Elsewhere, a six-time Grand Prix winner who looks set to lose his MotoGP seat for 2027 has been singled out as a rider who illustrates the sport\u2019s lack of diversity for one former rival, while reigning world champion Marc Marquez has discussed the \u201cmadness\u201d a MotoGP rider requires in a revealing interview where he admitted he considered retirement had he not been able to orchestrate a move to Ducati for 2024. <\/p>\n
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There\u2019s that and more in MotoGP Pit Talk, your news wrap of the stories behind the headlines ahead of the resumption of the world championship this weekend at Jerez in Spain for round four of the season. <\/p>\n
Marquez takes out Diggia in opening lap | 00:23<\/p>\n
AGIUS GETS KUDOS FROM \u2018THE DOCTOR\u2019 AS MOTOGP QUEST CONTINUES<\/p>\n
Valentino Rossi was left \u201csuper impressed\u201d with Senna Agius after the young Australian was one of a number of world championship riders to race at Rossi\u2019s famed VR46 Motor Ranch in Tavullia in Italy late last year, with the seven-time MotoGP world champion full of praise for his talent.<\/p>\n
MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n
AUSSIE\u2019S SELLING POINT <\/a> The seven riders needing a contract lifeline \u2026 and why Miller can defy the odds<\/p>\n \u2018DON\u2019T HAVE TIME TO BE ANGRY\u2019 <\/a> How Italian became MotoGP\u2019s biggest early-season surprise<\/p>\n Former Grand Prix rider and three-time World Superbikes runner-up Chaz Davies is part of Agius\u2019 management stable \u2013 which also includes Daniel Ricciardo\u2019s former manager Blake Friend and ex-Red Bull Racing F1 communications manager James Ranson \u2013 and took Agius to Rossi\u2019s ranch late last year to have him compete against a star-studded entry list including current MotoGP riders Marco Bezzecchi, Pedro Acosta, Francesco Bagnaia, Luca Marini, Diogo Moreira, and Agius\u2019 compatriot Jack Miller, along with Rossi himself. <\/p>\n \u201cI see Senna in all walks \u2013 trails bike, motocross bike, flat track, you name it \u2013 he\u2019s extremely adaptable,\u201d Davies told the Paddock Pass Podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cI took him last year to the \u2018Ranch\u2019 at Valentino\u2019s, and he\u2019d never been there before \u2026 I\u2019d been there back in the day. I know Senna is a quick flat-track rider, but the 100km race start \u2026 he\u2019s leading it and he was in the top few fastest guys during the race. <\/p>\n \u201cHe ended up crashing during that first stint, but that was the strategy \u2026 I was like \u2018go there and make a splash and let\u2019s see what happens, and at least you\u2019ll turn some heads\u2019. <\/p>\n \u201cValentino, in the evening at the party [afterwards], he said \u2013 and I won\u2019t say exactly what he said \u2013 \u201cbeep, that was super impressive \u2026 beep, beep, Senna\u2019s got some skills\u2019. So, I\u2019ll take that from him.\u201d<\/p>\n Agius, who won the most recent Moto2 race at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas<\/a>, has won three races in the past 11 months in the category that is a stepping stone to MotoGP, and sits sixth in the intermediate-class standings after finishing 10th overall last year. <\/p>\n Agius skipped the entry-level Moto3 category after coming to the world championship via the European Moto2 scene, and Davies feels his relative lack of experience with racing in the world championship is starting to become less of an impediment. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m 100 per cent convinced that, although this is his third season in Moto2, he never did Moto3 \u2026 usually the kids get to make those mistakes in Moto3, or learn the nuances of each track when they have the years in Moto3,\u201d Davies said of Agius. <\/p>\n \u201cSenna entered the championship in Moto2, so he\u2019s had 2024 and 2025 to really understand the ways of the paddock, the different circuits. This year is a consolidation year for him. For me, his talent is not in question. I believe that his trajectory is very sharp, and he\u2019s a real sponge for information, he gets better and better all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n With so many seats for next year \u2013 the first of MotoGP\u2019s change to 850cc machines with a reduction of rider aids, aerodynamic devices and all-new Pirelli tyres \u2013 unconfirmed as the sport\u2019s manufacturers remain in negotiations with MotoGP promoters MSEG<\/a> for a contract to run the championship, Agius\u2019 name has been discussed as a possibility to step up to join Moto2 rivals David Alonso and Dani Holgado, who are believed to have already signed contracts with Honda and Ducati respectively. <\/p>\n Yamaha, and the Tech3 KTM team owned by ex-F1 team boss Guenther Steiner that is excepted to change to Honda machinery next year, are considered to be Agius\u2019 best bets for a promotion. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re working on that opportunity at the minute, we\u2019re trying to explore what the opportunities are in MotoGP,\u201d Davies said. <\/p>\n \u201cRight now is the key moment to step into MotoGP because of the regulation changes, tyre changes. For a Moto2 rider, moving on to slightly less power, the probability of higher corner speed \u2013 the Pirelli front tyre should be a little more trustworthy \u2013 with less rider aids \u2026 I do think that\u2019s an opportunity for team and for rider to make a splash. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a key moment, and Senna is well placed and at the top of his game at the minute. He\u2019s a very well-rounded, eager individual \u2026 I think he has a lot to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n Agius has three Moto2 wins – including at his home race at Phillip Island last October – to his credit in the past 12 months. (Photo by Paul Crock \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n \u2018HE SHOULDN\u2019T BE THERE\u2019: FORMER RIVAL SINGLES OUT SPANISH INFLUENCE<\/p>\n The likely move of Japanese rider Ai Ogura from Aprilia to Yamaha<\/a> for next season looks set to end the premier-class career of incumbent Yamaha factory rider Alex Rins, which former rival Scott Redding feels should have happened sooner. <\/p>\n Rins, 30, has won six premier-class Grands Prix from 148 starts and has finished on the podium 18 times, but the Spaniard has struggled mightily since breaking his right leg at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, missing most of the remainder of that season. <\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: The 2027 MotoGP rider market silly season is in full swing \u2026 but waits on one crucial announcement to unlock an impasse. Who is moving where, and why? Listen to Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n Since joining Yamaha\u2019s factory outfit in 2024 as teammate to 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo, Rins has finished no better than seventh in a race \u2013 last year\u2019s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, where he won for Suzuki in 2022 \u2013 and no better than 18th in the world championship (2024). <\/p>\n Ogura, a former Honda prot\u00e9g\u00e9 who came to MotoGP last year with Trackhouse Aprilia, looks likely to join Yamaha\u2019s factory squad as part of an all-new line-up with 2024 world champion Jorge Martin next season, with Quartararo moving to head up Honda\u2019s factory team. <\/p>\n Speaking to the Full Chat Podcast, Redding \u2013 who competed against Rins in MotoGP from 2015-18 and had two premier-class Grand Prix podiums in 90 starts \u2013 felt Rins staying on the grid for the past two years shows how difficult it is for riders outside of Spain and Italy to remain in the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are excellent riders \u2026 I don\u2019t want to take anything away from them, but there are some like Alex Rins who\u2019s been riding an official Yamaha for a couple of years, and I ask myself \u2018why?\u2019, Redding said. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a good rider, but he\u2019s had a lot of injuries and isn\u2019t consistent. In my opinion, he shouldn\u2019t be there, but he\u2019s Spanish. Maybe there\u2019s some small connection somewhere that could help him. Spain and Italy are the heart of this sport, that\u2019s where the money is.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to speak badly about the championship, it\u2019s the best in the world. But if we look at the riders on factory bikes, especially over the last three years, they\u2019re all Spanish and Italian.\u201d<\/p>\n No British rider has raced in MotoGP full-time since 2020, when Cal Crutchlow (Honda) and Bradley Smith (Aprilia) competed in their final full-time seasons, while race-winning Moto2 rider Jake Dixon \u2013 who had two MotoGP starts in 2021 \u2013 left the world championship for World Superbikes this season. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have to play the hand you\u2019re dealt, and being British doesn\u2019t make things any easier,\u201d Redding said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s crazy that there aren\u2019t any British riders in MotoGP or Moto2. When you\u2019re at that level, you\u2019re not only at a disadvantage because you\u2019re riding a satellite bike most of the time, but also because of the funding issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to accepting sums that are nothing compared to what a Spaniard or an Italian would get, you also have to pay to train, you have to go to Spain and Italy to ride three times a week.\u201d<\/p>\n Of this year\u2019s MotoGP grid, 15 riders hail from either Spain or Italy, with rookies Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkey) and Diogo Moreira (Brazil)<\/a> swelling the number of countries represented to eight, France (two riders), plus Australia, South Africa and Japan (one each), completing the 22-strong grid. <\/p>\n Rins has laboured through a run of injury and minimal results of note since joining Yamaha in 2024. (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n MARQUEZ OPENS UP ON RETIREMENT, FEAR AND \u2018MADNESS\u2019<\/p>\n Reigning world champion Marc Marquez has spoken about retirement, his nerves after leaving Honda at the end of the 2023 season and balancing courage with consequences in a revealing interview with Spanish podcast Imagin Tengo Un Plan, with the 33-year-old Ducati rider indicating his body, not his mind, will determine how long his career continues. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n SHOCK DEFECTION<\/a> Ogura to Yamaha sets tongues wagging \u2026 and ups pressure on Miller<\/p>\n