27 Silly Season Starts Early

MotoPod, proudly supported by Road Skin, a UK label specializing in protective outerwear for motorcyclists. Modern biker clothing that you can wear all day long and engineered to save your skin. For the road, for life, visit roadskin.co.uk Welcome to MotoPod, the internet radio show all about motorcycle road racing. This is episode 824, Silly Season Explodes. To help me talk about silly season, it is Richard Jout.

Richard, thanks for hopping on for a quick pod without much preparation. But it seems as though MotoGP went crazy as the weather is here in the US. What do we, is this wild right now? It's exploded as you said Jim, so we just had to sit there and this is a nice change for me actually doing it on a Saturday afternoon at like three o'clock in the afternoon for me here. So this is a yeah, not a late night one for me, which is good.

Oh good. Oh, all right folks, before we get into this, I want you to know that we would love to have some more donators and subscribers to the show. To do that, we need everybody's help to get the word out about the pod. Please share it with people. Please leave a review on the platform where you get this podcast from.

And remember that you can subscribe to the show for as little as two US dollars through PayPal or Patreon. With the housekeeping out of the way, Rich, let's talk about the little bit of news that came out. We are preparing for the Sepang or we're coming to the Sepang shakedown or we just finished the Sepang shakedown, I guess I should say, because they're hours ahead of us. What hours ahead of me? Probably what eight or nine hours ahead for you there, I think.

Something close to that. But on the first day, the Yamaha was the quickest bike there. I think the shakedown is for the teams that are what? Not the top tier teams. It's the C and D level teams because the A and B teams aren't allowed to test there.

Basically Honda, Yamaha were there. Some of the, how can I put it, independent teams that are going to be there were there. Yamaha topped it on the first day. Their V4 was looking pretty good. As Matt Oxley said, hey, they were only about a few tenths off of what the race pace was from Sepang last time we were here.

So hey, things aren't as dark as what you think. And it's a massive improvement by Yamaha to get the new V4 up to snuff. Any thoughts that you have on that part right there? Yeah, well, also the rookies and official test riders, depending on the concession level of the team in question or the manufacturer in question, I should say, they're allowed to run as well. So hence why Miller was out riding the Pramak bike because they get the concession that allows them to run.

I believe that's correct because as we stand right now, I believe, and I haven't checked this, I suppose I should have done. I think Yamaha is still in a concessions tier all on its own because obviously HRC, Mitsubishi, moved up, didn't they? On the basis of the fact that they got that a certain position in Valencia. It moved them up, didn't it? Yeah.

Out of the concession level that they were in. So I think Yamaha have the most bandwidth at the moment in terms of what they can do with the riders that they've got. So I'm always a little bit kind of skeptical on the sort of the pre-official test shape just don't quite know what people are running, et cetera, et cetera. But anyway, as you say, Jim, the signs from Yamaha are that the V4 is making some progress, which is good, although as we're going to come on to shortly, probably not enough progress to keep certain things in place, which is the main purpose of this pod. Yes.

So also Honda took a time at the top with their shakedowns with the new bike. So they're looking good as well, which may be a reason why someone is maybe going somewhere else. We don't know for sure. So that's the sort of like the quick breakdown of the shakedown. I mean, I'm sure we'll have a testing show here when that comes around, when we get the actual testing results from Sepang.

But the second piece of news we want to talk about was this came out. I saw this on the web. It was Instagram. It was from an Australian television station. Don't remember which one, folks, but they were talking about how the racetrack known as the Bend, which is a little bit outside or a little bit to the east of Adelaide.

And it seems as though it's a very nice facility. I did look at it through Google Earth and look at the track. It seems to be a nice place out there. They are in the bidding to do Moto GP races there, if not at the island, which is at least a more purpose built circuit that isn't inside of a park that isn't a road course. And it looks pretty good.

So if any of you out there are from Australia listening, let us know if you know anything more about the Bend other than what we've been. I've been able to drag up on the Internet. I love to get some feedback. If anybody's been there, that they think the circuit could handle a Moto GP race, if the infrastructure exists there. I also hard to tell on the map for me how long it would take you to get from Adelaide into the track.

So if anybody in Australia knows any of that, please send us an email. Moto podcast at Moto pod at Moto podcast dot com. I'd love to have more information on that. Rich, I think it's great that at least another track in Australia is stepping up and is going to try to challenge this move to the barren blank land outside of Melbourne somewhere that seems to be what the Fox family wants to do or this insane idea of cutting all the trees down in Albert or not Albert Park in Melbourne to hold Moto GP races there. I think that's just crazy.

Yeah, while we talked about this last time out, we just don't you and I just don't see that as viable in terms of the cost involved. I'm trying to remember now and I apologize. I can't remember who wrote in some months ago to point out that the Bend was a facility that could potentially jump in and fill this slot. And as you say, it's purpose built track. They hold Australian super bikes there.

So I don't suppose it would take too much. And it is a fairly new facility. So it would have been built with future proofing in mind. I mean, it ain't Philip Island, but then where is so I mean, I think everybody that listens to the show will be very, very upset if PI disappears off the calendar. But it does appear to be that the momentum is going away from that facility at the moment for the reasons that we've discussed at length previously.

So yeah, I don't know really. It's a mixed feelings thing, isn't it Jim really? For PI to be lost. I mean, obviously, well, super bikes will remain there because the demands on the facilities are perhaps not so great with world super bikes. But I'm struggling with this one a little bit because it's such a great place.

But I appreciate all of the logistical financial aspects that are obviously part of this. And PI can't make the changes that are being demanded, then they have to look for an alternative. And those alternatives, obviously in Australia are scarce. But the bend, as was pointed out to us by one of the listeners some time back, would be certainly a more viable option, I would have thought, than making the massive modifications needed to it is Albert Park, isn't it? In in Melbourne, I think it is.

I thought that was in Adelaide, but I don't remember. I don't know. Albert Park is the let's call it the F1 track. Yes. OK.

It is. OK. My geography is terrible. So my mind seems to be slipping these days. It's what everything is called.

