Advantage for 2026 rookies including Senna Agius, rider market, Pol Espargaro, Moto2, Adelaide, 2027 calendar, Jorge Martin

Australia’s Senna Agius could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of MotoGP’s impending switch from 1000cc machines to 850cc bikes, with the 21-year-old Moto2 race-winner’s name remaining in the mix to fill one of the few remaining premier-class seats for the 2027 season.

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Elsewhere, MotoGP sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta says Adelaide’s debut on the 2027 calendar has the potential to change the shape of the series, while world championship leader Jorge Martin says his departure from Ducati to Aprilia after winning the 2024 title has made him more confident that his move to Yamaha for 2027-28 can work despite Yamaha being firmly entrenched as the slowest of MotoGP’s five manufacturers this season.

There’s that and more in MotoGP Pit Talk, your news wrap of the stories behind the headlines as MotoGP readies for the next round of the series at Aragon in Spain from August 28-30.

2027 ROOKIES COULD HAVE EARLY ADVANTAGE, PREDICTS VETERAN

MotoGP veteran Pol Espargaro feels the incoming crop of 2027 rookies, which may include Senna Agius, could have an advantage over the current MotoGP rider corps early next season given the extent of the regulation change between seasons.

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For 2027, MotoGP will dump its 1000cc machines – in use since 2012 – for 850cc bikes with a ban on ride-height devices and aerodynamic aids, while swapping Michelin tyres – in use since 2016 – for Pirelli.

Moto2, where Agius races for the Liqui Moly Dynavolt IntactGP team, uses 765cc Triumph engines and Pirelli tyres, with the Australian’s intermediate-class rivals Dani Holgado (Ducati) and David Alonso (Honda) already confirmed to be stepping up to the top flight next year.

Australia’s Jack Miller appears likely to lose his Yamaha MotoGP seat to Pramac Moto2 rider Izan Guevara, with Agius in the frame to take one of the two vacant seats at the Tech3 KTM team owned by former F1 team boss Guenther Steiner, current riders Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales out of contract and not yet signed for 2027.

Espargaro retired from full-time riding after the 2023 season with KTM, the Spaniard spending his 175-race premier-class career between Yamaha (2014-16), KTM (2017-20, 2023) and Honda (2021-22) before becoming a KTM test rider.

The 35-year-old recently deputised for the injured Vinales at the British Grand Prix after a season where he’s spent time developing KTM’s 850cc machine, and said the difference between next year’s bike and this year’s was “another world”.

“I’m used to riding the 1000cc bike for many years, but I feel like a rookie,” he said after finishing 14th at Silverstone.

“I need to understand again the time distance in any corner, braking points, stopping efficiency, where to touch the throttle and where to end up … fourth gear on this bike, the torque is insane and it’s something that you need to integrate and normalise. I’m super stressed because all the inputs are coming too fast.

“I feel more ready to a ride a Moto2 than a MotoGP [bike]. It’s going to be a challenge for the MotoGP current riders on the 1000cc with Michelin against the Moto2 guys that are going to come in next year. They are going to be extremely fast.”

Espargaro feels the shift between seasons makes the form book for this year’s world championship somewhat irrelevant.

“You cannot believe how much the category will change next year … so many riders are going to struggle to get used to this new category,” he said.

“It’s going to be difficult for riders who are currently are in the MotoGP category to adapt from the Michelin. The riders who are going to jump from Moto2, they’re going to have a big advantage at the beginning because the way of riding is more close to Moto2 than MotoGP at the moment.

“Next year, it can happen that riders not performing this year are going to be super fast, and opposite. The bike change is massive, the power is much less and the tyres force you to ride in a very different way.

“With the 850cc and the Pirelli, I can do two race distances in a row [in testing], it’s much less physical. With the 1000cc bike, after two laps the heart rate is so high that f**k, it’s insane. The level … it is so brutal. It’s good to step out of it onto another bike to understand it.”

ADELAIDE TRACK WON’T BE REPLICATED ‘10 TIMES A YEAR’, SAYS MOTOGP BOSS

MotoGP sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta says Adelaide’s debut on the 2027 calendar is being watched carefully by “cities all over the world”, as the Australian Grand Prix’s new home could signal a change to the sport’s calendar and the types of circuits visited in the future.

