Honda Racing Corporation confirmed it has signed 20-year-old David Alonso to a multi-year MotoGP contract for 2027 and beyond, adding one of the series’ brightest young prospects to its plans for the 850cc era. Honda did not say whether the Colombian rider will join its factory team or LCR Honda, and it did not disclose the contract length. Autosport reported the agreement is longer than the usual two-year term.

Alonso, who was born in Madrid and races under the Colombian flag, won the 2024 Moto3 world championship after finishing third as a rookie in 2023 and then dominating the class the following season. He moved up to Moto2 with Aspar last season and has one win in 2026, while sitting fourth in the championship, 79.5 points behind leader Manuel Gonzalez. He has also been dealing with a shoulder injury that affected several rounds. Across Moto3 and Moto2, Alonso has 20 wins, 30 podiums and nine pole positions.

Honda said Alonso will make his first on-track appearance on its 2027 bike at the post-race Valencia Test. His signing comes as Honda continues to sort out its 2027 rider lineup, with the factory squad still the only team on next year’s MotoGP grid without a confirmed lineup.

Francesco Bagnaia underwent successful endoscopic fasciotomy, or arm pump surgery, on his right forearm during the MotoGP summer break and is targeting a return at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone from August 7-9. Ducati said the operation was completed without complications, and Bagnaia will use the championship’s three-week break to begin recovery and rehabilitation. His participation at Silverstone depends on how his rehabilitation progresses.

The surgery was carried out in Modena by a medical team led by Professor Luigi Tarallo at the Orthopaedic Clinic of the Policlinico, or University Hospital, directed by Professor Fabio Catani. Ducati did not specify the condition that led to the operation. Motorsport.com reported that Bagnaia was treated for compartment syndrome, a common forearm problem among MotoGP riders.

Bagnaia had attended an event in Rome on Tuesday before the Wednesday operation, where Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs named him a sporting ambassador alongside other leading Italian motorcycle racers. He finished the opening half of his final Ducati season in sixth place at the German Grand Prix and entered the summer break eighth in the championship standings, 65 points behind leader Jorge Martin.

Italian motorcycle racing and its role in diplomacy were celebrated at the “Moto d’Italia – Culture Beyond the Track” event, where Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani presented Sports Diplomacy Ambassador plaques to Valentino Rossi, Francesco Bagnaia, Marco Bezzecchi, Giacomo Agostini, Max Biaggi, Kiara Fontanesi and Mugello Circuit CEO Paolo Poli. The initiative promoted motorcycling as a symbol of Italian industrial, technological, sporting and cultural excellence, and as a tool to strengthen Italy’s image abroad.

Bezzecchi joined by videoconference after surgery on a fractured collarbone suffered at the Sachsenring the previous weekend. He said he was proud of the appointment, thanked Tajani and said his operation had gone well as he recovered ahead of Silverstone. Bezzecchi also recalled winning at Mugello on an Italian motorbike and carrying the Italian flag on the podium. Rossi said, “It’s satisfying to watch the races today: Italy is at the top with its bikes and riders.”

The gathering brought together figures from the Italian and global motorcycling world, including Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola, Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali, FMI president Giovanni Copioli and MotoGP Group CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta. Ducati displayed Bagnaia’s Desmosedici GP26, Nicolò Bulega’s WorldSBK-spec Panigale V4 R and the Superleggera V4 Centenario Tricolore. Rivola said the Piaggio Group and its brands, including Vespa, Moto Guzzi and Aprilia, represent Italian spirit worldwide.

LCR Honda confirmed that Cal Crutchlow will continue as Johann Zarco’s replacement for the British MotoGP at Silverstone on Aug. 7-9, extending his stay in the Castrol Honda LCR seat. The race will give Crutchlow a home Grand Prix appearance, and if he starts, he will become the first British rider on the premier-class British Grand Prix grid since his 2021 Silverstone substitute ride. Britain has not had a full-time MotoGP rider since Crutchlow retired at the end of 2020.

Zarco has been sidelined by knee injuries suffered at the Catalan Grand Prix in May, and after recent medical checks he decided not to have surgery. No return date has been announced, although September has been mentioned as a possible target. Crutchlow has been filling in since Mugello, and Silverstone would be his sixth consecutive race weekend on the bike after appearances in Hungary, Czechia, the Netherlands and Germany. His best results as a stand-in have been 16th place at Balaton Park and at Assen, and he has not scored a point.

Crutchlow is expected to share the LCR garage again with Diogo Moreira, who is 15th in the championship and has a best finish of sixth in Hungary. Jack Miller called Crutchlow’s 2026 return “mind-blowing” and praised his training and fitness, saying the veteran has had to adapt to new techniques and machinery in a MotoGP class that has changed during his time away.

Toprak Razgatlioglu said MotoGP’s constantly changing tires have made his first season difficult, and he called the Sachsenring German Grand Prix his worst race so far. The Turkish rider said he is still learning the bike and Michelin tires after coming from World Superbikes on Pirelli rubber, and that different specifications and asymmetric compounds at each circuit have hurt his confidence and motivation. He said MotoGP’s planned switch to Pirelli next year could help his adaptation.