Brain fog gym. That's what we both have from that. So didn't want to get myself in any more trouble than I am already. So I just thought I'd leave it as that. I mean, I remember Formula One in Albert Park or in Adelaide.

And I always thought that that street circuit was pretty cool because it had a fairly long straightaway in it. And I think that was the year where three people were heading to the title PK, Mansell and one of us. Prost and Prost. Oh, yes. And I remember Mansel's Goodyear tire just exploding on that straightaway in the car.

1986 gym. It is indelibly stamped on my brain. I got up in the middle of the night to watch that. We all thought Mansel was going to do it. And yeah, heartbreak.

Yeah. Never to be forgotten. But it was a good track. It was really, really good track. And they do still race, I believe, at the categories on that circuit.

Obviously, F1 left. I think the last race in Adelaide, I'm trying to think, it was 1990. Because there's a great battle between Mansel and the Ferrari. And PK actually won the race that year. Gotcha.

Gotcha. Yeah, I know I think I thought the V8 Supercars went there, but I'm thinking that that's not the track that I have in my head. No, they probably do. I think they probably do. It was called the City of Cathedrals at Adelaide, as I remember.

That's how they always used to refer to it. And it was a really, really good track. Okay. Okay. The one that's in my head is the one where the V8 Supercars are jumping over the curbs.

But I thought that was at the Gold Coast, which is… Could be, yeah. Like, north of Melbourne, straight north of Melbourne on the eastern side of Australia. But I digress. I don't know exactly where that is. Once Indycar quit going to Australia, I kind of forgot what was… I'm going to correct myself now.

1990 was not the final race at Adelaide. Because I remember that was the track where Hakkinen had that nasty accident, a really, really serious accident. And I'm going to say that F1 switched to Albert Park in Melbourne in 1996, because that was the first year in the first race that Schumacher had in the Ferrari. And I'm pretty sure that was 96. Okay.

All right. I'll go with that. I'm happy to be corrected on that, because my memory is not all it once was. And I was very much a Formula One fan all through the 80s. Well, from the mid-80s, certainly, because I was in my teens then.

And through the 90s, at which point I kind of started to tune out of F1 a little bit. And happily, that was when I really got into GP 500 and then Natalie Moto GP, which for me, Moto GP was as soon as the four strokes came. That was when it became Moto GP to me. Yes, agreed. I would think that I would… Long story here to get back to where I was thinking is, I would be very happy for the people of Adelaide if they could get another world-level championship back into their city.

Yeah. I really hope the bin can pull this off, because as much as I will miss the island, I will have as much joy for the people of Adelaide to have a world-level race back there in their city. So, yeah. Whoa. Okay.

We're finally now we're running around tracks. It sounds like a Formula One pod for some weird reason. I don't know how that happens every time. We normally hit a bit of Formula One every episode. Yeah.

You can't help it. It's the only sport comparison that makes sense to what happens with Moto GP bikes. To the main point of this podcast, it is the fact that Silly Season exploded on us. Several hours, the craziness went absolutely rampant. The thing is that that's what we want to talk about.

We want to look at all this craziness that was going on now. This is a lot of stuff was just thrown out on the internet. Would it be fair to say, Rich, that it is rooted in credible journalists who are embedded in the paddock who are fairly certain that this is going to happen. But what we are hearing as of right now is that Quattroraro will leave Yamaha at the end of 26 and he will move to HRC. So he will be on Honda.

Martín will leave Aprilia. I don't think anybody wouldn't believe that was going to happen given the circumstances. He will then go and replace Quattroraro at Yamaha. Acosta seems destined to be signing on the line here very soon or at some point during the year. We'll put his name on paper to ride for Ducati in the factory squad.

And that leaves the Italian great Pecco Benyaio out of the Ducati ride and perhaps goes to the better bike and the better Italian team of Aprilia. So given all of that craziness, Rich and I thought it'd be great if we would sit down and think about where we think everybody's going to be on the teams for 2027. With that, I suggest we get into our 2027 picks. We haven't even seen a race yet, 26, and we are talking about who's going to be where in 2027. Yes, sir.

Just one thing to say. Obviously, this all broke yesterday. So Friday, what was it? Yes, the 30th, I think, of January. Yes.

I mean, we knew that there are obviously we always talk about the three stroke for aliens, and it was clear that we were waiting for one of those chips to fall. And then what happens is that other things happen quite rapidly thereafter. And in retrospect, now I'm just thinking about it and this thought is just coming into my brain. It probably isn't such a big surprise that this has all happened very rapidly like this, because let's be honest, the factories and particularly the factory teams have a lot on their plate this year in terms of trying to make sure that this final year of the thousands that they remain competitive, because obviously there's still some limited development that they will be able to do. I know we've got engine freezers and stuff, but as they kind of build towards the 850s, I suppose you could say that one thing that they do not want is a lot of distraction around rider contracts.

So for all of this to suddenly happen in the preseason with the key players, and there are three or four of those as we're going to, well, as you've just already alluded to, then allows the rest of the pack to shuffle into place. Now, obviously that shuffling will emerge, I guess, over the coming months. So we're speculating massively in terms of what we think, which was kind of like a fun thing to do. But perhaps, as I say, in retrospect, it's not such a big surprise that this is all suddenly broken as hard and as fast as it did, given all the other changes that are going to happen this year, technically with the bikes. Yes.

I mean, think about it. You're going from 1000 cc's to 850, so you're downsizing there. You have the switch away from Michelin to Pirelli rubber across every class. And then you're absolutely positively, I'm going to use this phrase and probably get a lot of flak for dumbing down the motorcycle tremendously by removing the shape shifting bikes, no more squatting coming out of the turns, no more ride height devices of any kind, and no whole shot device is of any kind, all completely totally banned. And on top of that, you have severely restricted arrow that will be allowed on a Moto GP bike that is going to be very tightly regulated and controlled.

It's going to be a massive change that's going to happen to these machines in essentially 12 months time. Because we're right here before the Supang test. I'm sure next year we'll probably start off in Supang again with testing and it's going to be crazy. I mean, it's going to be wild essentially after Valencia. So we're really only, what would you say, Rich, in all honesty, we are 10 months away from seeing the new creations that are going to be slipped out and ran?

