Fabio Quartararo stepped up his criticism of Yamaha’s V4 after the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, saying “I’m not stupid; I know how to ride a bike” and that he has lost his “love for riding.” He said he was no longer having “fun” as the Yamaha M1 struggled in cornering, and he described persistent problems with grip and power that left him uncomfortable braking, entering corners, cornering and accelerating. Quartararo qualified 17th, was eliminated in Q1 for the third time in four races, and finished 14th, nearly 30 seconds behind race winner Alex Márquez. He was the only Yamaha full-time rider to score points at Jerez; teammates Alex Rins finished 16th, Jack Miller 18th, and new signing Toprak Razgatlioglu 19th.

Quartararo warned that fixing one issue often seemed to expose another, and he and Razgatlioglu both singled out a “huge” engine-braking problem that undermines performance and confidence. Yamaha brought new items to Jerez but made little measurable progress according to reports, and team representative Massimo Meregalli said the factory used a slightly modified engine at the weekend while the overall design remained unchanged. Razgatlioglu said he did not enjoy riding the M1 at Jerez, crashed out of the Sprint and received a long-lap penalty after an incident, but he said he was “giving everything” and expected a bigger step when new bikes arrive in 2027.

Yamaha used Monday’s post-race test in Jerez to evaluate chassis, aerodynamic and electronic developments for the V4, and Quartararo said he “finds something” in the work. He emerged seventh fastest in the session, 0.495 seconds off the top time, and reported improved front-end feeling and a positive effect from a new aerodynamic element. Quartararo described the gains as incremental rather than a major breakthrough and said more development will be needed to return to podium contention. Yamaha sits fifth in the constructors’ championship on 14 points, 25 points behind Honda, and Quartararo’s outspoken comments increased pressure on the factory to deliver clearer solutions rather than incremental changes that do not address riders’ core complaints.

Senna Agius won the Moto2 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuito de Jerez, Ángel Nieto, recording his second consecutive victory of the season. He started fourth, set a new all-time Jerez lap record on Friday and rode a Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex fitted with Pirelli control tyres. Agius made the decisive pass for the lead on lap 14 of 21 and crossed the line 0.885 seconds ahead of teammate Manuel Gonzalez to give Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP a one-two. He said he had to manage severe front-tyre wear early and deliberately waited to push in the closing laps, and he thanked his team.

Collin Veijer took pole in Saturday qualifying with a 1:39.101 on his Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex. Alex Escrig and Manuel Gonzalez completed the front row and Agius started fourth. Veijer led much of the race but faded in the closing laps with arm pump and finished third, 1.107 seconds behind Agius. David Alonso recovered from a poor start to finish fourth, Celestino Vietti was fifth, and Dani Muñoz, Izan Guevara, Tony Arbolino, Alex Escrig and Iván Ortolá completed the top ten. American Joe Roberts, who had qualified 20th, finished 15th.

At round four of the Moto2 season the result tightened the early championship picture. Manuel Gonzalez leads on 59.5 points, Agius is second on 50 and Izan Guevara third on 45, leaving Gonzalez 9.5 points clear of Agius. Intact GP manager Jurgen Lingg praised Agius’s performance and warned that the upcoming Le Mans round will present a fresh challenge.

Tony Arbolino topped wet final practice at Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto, posting the fastest time of the Moto2 Free Practice Two with a 1:53.516 on his Pirelli-shod REDS Fantic Racing Kalex. Collin Veijer then claimed pole in Saturday qualifying, stopping the clock at 1:39.101 on his Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex and setting the front of the grid for the Moto2 race weekend.

Veijer edged Alex Escrig into second with a 1:39.158, and Manuel Gonzalez took third with a 1:39.196. Senna Agius qualified fourth and Alonso Lopez fifth, the two separated by one-thousandth of a second. Veijer ran on Pirelli control tires. Joe Roberts qualified 20th on his OnlyFans American Racing Team Kalex with a 1:40.119.

Final practice was run in damp, wet conditions and produced much slower lap times than Friday. Arbolino’s 1:53.516 set the pace in the session, Mario Aji was second on his Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex with a 1:54.090 and Barry Baltus, Arbolino’s REDS Fantic Racing teammate, was third with a 1:54.149. Alonso Lopez was fourth, Senna Agius fifth, Alex Escrig sixth, Dani Munoz seventh, Dani Holgado eighth, Jorge Navarro ninth and Collin Veijer tenth. The session featured a 28-rider field. Earlier on Friday, Agius had set a new all-time Moto2 lap record at Jerez with a 1:38.973 on his Liqui Moly Dynavolt IntactGP Kalex, breaking Deniz Oncu’s 2025 benchmark of 1:39.564.

