{"id":755234,"date":"2026-06-23T14:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/755234\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T14:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:50:12","slug":"motogp-2026-season-czech-grand-prix-brno-dutch-grand-prix-assen-marco-bezzecchi-marc-marquez-2027-regulations-joan-mir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/755234\/","title":{"rendered":"MotoGP 2026 season: Czech Grand Prix, Brno, Dutch Grand Prix, Assen, Marco Bezzecchi, Marc Marquez, 2027 regulations, Joan Mir"},"content":{"rendered":"

MotoGP has banned the use of holeshot devices for the start of races with immediate effect, and will expand the space between rows on the grid to try to make race starts safer after a spate of violent accidents at recent rounds of the 2026 season. <\/p>\n

Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today ><\/a><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola addressed the one-race ban handed to world championship leader Marco Bezzecchi after the Italian struck a trackside marshal following his spill in Saturday\u2019s sprint at the Grand Prix of Czechia, while MotoGP\u2019s foremost crash magnet took a huge gamble that paid off in a season-best showing last Sunday at Brno. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There\u2019s that and more in MotoGP Pit Talk, your news wrap of the stories behind the headlines after the Czech GP and before this weekend\u2019s Dutch Grand Prix at Assen, round 10 of the 22-round season.<\/p>\n

Marquez reigns after Bezzecchi drama | 17:52<\/p>\n

HOLESHOT DEVICES BANNED MID-SEASON TO ALLEVIATE SAFETY CONCERNS<\/p>\n

Front holeshot devices \u2013 otherwise known as start devices \u2013 will be outlawed from this weekend\u2019s Dutch Grand Prix at Assen, after multiple riders expressed their concerns about the role the devices played in major first-corner crashes in Catalunya and Hungary. <\/p>\n

MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n

TALKING POINTS<\/a> Marquez makes Aprilia pay, Ogura\u2019s wish, Aussie\u2019s \u2018s***ty feeling\u2019<\/p>\n

RACE REPORT <\/a> Champ back in title fight after taking back-to-back wins in Czechia<\/p>\n

Both front and rear holeshot devices have been banned in the upcoming 2027 regulations, where the sport will change from 1000cc to 850cc machinery, remove aerodynamic devices that have changed the physical appearance of MotoGP machines in the recent years, and switch from Michelin to Pirelli tyres. <\/p>\n

In Barcelona, Honda rider Johann Zarco crashed at the first corner off the start<\/a> and had his left knee trapped between the rear tyre and seat unit of Francesco Bagnaia\u2019s crashed Ducati, the Frenchman suffering a torn ACL and PCL and burns from the exhaust of Bagnaia\u2019s bike. Zarco hasn\u2019t competed since, and there\u2019s no timetable for his return. <\/p>\n

In the next round at Balaton Park, Aprilia\u2019s Jorge Martin lost control on the approach to the first turn on the opening lap<\/a> and skittled teammate Marco Bezzecchi, fellow Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez, and Ducati pair Fabio Di Giannantonio and Fermin Aldeguer, eliminating four riders on the spot in a frightening crash that saw the 2024 world champion given a double long-lap penalty for last weekend\u2019s Grand Prix at Brno. <\/p>\n

Martin wipes out 5 riders in mass crash! | 00:53<\/p>\n

While holeshot devices were not fully to blame for either accident, a growing number of riders \u2013 Australia\u2019s Jack Miller among them<\/a> \u2013 renewed calls to bring their abolition forward immediately rather than wait to the end of the season. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou weren\u2019t even really able, without locking the front, to really get enough [load] transfer to unlock the devices,\u201d Miller explained in Hungary.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake off the front device, it makes everybody\u2019s life easier and everybody is in the same boat. We\u2019re all in the same boat at the moment, except that boat is going about 30km\/h faster\u201d. <\/p>\n

To engage the holeshot device, riders activate a setting that manually lowers the bike\u2019s suspension, minimising the propensity of the bike to wheelie and allowing for more effective torque transfer through the rear wheel. The device is disengaged when a rider brakes for the first corner, returning the machine to its normal clearance from the ground. <\/p>\n