I think we will see from mid season onwards, the 850s out and tracking testing. There's been a gentleman's agreement between the teams that they would not run them, you know, for a certain period of time to allow this season to sort of progress under relatively normal circumstances. One little correction, Jim, I have a feeling in the back of my brain that the whole shot devices do remain in the regs. But that's obviously just off the start line. There's no other kind of use of that technology.

I think they remain. I might be wrong, but that's just in the back of my mind. I think that the whole shot is allowed in the 2027 regs. But I'd say it's a minor thing because that's purely just a start line device. Sure.

My recollection was that I was shocked that they even banned the whole shot device. So that's why I remember it. But you could be right. Maybe they have changed and I just simply have missed that. We need to check on that.

But that is a relatively minor detail compared to the rear shape shifters when it's going. That's the big deal in amongst all of this. Yes. So all that said, Rich, are you ready to go through who we think ride for each of the teams in the 2027 season? Oh, yeah, I'm really ready for this.

So all right, I'm going to start kind of the way it's listed on the MotoGP website. And I'm going with Aprilia first. OK, so for Aprilia in 27, I have Bezeki and Pekko Benyaya riding for the Italian for what would become the Italian dream team. Yeah, I'm exactly the same. Yeah, one, I think Bez is obviously is going to carry over what they have done with Aprilia and what he has done at Aprilia has been nothing short of remarkable.

I even heard Simon Patterson on the race or read what Simon Patterson wrote for the race that he is in agreement with or I am in agreement with him. However, you want to look at it is that the Aprilia is quite possibly the best bike on the grid, better than the Ducati's. And I think that Bez is going to carry on and look great again this year, maybe even truly be a title challenger, perhaps, or at least make Marquez work at it to get it. It won't be as easy to have a walk away as it was. But really, where else is Pekko going to go?

Now, I think you could speculate that maybe he might have looked at VR46 or something like that. But would he feel good about his age and his abilities to drop to a and getting a second tier bike? I don't think he would want that. Now, it doesn't mean that they wouldn't put one factory bike inside of VR46, which would be, which they did have because we all know Digia had the 25 bike. So, but that's how I see it, Rich.

I mean, I think you're you're in agreement, but I'd like to know why you think these things. Well, like you, when we were talking about this in past shows, the VR46 move kind of made sense in terms of sticking with the Ducati brand. Obviously, Pekko's a big buddy. He was the original sort of VR46 camp protege, wasn't he? So, I just had doubts around the whole VR46 project as well, because I just don't know how committed Valentino Rossi is to it.

So, there's some speculation about whether they might even move away from Ducati. That's another element of this. But I mean, Bagnari is a two-time world champion, let's not forget. He's great friends with Bizecki, who's another VR46 protege and slotting onto that bike, which I think we can certainly say is at least the equal of the Ducati as things stand at the moment. We don't know, obviously, a huge caveat across the entirety while there's two actually, of course, this discussion is we don't know what the 27 bikes will be like in terms of their competitive order, because somebody might just smash it out of the park in terms of what they turn up with.

And of course, we don't know how riders will perform through this season. Even if we accept that the four people that we've already mentioned might be kind of shoe-ins at the teams that we've mentioned, there's a lot of other stuff that will come along. So some of the people that I think maybe disappear from the grid might have rock in 2026 seasons and they do find a place on the back of that. But Bagnari to Aprilia does make an awful lot of sense because they're losing inverted commas because I suspect at this point in time, Aprilia will be pleased to see the back of Jorge Martín for the reasons that, again, that we've spoken about a lot. That is a toxic relationship and it's an unrecoverable relationship after the contraction anagons that happened midway through last season.

So they would want to bring a big name rider into the team and Bagnari just makes an awful lot of sense when you kind of sit down and really think about it and certainly more sense if Martín leaves than Bagnari going to VR46, given some potential doubts around VR46's commitment to the series and what they might be running. So I just think it makes an awful lot of sense that Bagnari teams up with Bazzacchi in, as you've called it, and it would be absolutely the case, an Italian dream team. Yes, it would be. That is for sure. So we're going to move on to the next team on the list that I have and that is Grissini.

So at Grissini, I have Alex Marquez with Furman Aldiger for 27. Okay. And you have? No. Well, so this is an interesting one.

So I have Alex Marquez staying there as well from a continuity point of view. Although I have to say, I did spot earlier on, Simon Patterson, again, was having an ex-exchange with somebody on there. So he listed out who he felt would be in various teams and he does not have Alex Marquez Grissini, which is interesting. We'll come to where he places him later on. I've decided to stick with it because I want to be accused of just copying what other people say.

I kind of think Alex is in a good place at that team and I think that they would probably welcome the continuity of him staying put through the transition to the 850. But I have David Alonso there. David Alonso there. Okay. Because I think you have to look at the Jucati, not hierarchy, the progression program that they have in place and they're going to want to snag one of the bright lights as we were talking about in the last show when we were talking about who from Moto2 and lesser so from Moto3, it's true because obviously you have, you kind of have to go through Moto2 first.

So I think one of the hot rookies from Moto2 last year, given their Pirelli experience, which you cannot underestimate that. Okay. I know the MotoGP Pirelli tire will be different to the Moto2 tire, but nevertheless, it's still going to be relevant experience. And I want to phrase this carefully because obviously there are three Jucati squads and I want to say, I don't want to say that Cristina is the third of those because obviously Alex Marquez finished second in the championship last season. So arguably they're above VR46.

But if we assume that VR46 sticks as a Jucati satellite, semi-works stroke satellite, they're going to want to have progression there and they will definitely want to bring somebody from Moto2. And for me, Alonso is the, probably is the leading candidate for that and Jucati will want to have a very young, sort of very hot property prospect feeding into its lineup ready for 28, 29, 30. You can argue which one of the Moto2 sort of proteges it's going to be. For me, Alonso probably is still the hottest one. I've got a caveat against some of my team make-ups here.

