When the MotoGP riders line up for the first race of 2027, it will look like a different championship. Of the 22 team riders on the 2026 grid, only five will be in the same seats next season. A dozen are changing teams, five are leaving MotoGP, and five rookies are taking their places.

No team keeps its current rider pairing in 2027. Gresini, VR46, Tech3, and the factory KTM, Honda, and Yamaha squads all have completely new lineups. The other five teams each keep a single rider. The factory teams were hit hardest. Of the 10 factory riders on the 2026 grid, just two are staying where they are: Marc Márquez at Ducati and Marco Bezzecchi at Aprilia.

The timing is not a coincidence. MotoGP’s rulebook is being rewritten for 2027, giving every team and manufacturer a reason to start fresh.

The New Rules

The 2027 bikes are new from the ground up.

• Engines shrink from 1000cc to 850cc, with the maximum bore cut from 81mm to 75mm. Each rider gets six engines for the season instead of seven.

• Ride-height devices are banned, including the holeshot devices used for starts. Riders will no longer have systems that lower the bike for acceleration off corners and off the line.

• Aerodynamics are reduced. The top of the front fairing is 50mm narrower, the nose moves back 50mm, and the rear bodywork must be homologated before the season, with only one update allowed per year.

• Fuel tanks drop from 22 liters to 20 for Grand Prix races, with 11 liters allowed for the Sprint. The fuel itself must be 100% non-fossil, up from the current 40% minimum.

• Pirelli replaces Michelin as the spec tire supplier. Pirelli already supplies Moto2 and Moto3, so the rookies coming up from Moto2 know the brand.

• All manufacturers start 2027 on equal footing in the concession system. This will be reassessed at mid-season.

Riders Changing Teams

Here is where each 2027 MotoGP rider is going, and whether each move looks like a step up, a lateral move, or a step down.

⬆︎ Better ride
= Lateral move
⬇︎ Step down

Pedro Acosta ⬆︎

2026: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
2027: Ducati Lenovo Team

Acosta has spent his entire Grand Prix career with KTM, starting in Moto3 in 2021 and graduating to MotoGP in 2024. In 2026, he got the win that had been expected since his rookie year, at the Red Bull Ring in September, after 15 podiums without one. His win ended a KTM victory drought dating back to 2022, and the RC16 has been the third-best bike among the five manufacturers this season. He now moves to the factory Ducati team as Marc Márquez’s teammate, taking the seat Bagnaia is vacating. Ducati is second in the constructors’ standings, and Márquez has won six Grands Prix on the Desmosedici this year.

Fermín Aldeguer ⬆︎

2026: BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP (Ducati)
2027: Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team (Ducati)

Aldeguer was the 2025 Rookie of the Year and won the Indonesian GP in his first season. His 2026 season started with a broken femur before preseason testing, and a back injury at Assen cost him more time. Despite that, he took a podium at Catalunya on a year-old GP25. At VR46, he becomes an official Ducati Corse rider with factory-spec machinery on a contract through 2028. He is also the first non-Italian rider in VR46’s MotoGP history.

Pecco Bagnaia ⬆︎

2026: Ducati Lenovo Team
2027: Aprilia Racing

Bagnaia has been a Ducati rider since his 2019 MotoGP debut, and he won the 2022 and 2023 World Championships on a factory Desmosedici. His 2026 season has been a struggle. He sits ninth in points, with no Grand Prix wins, and a single Sprint victory at Brno. Aprilia gave him a four-year contract. The RS-GP has been the strongest bike of 2026, with Aprilia leading the constructors’ championship, Aprilia Racing leading the team championship, and Jorge Martín leading the riders’ standings going into the Australian Grand Prix. After his worst season since joining the factory team, he lands a factory ride on a winning bike with long-term security.

Enea Bastianini ⬆︎

2026: Red Bull KTM Tech3
2027: SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team (Aprilia)

Bastianini has shown flashes of podium speed on the KTM, including a narrow loss to Bezzecchi for third at Motegi this year. Inconsistency has left Bastianini 11th in points. With five race winners losing their seats, he did well to find a 2027 MotoGP ride. He landed on a satellite Aprilia, one of the strongest bikes of 2026, filling the seat Ogura is willingly vacating.

Fabio Di Giannantonio =

2026: Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team (Ducati)
2027: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Di Giannantonio won the Catalan GP, his first victory since Qatar in 2023. He has also taken multiple pole positions, and he is sixth in points on a factory-spec Ducati at VR46. Di Giannantonio trades a prestigious satellite team ride on factory Ducati machinery for a full factory seat at KTM. KTM has been third among the manufacturers in 2026, so the factory status comes with a step back in equipment.