At last weekend\u2019s Czech Grand Prix, riders were permitted to perform an extra practice start after the three practice sessions were completed on Friday and Saturday to assess the viability of starting sprints and Grands Prix without the holeshot device engaged. <\/p>\n

On Monday night (AEST), MotoGP\u2019s Grand Prix Commission (GPC) announced its decision to ban them immediately. <\/p>\n

\u201cFront Ride Height devices, known as holeshot devices, will be removed from all MotoGP machines from the Dutch Grand Prix onwards,\u201d a statement read. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis follows consultation with all MotoGP teams and after riders have had the opportunity to test their starts in extra practice start sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same GPC release, it was announced that MotoGP grids will have more space between rows from the German Grand Prix (July 10-12), with the gaps between rows being extended from nine metres to 12. Grids will remain at three riders per row; prior to 2004, grids featured four riders per row. <\/p>\n

In addition, the GPC directive has placed a hard limit on a maximum of six bikes per manufacturer from 2028, meaning each of MotoGP\u2019s five factories (Ducati, Aprilia, KTM, Honda and Yamaha) can provide bikes to two customer or satellite teams as well as running their own machines. <\/p>\n

Before Pramac Racing switched from Ducati to Yamaha for the 2025 season, Ducati had eight bikes on the grid to either four or two for their rivals, giving the Italian manufacturer an outsize advantage and allowing for more data to be gathered for performance gains. <\/p>\n

MotoGP\u2019s current manufacturer configuration \u2013 which will hold for 2027 \u2013 features six Ducatis and four bikes from each of Aprilia, KTM, Honda and Aprilia. <\/p>\n

Last Friday at Brno, MotoGP\u2019s manufacturers signed a five-year contract<\/a> with series promoters MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (MSEG) to run the sport for the 2027-31 seasons, with Autosport reporting that the sport\u2019s 11 teams will receive 8 million Euros (A$13.1 million) annually for the duration of the contract.<\/p>\n

Extra space between rows on the grid to help make race starts safer will come on stream from the German Grand Prix in July (MotoGP Press)Source: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u2018EVEN MORE INTIMIDATING\u2019: APRILIA BOSS WARY OF SURGING MARQUEZ<\/p>\n

Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola said MotoGP\u2019s standout manufacturer of 2026 never saw reigning world champion Marc Marquez as anything other than a title threat, with Marquez storming to within 40 points of series leader Marco Bezzecchi<\/a> after winning his second Grand Prix in succession at Brno last Sunday. <\/p>\n

MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n

DONE DEAL<\/a> MotoGP teams, promoter agree on contract as rider market readies for launch<\/p>\n

SPRINT REPORT <\/a> Bagnaia wins, Bezzecchi cops ban for striking marshal after crash<\/p>\n

Marquez required right shoulder and right foot surgeries after crashing out of the sprint race at round five in France in May, the Ducati missing the following round in Catalunya altogether and coming back for the Italian Grand Prix at the end of that month underdone, finishing just seventh in the main race while Aprilia teammates Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin took first and second. <\/p>\n

Marquez fell to 102 points behind Bezzecchi after Italy, but has sliced 62 points off that deficit in just two rounds, winning the sprint and Grand Prix in Hungary, then winning on Sunday at Brno for back-to-back victories at the Czech track, where he\u2019s won five times in his MotoGP career. <\/p>\n

The consecutive wins for Ducati were against the run of play, with Bezzecchi and Martin combining to win five of the first seven Grands Prix of the season. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been worried, if I may say, about Marc Marquez since race one,\u201d Rivola told reporters at Brno last Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarc is a threat and Ducati is doing a great job, compliments to them. [Marquez] was a threat even when he wasn\u2019t in top form \u2026 now he\u2019s back in shape, he\u2019s even more intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivola also addressed the one-race ban given to lead rider Bezzecchi after his controversial altercation with a trackside marshal<\/a> after he crashed at turn three on the penultimate lap of the sprint race, which has left the series leader with consecutive scoreless Grands Prix Sundays and with just seven points to Marquez\u2019s 69 (from a maximum of 74) over the past two rounds.<\/p>\n