And I do wonder whether even a Max Quiles could do a Jack Miller and jump straight from Moto3 to MotoGP. So I've got him as a banker, but I've got Alex Marquez and Alonso in Grissini for 27. Okay. Well, we agree with Alex Marquez. I went with that because I looked for continuity.

I figure Alex is probably going to have a factory bike again next year. I think he'll do well enough that he'll be rewarded by getting a factory bike. I left Alager there because I want, if I'm Jucati, I would want my rising star, who I think is Alager. He did win a race. He's looked brilliant on the 24.

If he's riding a 25 next year, I think he's going to struggle a little bit with it. Well, I'm going to probably sign someone to ride for my factory team because I don't have Peco there anymore. We'll talk about that in a minute. But also, Mark Marquez is not going to stay at the dance forever. And I would like to try to hold on to him.

And if I have to sweeten the deal and give Grissini two factory bikes, I would. So that's why I have them both there. Just from that standpoint, that they would be able to move another person potentially right to a spot where when Mark Marquez decides I'm done, which is probably more sooner than later, I would think. Yeah. I mean, a big part in all of this, of course, is well, I mean, Marquez has not confirmed that Jucati as things stand at the minute.

And we don't know precisely why. I suspect it will be announced before the season starts because Jucati won't want that hanging over them any longer than is necessary. There was some talk about whether or not the Honda was making enough progress that Marquez might be tempted back there for a sort of a nice symmetrical swan song. I think he will stay at Jucati. The question is, is how long does he want to commit his future to?

And equally, how long would Jucati be willing to commit to him? Because he is at the end of his competitive career. He's still, for me, the goat out there in amongst that particular cohort of riders. Some people say that he might want to go on for another five years. I find that a little hard to imagine.

I can certainly see him going through to the end of 28, particularly if he does well on the 850. But that's obviously a big question mark. But Jucati have to be thinking post Marquez, which is why I think they will make plays to bring in one, if not possibly two, of the people that we identified last time out in terms of the Moto2 and Moto3 grid that are likely to be the stars of the next phase. I completely agree with you. But I also think that Jucati would make a play for those kids after they've had a season or two in MotoGP.

Because Jucati kind of reminds me, here it goes again, Formula One analogy, reminds me of Ferrari. They're not really going to put a rookie in a car, but they're going to go poach who they want and put in the car. And I kind of feel like Jucati sort of rolls down that same path. I agree to a point, but I disagree on the basis that there are so many good bikes, and even the satellites run really good bikes now. You almost can't afford to wait around.

The days when there were two dominant teams are kind of currently, thankfully, behind us. And therefore you have to start making your plans. It's like a game of chess, I think now. You've got to be thinking four or five moves down the board. So that's kind of where I'm at with it.

Tanner Iskra There's a difference of opinion is what makes this so good and so much fun, right? That's why it's fun. Yeah. Jace Okay. The big people on the block, Jucati, who's there.

I have Pedro Acosta joining Mark Marquez in what could be considered a super team because you have the reigning goat, the true alien of the group and the kid who is the succession to alienism, if that's even a word. Yeah, no, I'm exactly the same. I suspect the talk now with both Marquez and Acosta is around money and the more mundane things like the amount of media commitments that they're willing to put up with. Because of course, if Acosta goes to Jucati, yes, he's a relative newbie into MotoGP, but can you imagine the demands on his time? So there's probably some horse trading going on in terms of just exactly what they're prepared to put up with.

Although it must be said again, we've touched on this some time ago. MotoGP riders have very little commitment if you compare them to Formula One drivers and there will be a big push, a lot of pressure coming from the Liberty media era for a lot more engagement by the riders, a lot more kind of commitments in terms of their time and they're going to have to do a lot more to earn their money. And as a consequence, they will earn a lot more money. And one of the issues with Jucati, as in the worst Jucati squad, is that they are famous for not paying huge salaries. They pay large bonuses on performance.

So there's probably, particularly with Marc Marquez in mind, there's probably quite a bit of trading going on as to what he's going to get out of this. Because he probably doesn't want to do too much on the media side given where he's at. But he is the number one in the whole of the grid. Let's be honest. So he will be probably wanting to make up for that dent in his bank balance that he took when he gave up that HRC contract.

Because this is the last year or two that he'll earn money. Not that he needs the money. I mean, obviously, he's got tens of millions in the bank, no doubt. But how much you've got is not really the point. It's how much you're worth.

And so there'll be a negotiation going on in and around that. No doubt. Okay. Should we move to the next one on the list? Okay.

So the next one is Honda themselves. Here I have put Juan Mir and Jorge Martin together. Now, I did this because I'm not so sure Quattroraro will leave Yamaha. That is my own personal take. It's my own personal take.

And I think that he sees the same problem over at Honda that he has at Yamaha. And I don't think he wants to deal with it again. So I think that that keeps him there. Now, Honda had much ado with Martin when he was trying to get out of his contract at Aprilia and all this. And they were all very welcoming, of course.

Again, Quattroraro had an airtight contract, so he wouldn't necessarily be available to go. But I do think that Honda thinks that Martin is the kind of rider that they need, because I think he rides, I think, regardless of what the bike is, he tries to ride it to its absolute limit and beyond. And I don't know if Honda actually ever has made a bike that's been easy to ride and has worked as a flowing type of a motorcycle. And they always seem to find a rider that can just tame whatever beast they show in there. And I think they see Martin as having that ability.

Now, Mir stays, I think, just for stability between it. And he's the guy who's going to help make the bike good enough that Martin can extract every last bit out of it because I think Martin is slightly more talented than Mir. I know that I think you and I will disagree about that, but there's the logic. Yeah, that's a big call from you. I will be wrong, I'm sure.

Well, I'm going to stick with convention in terms of the news that broke. And I think Quattroraro will go to HRC. It's entirely possible. However, I do agree with you. I think Mir will stay put, partly for the continuity, but I think more so because of the fact that he actually showed a lot of promise last year as the bike started to, in inverted commas, improve.