Luca Marini =

2026: Honda HRC Castrol
2027: Red Bull KTM Tech3

Marini has been Honda’s most consistent finisher, and he is 12th in points as the top Honda rider. He gives up a factory seat to join Tech3, now run by Günther Steiner, which has signed a multi-year deal to lock in the KTM/Tech3 alliance. Tech3 runs factory-supported KTMs, and KTM has run ahead of Honda this season. A better bike in a satellite team, in exchange for factory status, makes this a sideways move.

Álex Márquez =

2026: BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP (Ducati)
2027: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Álex Márquez finished second to his brother in 2025, winning three Grands Prix on a year-old Ducati. That earned him a factory-spec GP26 at Gresini for 2026. He won at Jerez in April, but a terrifying crash at Catalunya broke his collarbone and a vertebra. He missed two races and is now eighth in the standings. Like Di Giannantonio, he gets factory status at KTM. In return, he gives up the Ducati, which has won a large share of races over the last several seasons, for a KTM that has won one race this season. One gain balances one loss.

Jorge Martín ⬇︎

2026: Aprilia Racing
2027: Yamaha Factory MotoGP Team

No rider is taking a bigger step down. After an injury-plagued 2025, Martín’s 2026 comeback has been remarkable. With five rounds left, he leads the championship by two points over Marc Márquez. His Yamaha deal was reportedly signed before the season started, when his form and the Yamaha package were still question marks, though it was not announced until July 1. Yamaha is in the first year of its new V4 engine and last among the five manufacturers in the constructors’ standings, while the Aprilia he is leaving leads them. The 2024 World Champion may carry the #1 plate to a team that has a lot of ground to make up.

Joan Mir ⬆︎

2026: Honda HRC Castrol
2027: BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP (Ducati)

Compared to winning the 2020 World Championship for Suzuki, Mir’s years at Honda have been hard. In 2026, he failed to finish eight of the first 13 races while trying to get more out of the RC213V than it had to give. A mysterious illness has kept him off track for the last three rounds, with no return date set. That has left him 18th in the standings and nowhere to go but down. His place on the 2027 grid was in doubt. Gresini will give him a factory-specification Ducati. Gresini is the team that brought the Márquez brothers back to the front in recent years.

Diogo Moreira ⬆︎

2026: Pro Honda LCR
2027: Honda HRC Castrol

The 2025 Moto2 World Champion has improved steadily through his rookie MotoGP season, including a second place in the Sprint at Motegi. However, for much of the year, current Moto2 racer David Alonso was considered a favorite for the factory seat alongside Quartararo in his upcoming rookie year. The cliffhanger was resolved on October 20 when Honda announced that Moreira would be promoted from the satellite Pro Honda LCR team. Moreira will be the first Brazilian to race for the factory Honda team since Alex Barros in 2004.

Ai Ogura ⬇︎

2026: SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team (Aprilia)
2027: Yamaha Factory MotoGP Team

The 2024 Moto2 champion has been one of the stories of 2026. Ogura won at Assen, the first MotoGP win for a Japanese rider since Makoto Tamada in 2004, and he is fourth in points on the satellite Aprilia. Moving to a factory team is a promotion on paper. In practice, he is leaving one of the fastest bikes on the grid for the slowest. Factory status will not change that until Yamaha catches up.

Fabio Quartararo ⬆︎

2026: Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team
2027: Honda HRC Castrol

Quartararo won the 2021 title with Yamaha and spent six seasons on the factory M1. Yamaha’s first season with its V4 has been difficult, and he is 14th in points as the brand’s top rider. Honda has also been rebuilding, but it has run ahead of Yamaha in the 2026 constructors’ standings. Quartararo chose Honda, and he arrives as its lead rider. With the new rules resetting every manufacturer, the move is a bet that Honda’s progress continues.

New Riders to MotoGP for 2027

Senna Agius ⬆︎

2027: Red Bull KTM Tech3

Agius, 21, took an unusual route. The Australian skipped Moto3 entirely and won the 2023 European Moto2 Championship with eight victories. He joined the Intact GP Moto2 team full-time in 2024. His first Grand Prix win came at Silverstone in 2025, followed by a home win at Phillip Island. In 2026, he won back-to-back races at Austin and Jerez. His signing filled the final open seat on the 2027 grid.

David Alonso ⬆︎

2027: Pro Honda LCR

Alonso, 20, was born in Madrid and races under the Colombian flag. His 2024 Moto3 championship season produced 14 wins, a record for a single season in any Grand Prix class, making him the first Colombian World Champion. He also won the European Talent Cup in 2020 and the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in 2021. His two Moto2 seasons with Aspar have been less dominant. Although a shoulder injury slowed him in both years, he has won a race in each season. Honda signed him in July, and he will start his MotoGP career at LCR alongside Johann Zarco.

