A proposed change to MotoGP teams running just one bike per rider during practice sessions has been described as “stealing from the show” by a team boss, as the sport’s teams and promoter edge closer to a contract that will underpin the running of the series for the next five seasons.
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Elsewhere, last year’s world championship runner-up Alex Marquez will attempt a return at this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix from a host of injuries suffered in his horrific crash in the Catalan Grand Prix one month ago, while the much-derided Balaton Park circuit, home to the most recent Grand Prix in Hungary, looks set to fall off the 2027 calendar.
There’s that and more in MotoGP Pit Talk, your news wrap of the stories behind the headlines before this weekend’s resumption of action at Brno for round nine of the 22-round season.
Martin wipes out 5 riders in mass crash! | 00:53
‘DON’T GET IT’: TEAM BOSS WEIGHS IN ON CONTROVERSIAL ONE-BIKE IDEA
Tech3 KTM team boss Guenther Steiner has criticised the proposal to restrict MotoGP riders to just one bike for the 2027 season, after a push from the sport’s manufacturers (MSMA) to initiate the change as part of cost-saving initiatives ahead of the sport’s next contract with series promoters MSEG, formerly known as Dorna.
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Negotiations between the MSMA – the umbrella body which represents Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha and KTM – and MSEG to agree a deal to run the sport from 2027-31 have been protracted, with the distribution of future income the primary sticking point as the sport looks set for a financial windfall under new owners Liberty Media, which also owns Formula 1.
An announcement of the deal could come as soon as this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix, after extensive meetings between the two parties at the past two rounds in Italy and Hungary.
The idea to run one bike – as is the case in Moto3 and Moto2 – came about when the sport’s manufacturers, as part of their negotiations with MSEG, introduced it as a way to save costs as MotoGP heads into a brand-new 850cc regulatory reset next season.
Under the proposal, teams would remove one of their two bikes per rider from public view, but be able to build a spare bike should a rider’s primary machine be damaged in a crash or fail for reliability reasons.
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It would change the way teams operate throughout the race weekend, with teams currently trying different set-ups on each bike for a rider to back-to-back test during practice sessions, and ensuring that a full grid of bikes are on track at almost all times.
Reporting from Autosport suggested the savings could amount to 1.5 million Euros per team (A$2.46 million), with the savings coming from the bikes doing less mileage, and the teams needing reduced staff to operate the machinery.
The manufacturers have also mooted having shorter practice sessions; MotoGP events currently feature three practice sessions of 45 minutes, one hour and 30 minutes respectively before qualifying, a sprint race and a full-distance Grand Prix.
At the recent round in Hungary, Tech3 boss Guenther Steiner – in his first full season running Tech3 after coming across from Formula 1 – feels the sport’s fans will lose out if the suggestion becomes formalised in the new contract.
Tech3 KTM boss Guenther Steiner is no fan of the proposed move away from two bikes per rider for 2027. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“We steal from the show, for the spectators,” Steiner said.
“Who is the most important part of any sport? The fans. I think we are taking away from the spectacle for no good reason.
“Maybe I’m too dumb to understand it, but I don’t know what the savings are by having one bike or two. Why fewer mechanics? You need a second bike anyway, but now you’ve got all the bits and pieces behind a wall so if you need to put the bike together, do you need more or fewer people? I was told there is a small saving, one mechanic a year, but we are taking away a lot of spectacle for very little gain.
“I don’t get it. I hope people come to their senses and realise that it was actually one of these ideas which wasn’t very good.”
There is, as yet, no agreement on how second bikes would be used for races in the event of a rider’s bike being damaged in a race that was red-flagged, or in flag-to-flag races when riders pit for a second bike with different settings in a race that starts in dry conditions that turn to wet, or vice-versa.
“If you want to save money, there’s a very easy solution – a budget [cap],” Steiner said.
“We all know where it has worked [Formula 1] with very good results. Or have less testing. Very easy.”
Marquez overcomes Q2 crash to win sprint | 00:56
MARQUEZ ATTEMPTS COMEBACK AFTER HORROR CATALAN CRASH
Ducati’s Alex Marquez will attempt to compete in this weekend’s round at Brno, the Spaniard confirmed to be travelling to Czechia on Tuesday night (AEST) after missing the past two rounds at Mugello and Balaton Park.