At the Sachsenring, Razgatlioglu qualified 18th, finished 17th in the Sprint and described the weekend as a lost one. He said he struggled with tire management, repeated tire slip and setup on the tight, twisty track, and he had not raced at the circuit since 2014. In the main race, he kept losing ground in the same corners, fell behind after a small mistake while trying to follow Alex Rins, and then rode alone for the rest of the contest.

Razgatlioglu finished effectively last in the German Grand Prix, 38 seconds behind winner Marc Marquez and 6.5 seconds behind Alex Rins, the nearest Yamaha rider. He said being overtaken by stand-in LCR rider Cal Crutchlow was a low point, and he was surprised by Crutchlow’s Honda, which he said turned better and had more grip than his Yamaha. Razgatlioglu said he was disappointed not to reward the Turkish fans who supported him, and that the only positive was learning what he will need if he returns to Sachsenring next year. He has collected 12 points in the first half of his maiden MotoGP season, and he benefited from five retirements as well as the absences of injured Fermin Aldeguer and Marco Bezzecchi.

KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer said the factory believes something is wrong inside its RC16 MotoGP engines after a string of breakdowns this season, and he said some of the engines are now considered unusable for safety reasons. The issue came into sharp focus at the Catalunya Grand Prix in Barcelona, when Pedro Acosta’s KTM shut down at high speed and was then hit from behind by Alex Marquez, heightening rider-safety concerns within MotoGP.

KTM has also faced clutch and ride-height device failures this season, and it has already reduced engine performance in an effort to avoid another shutdown. The factory has asked to inspect its sealed engines during the summer break, but that would require unanimous approval from the manufacturers, with Aprilia reported to support the request as KTM looks for answers.

Marc Marquez dominated the German Grand Prix weekend at Sachsenring, converting pole position into a 30-lap victory by 1.996 seconds on Sunday and completing a double after also winning Saturday’s sprint. He took his third win of the MotoGP season and his 13th at Sachsenring, while also recovering from a minor crash in Friday practice to control much of the race at a circuit that has long suited him. The win moved Marquez up to third in the championship standings with 190 points before the summer break.

Alex Marquez was Marc Marquez’s closest challenger early in the race before crashing out of second place on lap nine, leaving Marc Marquez with little pressure at the front. Ai Ogura then passed Raul Fernandez late to finish second for Trackhouse, giving the team a 2-3 result, with Fernandez third and Pedro Acosta fourth. Jorge Martin finished fifth to extend his title lead with 208 points, while Ogura moved up to second in the standings and Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio fell in the championship after Bezzecchi missed both German races with a broken collarbone and Di Giannantonio recorded his first grand prix DNF of the season.

The weekend also brought wins for Ivan Ortola and Brian Uriarte in the support classes. Ortola beat Daniel Holgado by 0.614 seconds for his second Moto2 victory at Sachsenring, and Uriarte edged Max Quiles by 0.063 seconds to take his second Moto3 win. The German rounds were marked by crashes and attrition across the classes, with several riders failing to finish and a new bump at the Omega corner drawing attention during practice and qualifying.

Marco Bezzecchi withdrew from the rest of the German Grand Prix weekend after a heavy qualifying crash at Turn 7 on Saturday left him with a complete, displaced fracture of his left clavicle. Aprilia said he lost the rear of his bike before being thrown over the handlebars, then was taken by ambulance to the circuit medical center, where X-rays under MotoGP medical director Dr. Angel Charte confirmed the collarbone fracture. Bezzecchi is returning to Italy for surgery with Dr. Giuseppe Porcellini.

Reports varied on his exact position in Q2 when the accident happened. One account said Bezzecchi briefly moved into second place behind Marc Marquez, while another said he was third in Q2, after an earlier lap had put him provisionally seventh on the grid. Aprilia confirmed he will miss the German Grand Prix.

The injury came after Bezzecchi said on Friday that he was “in trouble with my body” as he returned to the bike after a heavy crash at Assen. He was not fully fit when he arrived at Sachsenring, finished seventh in Friday practice, and said the main issue was his body rather than his mindset as he prepared to “suffer” through the weekend.

Johann Zarco will have to serve a double long lap penalty when he returns to MotoGP after stewards ruled on the Catalan Grand Prix crash that left him with a knee injury and has kept him out for a fifth straight race. The sanction was finalized nearly two months after the incident, with the FIM MotoGP Stewards delaying their review because of Zarco’s medical condition before announcing the penalty at the Sachsenring ahead of the German Grand Prix.

Zarco was judged responsible for the restarted-race pileup at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in May, a dangerous opening-lap crash that involved Luca Marini and Francesco Bagnaia. He crashed under braking at Turn 1 after the sequence began with an earlier red-flag incident involving Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez. Zarco said the scene was so chaotic that trackside marshals “didn’t want to touch me,” and he recalled his left leg being trapped between the swingarm and seat unit before he let go of the bike. The stewards classified it as his first offense of the season, and critics argued the race should have been stopped rather than restarted.

Zarco has not needed surgery and is following rehabilitation to regain strength and mobility after suffering serious knee ligament damage. He has already missed races in Italy, Hungary, Czechia, the Netherlands and Germany, with Cal Crutchlow replacing him. Zarco is not expected back until September, with Misano mentioned as a likely return if he is fit, and he has told LCR team boss Lucio Cecchinello, “Get ready, I’m coming back.” Reports that he might move into a Honda test rider role were dismissed, and he remains under contract with LCR through 2027.