He came to the bike and the bike came to him. And I've said that I think Mir will win a race this year on the Honda, which is a bigish claim because he hasn't really shown much sign of doing so up until now. I think, you know, I am a Mir fan. I've made that clear many, many times. And I genuinely do believe that he's going to have a good season on the 1000 this year and will do enough to retain that spot.

It might be one of these things where that's a decision that takes a while to be announced and we'll be reliant on him continuing to show that progress on the bike. So yeah, I think Quattroraro will go there because I think that news appears to be solid enough that it appears to be correct, although it's not official. So we don't know. And I think last year we were kind of saying that we felt that Honda and Yamaha were kind of even Stevens in terms of where they were. I think towards the latter part of the year, Honda took a big step forward and Yamaha appeared to sort of flatline a little bit.

And I think, I just think that Fabio Quattroraro has been there so long that he just needs to change. I think he probably knows that he just changes as good as a rest, they say. And let's be honest, if you're going to go anywhere, I would have had him going to Aprilia as the logical place for him to go, but Aprilia won't pay him a huge salary. HRC will pay him a big salary and Quattroraro is an alien. And that is precisely what HRC require.

And they'll get the checkbook out because it's still going to be cheaper than what they would have been paying Marco, had he still been there. So for me, it just makes more kind of logical sense for Quattroraro to go there. But I don't see them doing a kind of a big kind of shake up of the team. So that's why I think Mirstay's put. And Marini probably becomes test rider extraordinaire on a huge contract to fulfill that role.

Yeah, because they've got Alacia Spargrove there as a tester, they got Nakagami. Okay, you might say Nakagami is possibly not top tier. If they had those three guys there, and obviously a lot of this depends on what concessions they have. And let's just also remember that from 2027, the concessions flatline, so everybody starts on an equal basis at that point, because obviously it's a new formula. So to me, it just makes sense for Honda to do that in terms of the shuffle in the deck that they've got and bringing in Quattroraro.

Logical reasoning. We will see. We will see. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Sorry. Yes. The other thing, people probably think I'm a bit of a Martin hater and I was, or less so now, I have to say. But I just don't think with the way that the Japanese kind of go about business, I think Martinez did himself a lot of damage last year.

And I'm just not sure that quite fits into the HRC mold. Whereas if he were to go to Yamaha, again, I want to phrase this carefully. Yamaha are kind of in the position where they'll take what's left of the best that's available, which sounds extremely insulting to both Martin and to Yamaha. But I just think that's basically where things are at the minute. They've got a V4, which is decades in development behind everybody else, because this is the first V4 that Yamaha have run.

So there's a huge question mark over that. And I do think that Martin slightly damaged goods really in terms of the way his journey at Aprilia has gone and the way him and his management behaved over the contractual side of things last year. So I think Yamaha's probably his best option as things stand at the minute. If he wants to retain a high salary, and they will pay him a lot to go there, works right. So I think that's just the way the chips are going to fall for him.

You are probably not wrong. There's some soundlogging. Well, I probably am. Oh, yeah. I think we're both probably wrong about everything.

But I'm going to be even more wrong as we move to LCR. So at LCR, there's one obvious one. Diego Marrero is there because he has a three-year contract with them. And Zarco is contracted as well, Jim. And Zarco is contracted as well.

But I do have a, you got Marrero slash Zarco slash Furusato. Now, the reason I, the reason, yes, I went bold. What can I say? But with Marrero, with Zarco, Zarco is getting on. He'll be 36, I think, during the season.

During the season. In this 20, in 26, he'll be 36. I'm not so sure that Zarco wants to be there, right? Or wants to ride longer. Like, I think it might be just test rider time for Zarco.

You have Idemitsu, who would probably very much appreciate a Japanese rider. And Furusato is probably the best of the Japanese riders who are in the MotoGP paddock. So it would be easy to take him after a year of Moto2 and put him on the 27 bike because he'd go from this, I always get this wrong, the Triumph, which is like 769 CCs or something around the 9-6. I reverse the two numbers all the time, which the 850 may have very similar characteristics to it. So the jump to Moto2, to MotoGP in 27 might be less and his name and passport might be what's required.

I'm just throwing it out there. It's a bold one, Jim. I told you, I struggled with, I went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth about like who goes where and who does what because what happens this year? And all of that. And so it's very, very, very, very, very weird.

But I was just thinking, I love Lucio. I think the world of the man having a team and stuff, but money is always the big talker, I think there. And if Idemitsu is going to put down the money for a bike, then he's not necessarily forced to. But you got to think he's thinking that Idemitsu is a lot better to be there with Forosado on the bike. Well, I mean, Murera is contracted through to 2028 with Honda, not with LCR.

Oh, okay. Yes. Very good point. And obviously there are always exit clauses and caveats in every contract, of course, but let's assume that Murera, well, Murera is definitely at LCR in 27. I mean, Zarco is contracted to be there because the only two riders that are in contract for 27 are Zarco and Murera.

So that kind of takes LCR off the board in terms of this discussion. However, I do agree with you, Zarco is getting somewhat long in the tooth and would be a good test rider for them. But then Honda probably don't need another test riders we've already just discussed, depending on what happens to Marini. So I just think LCR is kind of blocked out for 2027, which is obviously what this discussion is about. I mean, I don't know.

I just think that Yamaha and Honda, as Japanese factories have become much more Europeanized, which is a word I've just made up through necessity, given everything that has changed technically within the formula over the last few seasons, certainly post pandemic. So I'm not convinced that there's quite the desire to have a Japanese rider in there as there once was, although obviously it would be preferable for both Japanese factories to have a fast Japanese rider. I mean, a Gera would be the one that you might think would make the switch if anybody was going to do that. But I just don't think there's going to be much change at LCR. I think Honda, Honda, given how poorly they have performed over the last few seasons, they just want somebody on the bike that's going to win.

And I don't think they at this point, I don't think they give a an SH1T where they're from. And Idemitsu as a sponsor is out of LCR, at least temporarily next year, because both of those bikes are going to run under Castrol, I believe. So that might be a a break in the chain that won't be fixed in the future. Not to say, I mean, it could be, but I don't see much change at LCR. But I like the idea of Furusato.