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Marquez broke his right collarbone and fractured the C7 vertebrae in his neck after crashing heavily at the Catalan GP on May 17, his Ducati unable to avoid the a slowing Pedro Acosta ahead of him on track, Acosta’s KTM suffering a technical problem as the pack headed down the back straight of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Alex Marquez will attempt a return at Brno one month after his horror crash with compatriot Pedro Acosta in Catalunya. (Photo by DANIEL BALLARIN / AFP)Source: AFP
After Ducati test rider Michele Pirro (Mugello) and World Superbikes regular Iker Lecuona (Balaton Park) deputised for Marquez in the past two rounds, Gresini Ducati confirmed that the 2026 Spanish GP winner will head to Brno “with the aim of being declared fit” by MotoGP medicos on Thursday.
Another pair of race-winners from the opening eight rounds of 2026 will compete under duress at Brno, with Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio undergoing finger surgery after the most recent round in Hungary.
Di Giannantonio won a re-started Catalan GP after he was struck by a wheel discarded from Marquez’s bike in the Acosta crash, and recovered to 12th place after he was taken out in a first-corner crash caused by Aprilia’s Jorge Martin at the first corner of the Hungarian Grand Prix, an incident that led to renewed calls to bring forward the 2027 banning of ride-height devices to this season after the second heavy first-turn crash in three rounds.
“We are not at our 100 per cent with the finger, but I am ready for Brno,” Di Giannantonio said in a team preview from VR46 Ducati.
“We arrive in top three in the world standing and with a lot of confidence, we’re working very well and we must keep on this direction.”
Martin, meanwhile, sustained what his Aprilia team called “contusions to his back and right foot” in the Balaton Park crash, where he took out Aprilia teammate and series leader Marco Bezzecchi, fellow Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez and Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer, with Di Giannantonio the only one of the five riders involved in the scary shunt able to resume the race.
Martin must serve a double long-lap penalty in Sunday’s 21-lap Grand Prix for being deemed to have caused the crash by race stewards.
“I won’t be at 100 per cent fitness, but I’ll definitely be there mentally and I’ll try to make sure that this is the added value I need to have a good weekend,” he said in a team preview.
Martin sits second in the championship standings, 20 points behind Bezzecchi after taking his first GP win for Aprilia in France in round five.
At LCR Honda, British rider Cal Crutchlow will continue to deputise for Johann Zarco at Brno, Zarco still yet to have surgery after his first-corner crash in Barcelona that saw his left leg trapped between the rear of the seat and rear wheel of Francesco Bagania’s Ducati as it barrel-rolled through the gravel. There is no timetable for the Frenchman’s return.
Ducati’s Di Giannantonio will be back in the saddle at Brno a week after finger surgery. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)Source: AFP
HUNGARY OUT, ARAGON IN AS 2027 CALENDAR TAKES SHAPE
After two years back on the world championship calendar, Hungary will be absent in 2027 as MotoGP will continue with a fourth race in Spain, Aragon confirmed to be staying on the schedule for the first year of the 850cc era next year.
Balaton Park circuit hosted Hungary’s first world championship round since 1992 last year, but the short, uninspiring circuit layout punctuated by chicanes that raised safety issues combined with meagre attendances saw speculation swirl that MotoGP would move to the Hungaroring circuit used for Formula 1 from next season.
However, circuit modifications would need to be made to the Hungaroring to make it fit for purpose for MotoGP, and Aragon was confirmed as a 2027 calendar stop – and as a reserve circuit from 2028-31 – in its place. MotoGP already races in Jerez, Catalunya and Valencia, while the Portuguese Grand Prix means the sport has nearly one-quarter of its calendar on the Iberian Peninsula.
It is planned for Hungary to return in 2028 as the sport caps its calendar at 22 rounds for the foreseeable future.
Argentina will return to next year’s calendar at a revamped circuit in Buenos Aires, the Autodromo Oscar y Juan Galve, while the Australian Grand Prix will move from Phillip Island to Adelaide for 2027.