Bezzecchi was banned for \u201can action prejudicial to the interests of the sport\u201d after striking the volunteer trackside marshal twice. Aprilia appealed the ban, but in rejecting that appeal, the stewards said that while riders \u201cinvolved in accidents may experience frustration, disappointment and heightened emotion immediately following an accident, such circumstances cannot excuse or justify physical aggression directed towards circuit personnel performing their official duties. Physical aggression towards marshals is wholly unacceptable in professional motorsport and cannot be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivola said Aprilia\u2019s appeal was based on previous, adjacent incidents; in Qatar in 2023, then-Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro slapped Ducati\u2019s Franco Morbidelli during a practice session, and was hit with a six-place grid penalty and 10,000 Euro fine but allowed to race. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy thought was maybe [suspension] is a bit too harsh,\u201d Rivola said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive him a big fine, give him a grid position penalty, but let him race because it never happened in the past. But if this is the way to go, I agree. Zero tolerance is also from our side, and that\u2019s it. We set a precedent that it\u2019s good to follow.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rivola didn\u2019t feel Bezzecchi, who was back on track at Brno on Monday in MotoGP\u2019s closed-door test of the new 850cc machinery for 2027, would let the incident linger. <\/p>\n

\u201cMarco is strong enough to bounce back, with the team\u2019s support he\u2019ll be even stronger,\u201d Rivola said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m convinced he\u2019ll respond in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

After dominating the early phase of the season, Bezzecchi has scored just seven points in the past two rounds. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

FORMER CHAMP\u2019S GAMBLE PAYS OFF WITH SEASON-BEST SHOWING<\/p>\n

Honda\u2019s Joan Mir has earned praise for a season-best fifth place in the Czech Grand Prix, which came after the 2020 world champion made a bold tyre choice to surge forwards from 12th on the grid in sweltering conditions at Brno. <\/p>\n

Mir, who will switch to the Gresini Ducati team next year when a host of 2027 rider contracts are announced in the coming days, was the only one of the 20 riders to take the start with the fast but brittle soft-compound Michelin rear tyre, his rivals electing for the slower but more durable medium rear on a 32-degree day where track temperatures nudged 50 degrees for the 40-minute race. <\/p>\n

Mir gained four places on the first lap at Brno, moved into fifth place with seven laps to go, and avoided a last-lap showdown with Pedro Acosta when the Spaniard\u2019s KTM crawled into retirement on the final lap. <\/p>\n

Mir was rewarded for his calculated risk with a season-best performance at Brno. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mir spent the final eight laps lapping in the 1min 54sec range \u2013 the four riders ahead of him were almost exclusively in the 1:53s \u2013 but had enough in reserve to finish 12.810secs behind race-winner Marc Marquez for just his fourth finish in nine Grands Prix starts this year, the 28-year-old finishing just half (nine of 18) starts across sprints and Grands Prix this season. <\/p>\n

Honda teammate Luca Marini, who finished three places and more than eight seconds behind Mir, was impressed. <\/p>\n

\u201cJoan did a really strange choice to put the soft [tyre] today, but it looks like that he didn\u2019t have vibration,\u201d Marini said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was doing a fantastic race with very good pace at the beginning and he managed the rear tyre very well. Congratulations to him, because he achieved a really good position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mir, who sits just 18th in the standings with 28 points despite having the pace to run inside the top 10 for 67 per cent of his 152 completed laps this season, said using the soft tyre was a gamble, but a calculated one based on how he prefers to ride. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to say this when at the end everything went right, but for me \u2026 I know my riding is more incisive in the entry and mid-corner, and with the medium [rear] tyre in that area you struggle more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy style is a bit more approaching the entry with more speed, and with the soft I could do it, but I had to manage more the tyre drop, but that\u2019s something that in the past I was very good at.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally we could put a realistic result, despite the only [position] that was not real was Acosta, he had a technical problem. Apart from that it was a real sixth, fifth position, that is something to be happy about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MotoGP has banned the use of holeshot devices for the start of races with immediate effect, and will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-755234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}