Red Bull KTM Tech3 ran a single bike at the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Grand Prix of Spain in Jerez after Maverick Viñales missed the weekend while recovering from corrective shoulder surgery. Team statements said a displaced screw was discovered after the US Grand Prix in Austin and forced Viñales to withdraw for surgery, with some reports describing the screw as displaced from an earlier operation and others linking it to his Sachsenring crash. The team said the No. 12 bike would not be on track and that Viñales was targeting a comeback at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans on May 10, 2025.

Pol Espargaró had been penciled in to replace Viñales but suffered a hand injury in the lead-up to Jerez, leaving Enea Bastianini as Tech3’s sole entry for the weekend. Bastianini arrived at the first European round on the back of a third-place Sprint finish in Austin, and the team said it hoped to build on that momentum.

Tech3 management, including CEO Guenther Steiner, described the one-bike plan as a short-term interim operational adjustment to concentrate resources while managing rider fitness and recovery timelines, and said the twin setbacks forced rapid changes to race operations.

Nicolo Bulega wants a full-time MotoGP ride in 2027, but his pathway is far from certain. He is Ducati’s test and reserve rider and publicly insists he deserves a 2027 MotoGP seat, and Ducati does not share that view, creating a public disagreement about his immediate future. Bulega made his MotoGP debut at the end of 2025 as Marc Márquez’s injury replacement and scored two Sunday points in Portugal and Valencia, the only Sunday points Ducati scored while Márquez was out. His contract with Aruba expires this year, and several reports say most Desmosedici seats already appear booked as Ducati pursues different plans, which shrinks his realistic MotoGP options unless Ducati changes course or other teams open places.

Commentators have pointed to alternative routes, including a move linked to Trackhouse and interest from Aprilia. An article suggested Aprilia should target the Ducati-backed Bulega for 2027, potentially routed through Trackhouse, noting his relatively faster adaptation to Pirelli tires as a technical asset and as a way to deny Ducati a development resource. Journalist Giovanni Zamagni has suggested Trackhouse boss Davide Brivio could champion Bulega and that Bulega might line up alongside Enea Bastianini at Trackhouse. A factory Ducati seat looks closed since Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta are signed for 2027, and VR46 appears unlikely because Fermin Aldeguer is locked in and Fabio Di Giannantonio is expected to keep his seat. Bulega has been linked with Gresini, but Zamagni and others argue Gresini would probably avoid running two rookies in 2027. His manager has said offers are limited because Ducati-affiliated seats are largely occupied by VR46 and Gresini. The market is crowded, with Joan Mir, Luca Marini and several Moto2 prospects also in contention, and Ai Ogura confirmed at Yamaha for 2027.

MotoGP will undergo a major technical overhaul in 2027, with 850cc engines, reduced aerodynamics, a ban on ride-height devices and a switch to Pirelli tires, changes that could reshape team priorities and rider lineups. Bulega has been working on Ducati’s 850cc development while racing in WorldSBK, and his WorldSBK form this season has been strong: he opened the campaign with six wins in six races and leads the championship. One report noted he is not due to test Ducati’s new 850cc bike until at least June. Ultimately, whether Bulega moves to MotoGP in 2027 will depend on final team decisions, seat availability and how the 2027 technical changes affect team strategy.

Yamaha has agreed to sign Ai Ogura for the 2027 MotoGP season, pairing the 25-year-old with Jorge Martin in the factory team and replacing Alex Rins, Motorsport reporter Oriol Puigdemont and other outlets have reported. Yamaha is delaying any public announcement while the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Association (MSMA) and MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group finalize a five-year commercial contract.

Ogura won the 2024 Moto2 title and is in his second MotoGP campaign with Trackhouse Racing (Aprilia) after making his premier-class debut in 2025. He sits seventh in the championship after three rounds, with best finishes of fifth in Thailand and fifth in Brazil; reporters say he lost a podium opportunity to a technical issue and a mechanical failure in Austin ended his most recent race.