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In February, MotoGP announced that the Australian round of the world championship would be held in the South Australian capital from 2027-32, moving away from Phillip Island, home to the event continuously since 1997. While a 2027 schedule is yet to be released, Adelaide is expected to be one of the final rounds of next season, likely in November.

The move from the much-loved, fast and flowing Phillip Island circuit to a race on a street track in a major metropolitan area was controversial and a major shift for MotoGP, but Ezpeleta told Autosport that Adelaide’s arrival isn’t the trigger for a complete calendar overhaul.

“We do not see the Adelaide project as something we are going to replicate 10 times a year [but] I think it will open people’s eyes around the world by showing that this is possible,” Ezpeleta said.

“We’ve been approached by cities all over the world [since the Adelaide announcement] … the Adelaide project opens up a major window of opportunities for other cities. They want to see how the event develops in Adelaide, but there are already conversations taking place. There is enormous interest.”

Ezpeleta also suggested the make-up of the 22-round MotoGP calendar may change as new countries emerge as being interested in hosting a Grand Prix; on this year’s calendar, 14 rounds are in Europe, with four in Spain and two in Italy.

“As new [events] come in, others will probably have to leave,” Ezpeleta said.

“We are overrepresented in Spain and central Europe, so that decision is fairly obvious. New destinations will come in, and some will have to leave simply because we have too much concentration in that area.

“We do not shy away from the fact that we want to have a greater global presence, be closer to major cities and main airports where we can reach a new audience and have good hotel and hospitality infrastructure. It’s about making things easier for the fan … we will see more events of this kind joining the calendar.”

Ahead of the most recent round in England, MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said MotoGP fans will get their first look at the circuit plans for Adelaide’s 2027 debut “over the next few weeks.”

‘BEST DECISION’: MARTIN BACKS RISKY MOVE FROM APRILIA TO YAMAHA

World championship leader Jorge Martin remains adamant that his move away from Aprilia – this year’s best bike – to 2026 bottom-feeder Yamaha for next year remains the right one, the Spaniard likening his departure from a winning machine to leaving Ducati two years ago.

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In 2024, Martin – who was in line for a promotion from Pramac Ducati to Ducati’s factory team before it signed Marc Marquez instead – furiously and abruptly signed with Aprilia for the 2025-26 seasons before missing most of last year with multiple injuries and after a bitter contract dispute with his new employers.

Martin, who has a 31-point championship lead over teammate Marco Bezzecchi with 10 rounds remaining this season, will join Trackhouse Aprilia’s second-year standout Ai Ogura at Yamaha’s factory team for the first year of the 850cc regulation reset in 2027.

With Fabio Quartararo leaving for Honda and veterans Jack Miller and Alex Rins likely to leave MotoGP for World Superbikes, Yamaha is retaining only 2026 rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu after a season where it sits last in the constructors’ championship, and three of its four riders are 19th (Miller), 20th (Rins) and 21st (Razgatlioglu) of the 22 full-time riders in the standings.

“When I signed with Aprilia, [people said] it was a disaster … where was I going with an Aprilia that had never won [the title] before?” Martin told DAZN Spain.

“Now I’m leading the championship … next year or in two years, let people make their opinions.

“In life you have to make certain decisions … in 2024 I had to make a hasty decision, now I’ve had the opportunity to make another decision more calmly, with more time.

“I’ve always made decisions thinking about what was best for me and my family, and I believe this is the best one.”

MotoGP went to the mid-season break with the tightest top five in the standings after 11 rounds since the advent of the ‘modern era’ in 2002, with Martin heading a quintet of riders separated by just 24 points, less than one Grand Prix win.

The gap from Martin to fifth-placed Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati) swelled to 41 points after Silverstone, but Martin feels that he and Marquez, fourth in the standings and 40 points adrift, have an ace up their sleeve after having won premier-class titles before, seven in the case of Marquez.

“Marc has a bigger advantage because he’s won more than I have, but when you’ve already won, it’s different,” Martin said.

“I remember when I hadn’t yet won, the doubts I had … you get really nervous. It’s incredibly difficult. I have that advantage now, so I hope that when the opportunity comes it won’t happen to me.”