I mean, he's very, very quick, but he's in Moto, is he in Moto 2 next year? He moves up. Okay, so fair enough. He's just a bit wild and inconsistent, isn't he? Unless he has a rocking year in Moto 2.

I didn't have him on my list of people in my top 10 and nor did you. So I'm not sure I can quite make that much of a leap, to be honest with you, but I appreciate the boldness. Sometimes you have to. You gotta go out there, you know, walk on the limb because it's fun. Oh, let's go to Yamaha.

The actual factory, the tuning forks. Well, I think it's obvious for me, Quattrora stays in top rack joins him. Okay, so we're 50% aligned. I think top rack will join Monster Yamaha, assuming Monster stays on board as a title sponsor. But again, I'm of the opinion that Martin will be on the bike with him in 27.

It's possible. I think one of the best things Yamaha did was they signed top rack, a man with an immense amount of time on Pirelli rubber, which was probably key. And not only just on Pirellis, but on big bikes, big displacement bikes, right? Yeah. And I thought you were going to say a man with an immense amount of talent because he's got an immense amount of talent.

He does. He is on the cusp of alienism. Again, make that word up. But he's probably going to, depending on, he may not do so well in this first year. He may come in and just absolutely shock us and just be right there at the front.

But the question is, how good is the V4 Yamaha going to be? Yeah. In the post Linjarvis post, post Linjarvis post, I can't remember the name of the guy. I apologize. But the guy who's basically in charge at Yamaha now is very much a fully signed up top rack fan, which is how top rack is made over to MotoGP.

Because technically he's much too old to come into MotoGP now, given the amount of talents coming up through Moto2 and Moto3. So that move kind of happened because the guys in charge at Yamaha now wanted it to happen. And obviously there's detail that we would never ever see in these contracts. But if you remember, um, Sofroglu, who's top racks manager, always held out for the fact that top rack was going to only going to come to MotoGP if it's on a works bike. So he's gone to Pramac.

He'll be on up to date machinery, but it's not the works team. And I suspect that, okay, with some performance clauses involved or some minimum results based elements to the contract, I suspect that he had a route up to the works, fully works team built into the contract. So there's obviously going to be a lot of pressure on top rack to fulfill that. And I think he will, I personally think he's one of the best riders ever, you know, in any category. It's just a shame that he didn't arrive in MotoGP five or six years ago.

Anyway, he arrives now and I think he will do more than enough this year to warrant the move up. And if there's some contractual mechanisms in place that make that certainty, I'm fairly convinced that he will be in the Monster Yamaha squad in 2027. Okay. Next on my list is VR46 Rossi's team. Rossi Tricky one.

Yeah. Rossi This one I struggled with more than anything was for this one. Rossi Yeah. Rossi I put Morbidelli and Marini together here. Yeah.

Rossi Okay, we divulge. Rossi I'm sure that we do. I'm sure that we do. It's like... Rossi Divulge us the wrong word.

Rossi Absolutely just completely turn around and go the other way, right? Rossi Yeah. Rossi It's there. I don't know. I can't tell you why.

I don't have a good why for it. I mean, other than if Rossi was going to keep VR46 going, I felt like he needed Italians to bring in Italian money. And that's literally my reasoning. I have nothing other than that. Rossi Okay, is it my turn?

Rossi Yes, please do. Because I'm sure this is going to be a shocker. Rossi So I'm gonna, I've got a VR46 Aprilia question mark against this. Rossi Ooh. Rossi Because I'm not sure that they stick with Jukati.

But let's assume they stick with Jukati. Rossi Okay. Rossi I've got Fermin Alderga moving up as a holding position before he replaces Mark Marquez at the work squad. And then in not spot number two, but alongside him, I've got Nico Bulliger. Rossi He's gonna leave World Superbike.

Rossi I think he will win the World Superbike Championship this year. And he will have a contractual route into GP as a as a Pirelli. What's the word I'm looking for expert. Rossi Hmm, that's okay. Wow.

You think I'm bold on some of my stuff? Oh, yeah, I can see that. I can see that. I can see it. I can see it.

Rossi And Bulliger, there would be a kind of a nice sort of redemption arc in there, because of course, he was one of the big kind of force, foreshadowed or foreseen Rossi protégés and dropped out of VR 46 after, you know, he didn't make the grade in Moto two when he came up, which is why he ended up in World Superbikes. But for him to slot back into the VR 46 Academy, kind of route would make some there'd be some symmetry to that, which would be quite nice. As a again, I'm going to go off in a slightly sort of arty farty sort of way. But we have to remember again, in the back of my mind constantly now is Liberty Media and story storytelling. And the sort of the arc of, you know, Bulliger being coming into Moto three is a hot prospect.

And he did all right in Moto three bond in Moto two. But then sort of make his way back as a sort of redemption arc, it kind of makes a good story as well. And I think this is part of the new what we'll have to face as the new normal is this kind of storytelling thing, which I kind of like that anyway. I mean, that's that is part of it. You know, we love the fact that Marquez went from, you know, that disastrous arm break and he's back as a world champion again.

It's a great story. And if MotoGP wants to make any inroads into the sort of media landscape that Formula One enjoys, it has to make more of the riders and the stories, you know, and the teams, all of this stuff is part of it. I mean, it always has been, but they haven't, they just haven't made enough of it. And so Bulliger back into MotoGP, I think would be a great story, apart from anything else. But if he wins the world championship in World Super Bikes, why would he stay?

Because he's young enough that he could make that switch. And it would obviously be, you know, he's much younger than Toprak. And if Toprak can do it, there's no reason why Bieler could come. Great point. Great point.

That's what we'll know in a couple months time, which way this is going. All that brings us to PreMac. Now here, I left Miller there for continuity because of the V4 development rider. I left that, but I put him with rookie David Munoz. Yamaha needs fresh talent, somebody who's aggressive.

