would have been interesting to move to the Superbike class with Aruba or to join a factory team like BMW.”
“For Manu, those could have been great opportunities. Today, however, I don’t see equally promising options in the Superbike class. It wouldn’t make sense to go there without a competitive bike.”
Due to the rejections in MotoGP and the Superbike World Championship, it is becoming clear in which series Gonzalez will race next year. “That’s why it makes more sense today to stay in Moto2,” says his manager.
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“MotoGP seems to be a closed chapter, but as long as not all spots for 2027 are officially assigned, we will keep waiting. However, our decision will probably be to stay in Moto2.”
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