The Yamaha decision has triggered a wider rider-market reshuffle. The signing reduces options for Luca Marini, his camp has been told he is effectively ruled out for Yamaha, and it increases the likelihood Raul Fernández will remain with Trackhouse as that team will have a vacancy to fill. Reports indicate Honda’s (HRC) works squad appears set to pair Fabio Quartararo with David Alonso, sources say LCR seats are effectively sealed, and Dani Holgado has confirmed a move to Gresini Racing on a Ducati. Yamaha had considered promoting Izan Guevara or calling up Toprak Razgatlioglu from Pramac, but Razgatlioglu’s reported reluctance to leave Pramac and other market movements left Ogura as the chosen signing. Guevara enters the season with strong recent form and Yamaha has described him as having “explosive” premier-class potential.

Pedro Acosta’s rise in MotoGP has been driven as much by a change in mentality as by upgrades to KTM’s RC16, and KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer credited Acosta’s increased maturity, the RC16 improvements and a new “get what you can” mindset that abandoned an all-or-nothing style. Acosta summed up the shift: “I make fewer mistakes and use my brain more.” The revised approach produced more consistent fourth- to sixth-place finishes rather than risky attempts at wins.

That change translated into results on track. After three rounds Acosta produced his strongest start in the premier class and became the first KTM rider to lead the championship after winning a Sprint and finishing second at the Thailand Grand Prix. He secured his debut Sprint victory this season, has two Grand Prix podiums so far, has scored points in all six races alongside Jorge Martín, and turned an eighth-place Sprint at the USA Grand Prix into a Sunday podium. After six races he sits third in the standings, 21 points behind leader Marco Bezzecchi as he heads to his home round at Jerez on April 24-26.

Observers still point to limitations in KTM machinery that make a title unlikely this season, but the combination of results, mentality and the prospect of an Acosta and Marc Márquez pairing at Ducati has raised talk of a possible master-versus-apprentice rivalry should Acosta get a competitive bike. Acosta called teaming with the nine-time world champion Marc Márquez a “dream come true,” and Oscar Piastri echoed the sentiment, saying he wants to see Acosta “on a bike that can compete” and calling a title fight between Acosta and Márquez “really cool” to watch. The reported Ducati move was said to have been agreed before the season but remains unannounced while a commercial agreement for 2027 between manufacturers and MotoGP is unresolved.

Liberty Media has proposed introducing F1-style permanent reserve riders in MotoGP as part of a new commercial framework, arguing that factories should name one or two reserves who travel to every round and can step in for factory or satellite teams. The proposal is framed as a response to an expanded calendar and a heavier weekend format (Friday practice, a Saturday sprint and a Sunday grand prix) that organizers say has increased injuries and produced prolonged absences — cited examples include Marc Márquez, Jorge Martín and the pre-season injury to Fermin Aldeguer — and is intended to reduce reliance on ad-hoc stand-ins and improve competitiveness and readiness. The idea remains under discussion rather than a confirmed rule change.

Proponents have proposed mandating manufacturer reserves, possibly two riders per brand with one slot reserved for a young rider, and argue such a system could give Moto2 stars meaningful race-weekend exposure and become a pivotal development route if cost and logistical hurdles are addressed. Supporters say a formal reserve pool would cover frequent injuries, avoid situations where full-time riders cannot be replaced and mirror Formula 1’s permanent reserve approach, while Liberty positions the plan alongside other F1-style changes it has introduced since taking control in 2025.

Officials, teams and riders raised multiple practical and commercial objections. Manufacturers currently rely on test riders — such as Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, the Espargaró brothers, Ducati’s Michele Pirro and Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori — who focus on bike development rather than being maintained race-ready; Pirro’s best substitute result in the last decade was fourth at the 2018 Valencia Grand Prix and he was over a minute off the lead when deputizing in Thailand, while Savadori scored points twice in 2025 with a best finish of ninth at the wet French Grand Prix. Critics point to the lack of MotoGP simulators, the need for extensive seat time, likely changes to weekend formats, riders’ reluctance to travel without a guaranteed chance to race (Alex Rins said “I wouldn’t be willing to do so”), and scheduling clashes with World Superbike — exemplified by the Nicolò Bulega case — as major obstacles. Ducati sporting director Davide Tardozzi publicly rejected the proposal as “not viable,” and teams warned they would be unwilling to risk their lead SBK or MotoGP riders serving as reserves. The proposal’s fate will hinge on whether manufacturers, teams and series officials can reconcile the operational, financial and talent-development trade-offs involved.