And I thought that was a perfect place to put him on an 850. So like you, I'm on board with the fact that PreMac, or Pramac, as I call it, you call it Pramac. Yeah, I don't know which way is right. Again, I'm going to rewind a little bit in terms of where I'm at with my team. So although Pramac don't want to be this role, I think by becoming the satellite or the semi-works satellite Yamaha squad, they kind of made themselves the nesting place for the next generation of riders that will end up in, let's call it monster Yamaha.

Again, it might not be monster, but let's say that it is. So they're the next gen team. So although they started off this year with Miller and Oliveira, which was definitely a continuity thing, I think they become the little called embryonic kind of holding place for the massive talent that will then work its way up to the main team. So I've got Senna Agyas and Dani Holgado in that team, which is probably not going to prove to be correct. But I like the idea because Yamaha can't think about 27 or probably even 28.

They've got to be thinking a bit further down the line, I think. So they need to place people in that team that will learn MotoGP and then be well positioned to lead the charge once that V4 is up and running properly, which is probably going to take a couple of seasons, let's be honest. So I think they'll go rookies in that team. Okay. All right.

That's fair. And Agyas would replace Miller as an Aussie. Yeah. I think Miller would stay put probably as a tester, maybe. Perhaps combine with some World Superbike GT, which is obviously you can do both of those things as Remy Gardner has done, because there's so few World Superbike races and they're all in one place.

So there's not a huge competitor MotoGP. There's no kind of massive... Glow-trodding. Yeah. It's an easier place to combine testing for MotoGP and run in full time as a race rider in World Superbike.

So Miller could do that. And I'm sure Yamaha would want him to stay put in that capacity. Well, it moves us to KTM. Now here, I put Bascinini and Digia on the main team. Okay.

I did that. Bascinini has proven that he's pretty good. He's good on the tires. And I think he's got a style that works with that KTM. And he's just the last one of continuity that they would have.

Digia I put there because he's not going to play fiddle with running around on the VR46 anymore. Even though it is a factory Ducati bike, I think that he will have been overlooked or will have been politely told that your services are no longer needed here. And he needs a good factory team to show his talent on. And I think both KTM and him take a leap and say, okay, we're willing to try this. Now it might be a one-year contract, but that's what I think.

It just puts Digia in a better place because he's on a true factory team, not a factory bike. He's had a factory bike. So I just think that that's a good move for KTM because they need change and they're going to get change because Acosta is not going to stay. So they need a little bit of consistency, but then they need a lot of change to be able to bring themselves forward. So as a bit of a, yeah, here's Bascinini, the guy who knows, versus Digia who is the new, a little bit of new, and then that's going to make that a better team.

Hmm. Huh. Where'd you go? I mean, it has to be said that we're assuming that KTM stay in MotoGP at this point. Correct.

I mean, Bajaj, I think is the engine owner of the KTM brand now. I haven't confirmed that KTM are going to stay in the championship as yet. Pitbuyer at the launch kind of made it the launch kind of made it his feelings clear that they have committed that they will, but it's not official. Anyway, so this runs on the caveat that KTM remain in the championship. That's fair.

That's fair. So in the work, I've got Maverick Vinales and Brad Binder. Oh, Gary hates you right now. Yes, I know. I knew I was going to get that, but I think Vinales showed enough on the Tech3 bike last year that if they can just unlock the thing that's always been missing with him, which is that consistency, whether Jorge Lorenzo brings that, we just don't know.

I mean, this is going to go one of two ways. It's going to be a massive disaster and a huge fallout, or it's going to be the magic that's been missing. Well, considering that Jorge Lorenzo invested in a Ferris wheel in Italy, I'm going with disaster. Yes. I mean, some of his choices are perhaps things that he has lamented in retrospect, but I think Vinales is enough of a prospect, given his experience as well, and his ability to perform at the highest level, that he warrants the move up to the works team.

And Binder, this is where I was struggling because it's kind of like for me, a bit like with you, it's Binder or Bastianini, probably. Bastianini did not have a good season last year. He had one or two little bright spots, but overall it was pretty disappointing. So it's a question of whether he performs this year, but I see Bastianini dropping out of the championship, probably. And I think, again, I keep mentioning this and I'll just do it one last time.

I think Binder with Phil Maron as his crew chief this year might turn the corner, and just about, it sounds harsh, save his career. He is the sort of, you know, what's the word, the KTM person, isn't he? I mean, he's been a KTM guy for so long, and I think the team probably would want to retain him, provided he can warrant retaining the seat. So this obviously relies on him having a fairly good 2026 season, but I think he will stay. Yeah, I agree.

The continuity sense. Because KTM cannot afford to really sort of rock the boat too hard, and they don't need to because they got Tech 3 to do that. And it was always weird to me that Tech 3 went with Bastianini and Vinales anyway. It seemed like a bit of a backwards step in a way, which proved to be the case with Bastianini, less so with Vinales. And I think Vinales would have had a much better season overall, had he not been injured as bad as he was at the Saxon ring with that shoulder injury that he picked up.

So assuming that he recovers from that, and that him and Jorge don't have a sort of massively messy financial divorce this year with their collaboration, I think it kind of makes sense to me that he gets the call up to the works squad. That brings us to Tech 3 or Steiner's team, whichever way you want to look at it. And again, this is assuming that KTM is still in the game, and that they're providing four bikes to the grid for my picks here. I give them the ultimate rookie team of Alonso and Holgardo because they've been together this year in Moto2. They'll be together again.

And I think that those kids are KTM kids, right? They grew up through the juniors on KTMs. I'm pretty sure KTM has a pretty good contract with them that they can't really get out of. And they'll probably wind up being the guys that are going to take over two seats at Tech 3 slash Steiner's team. And there'll be an all-Rookie team trying to feed the other team because they need a way to ladder the kids out of the juniors up into MotoGP.

And I think that Steiner's going to make that, maybe not make it possible, but he's going to roughly be told to do it, I think. Yeah. So sorry, who did you say you got in there? Holgardo and Alonso. Holgardo and Alonso.

Okay. So I've already got both of those guys elsewhere in my list. I'm just looking at what I've written down now. I've double counted one of my guys. Because I made a late switch for Aegis and Topramac.

So I had, rather confusingly, Aegis and Colin Vaya in Tech 3. So obviously Aegis I've already put elsewhere. So I'm going to retract then. And I'm going to say, I think Vaya will have a good season in Moto2. He's on the KTM IO squad anyway.

Yes. And I think they would like to have a Dutch person up into MotoGP, as in Liberty, Stroke, Dawna. I think that would be good. So maybe I'm going to give Bas Gignini a reprieve in Tech 3 then. Provided he can start to make good on the little seeds of progress that he showed at points last year.

So I'll go Bas Gignini and Colin Vaya. Vaya was my odd man out. And I like the kid. I think he's got talent. And I think he deserves a MotoGP.

I just think he's the odd man out. Because if you have Holgardo and how good Holgardo won what? Two, three races. I can't remember exactly. Alonso had one race.

And you know that those guys are going to be way better this year. And admittedly Vaya struggled for a long time. But he's on arguably maybe the better team as far as being in the wing with IO that he may just show up and dominate Moto2. You have no idea. But somebody has to be left out because there are only X number of seats.

Right. And we are a whole season away from who's going to fill things. I think the factory teams are easier to understand. The true factory teams are easier to fill. The satellite teams, the independent teams, whatever we want to start to call them.

Although they're all now just going to be just teams I assume. Because essentially that's one of Liberty's things is they're sort of removing the idea of the independent teams and whatnot and all the money that Doran was using to prop up these teams. So but. I'm going to play a wild card now. Having screwed up slightly by having ages into sports.

It's fine. I'm still not convinced about Bastion. So I'm going to play a wild card. I'm going to say Max Quiles goes up to take three. Oh, I like it.

Take B ball of my friend because he's he's physically he's quite there. Yeah, he's tall for sure. And I like the idea of somebody occasionally making the switch straight from Moto3, particularly if he wins a championship, go straight up onto a low capacity bike. It's a level playing field. Just throw him in there.

He's a super. He's a superstar. You had him as your number one pick. Yes, I think, didn't you? For making the jump.

So I'm going to go keyless. OK, I like it. I like that. That leaves us with our final team trackhouse. The Justin Justin Marks squad, the American squad, the golf squad.

Yeah. So here I put Senna Aegis and Agurra Agurra for continuity. But Aegis gets a ride there because I think I know Brio is running the team, but it is still an American team. And I just think the Aussie fits better there, which gives you for a chance to Aussies for a season as then Miller steps away and Aegis, I think, will do really well this year in Moto2 and be deserved of a ride. And I think that, you know, going to going there is going to work.

I just feel like Raul Fernandez has ran his course. Yes, he won a race, but if Bizecki doesn't have the penalty from the previous race, that doesn't happen. True. And I'm not putting the kid down. He's had some mental demons to try to work through, and that's tough.

And I'm sorry, but MotoGP is a cutthroat sport and I just can't imagine him being there much longer. And you have talent that needs to be there. And Aegis is a talent. And I think him on a bigger bike in a not a lesser team, but in a more sheltered team will be very good for him. And I think the American vibe kind of fits with that Aussie vibe kind of well because of the spirit of both our countries and whatnot.

And, you know, kind of taking it away from your other from you guys, Rich, I'll just be blatantly blunt. No, no, no, that makes a lot of sense. So that's there. I like it. I think it has a really good season and deserves to be there again.

I just don't know if Aiger gets picked by any of the other teams to go somewhere else. You know, again, he could easily slot you can easily slot Agura into LCR. I could. And it's I mean, I but it's not going to happen. I don't think.

But you could you slot him into Honda itself, maybe. But I don't think so. So there's really no other place. But I do think he's going to be very deserved of a ride. And he's just going to stay at Trackhouse.

I think Brevio likes him. Yeah, Trackhouse was the most difficult one for me. Actually, VR46 was my most difficult one. I kind of pretty much had Trackhouse and I had to fill in, you know, VR46. So either one of those two are extremely tricky, I think.

I mean, I've got Fernandez and Agura put in twenty seven at Trackhouse simply because I think Agura probably this year has a good year or better year than he had last year. And Fernandez still has the back of Massimo Rivola, the Aprilia, who really, really rates him. And we just about saw enough. I agree with you that the win at PI was largely because of Bizecki's penalty. But he still would have poed him the bike.

And so I think there's he has enough of a reprieve, I think, to stay put in twenty twenty seven. There's no room at the end of the Aprilia Works team. I don't think if Bagnara goes there. But I don't think Aprilia are ready to cut him loose yet. So I think he stays put.

And like with Agura, yeah, I see him at LCR, possibly in twenty eight, assuming Zarco's at a contract at that point. But I don't think there's a contractual route into Honda at the minute for Agura. But I do see him ending up at Honda eventually, because that is the Japanese star probably that they will be waiting for. And that's our twenty twenty seven grid, Jim. That's it.

That's it. I'm going to keep this piece of paper because we need to come back to this at a later stage. Yeah, especially when we're wrong. Well, yes, it's how wrong are we? How wrong are we?

I think of all of this, I think the only thing we got right was the Zeki and Peco at Aprilia. I think everything else could well, Acosta and Marquez at Ducati. I think those are the only ones that are locks. I think those are dead on. I think everything else is in play.

But all righty. That's the grid for twenty seven. That's Rich's picks, my picks. Rad, love to hear your own picks. Rad, us, Motopod at motopodcast.com.

Tell us who we got wrong, what we got right. And we'll keep that for a show and we'll go, hey, these people had it right and we had it wrong because that's what we do. So this is a quick show just for that. Remembered, C-Pang testing starts this week, Rich, Tuesday, next week. Coming next week.

Yeah. Yeah. Next week coming C-Pang testing. World Superbikes are getting devilishly close because they're right there at the beginning of February, I think down on the island. So their testing is started in Hereth.

Yeah. The first race weekend starts on the 20th of February. I can't remember if they have a pre PI test as well. I'm not sure that they do this year, but anyway, it's only a few weeks away, season proper. Yeah.

And we're going to be all over all of that because it's just going to be another crazy and wild year. And with that, folks, everybody ride safe. Yeah. Cheers, everyone.