Nicolò Bulega ⬆︎

2027: Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team (Ducati)

Bulega comes to MotoGP as the reigning World Superbike champion. He clinched the 2026 title in late September at Cremona, with rounds to spare, after finishing second in 2024 and 2025. In 2025, he lost the title to Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, who will now be a MotoGP rival. Bulega also won the 2023 World Supersport championship. This is a return to Grand Prix racing for the 27-year-old Italian. He raced Moto3 and Moto2, partly with the Sky VR46 team, before his career stalled and he moved to production-based racing. As a Ducati MotoGP test rider, he has already ridden the 850cc prototype on Pirellis, which few riders on the grid can say.

Izan Guevara ⬆︎

2027: Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP

Guevara, 22, won the 2022 Moto3 World Championship with Aspar. After two Moto2 seasons with that team, he joined Yamaha’s Pramac Moto2 program in 2025 and won the final race of that season at Valencia. He has been a title contender in 2026, with three wins so far. He comes up through Yamaha’s development pathway, replacing Jack Miller alongside Toprak Razgatlıoğlu.

Dani Holgado ⬆︎

2027: BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP (Ducati)

Holgado, 21, was the first 2027 rookie to be announced. The Spaniard is a four-time Moto3 race winner and finished second to David Alonso in the 2024 Moto3 championship. He moved up to Moto2 with the Aspar team in 2025, won two races, finished sixth, and was Rookie of the Year. In 2026, he won in Brazil and briefly led the championship, though his results since then have been inconsistent.

Riders Not Changing Teams

Marco Bezzecchi

Aprilia Racing

Bezzecchi opened 2026 by winning the first three Grands Prix, then added wins at Mugello and Mandalika. In between, a run of four scoreless Grands Prix derailed his title charge. He crashed out in Hungary, was excluded from the Czech GP for striking a track marshal after a Sprint crash, and crashed again at Assen, before a broken collarbone in qualifying ruled him out at the Sachsenring. He is third in points, still in the title fight with Martín and Marc Márquez. Bezzecchi will be partnered with Bagnaia in 2027.

Raúl Fernández

SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team (Aprilia)

Fernández won the Sprint at Assen as Trackhouse finished one-two in both races that weekend, and he won the British GP at Silverstone. He also finished second at Mandalika while riding hurt. He is seventh in points and will have Enea Bastianini as his teammate in 2027.

Marc Márquez

Ducati Lenovo Team

The defending champion has six Grand Prix wins in 2026. He trails Jorge Martín by just two points with five rounds left, despite missing the French and Catalan GPs with a broken foot. Ducati has already extended his contract through 2028, and next year he gets a new teammate in Pedro Acosta.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP

The three-time World Superbike champion’s rookie MotoGP season has come on the most difficult bike on the grid, Yamaha’s all-new V4. He has 18 points after 17 rounds and languishes in 21st place. Razgatlıoğlu spent his Superbike career on Pirellis and is the only rider staying put with recent racing experience on the 2027 tire brand.

Johann Zarco

Castrol Honda LCR

Zarco’s season was interrupted by a crash at Catalunya that injured the ligaments, meniscus, and fibula of his left leg. He missed six rounds, with Cal Crutchlow filling in, and returned at Aragon. He is 17th in points. 2027 marks the second year of a two-year deal for Zarco. At 36, the oldest rider on the grid becomes the veteran mentor to 20-year-old rookie David Alonso.

Riders Leaving MotoGP

All five riders departing from the MotoGP grid are in their 30s, though most of them are not retiring from World Championship racing.

Brad Binder: Binder has spent his entire MotoGP career with KTM. In 2020, he gave KTM its first premier-class win, at Brno as a rookie. He added a home win for KTM at the Red Bull Ring in 2021. Before that, he won the 2016 Moto3 World Championship and finished three points short of the 2019 Moto2 title. He has not won a Grand Prix since 2021, and KTM did not renew his contract. Binder moves to World Superbike with BMW in 2027, rejoining his former factory KTM teammate Miguel Oliveira.

Jack Miller: Miller leaves after 12 seasons in MotoGP with four wins, for Honda and Ducati, and 23 podiums. He came close to the 2014 Moto3 title, finishing two points behind Álex Márquez. Miller stays with Yamaha, moving to the factory Pata Maxus Yamaha World Superbike team, signing a two-year deal. His final home MotoGP race is this Sunday at Phillip Island, which is also hosting its last MotoGP race before the Australian GP moves to Adelaide.

Franco Morbidelli: The 2017 Moto2 World Champion’s best MotoGP season came in 2020. He won three races on a Petronas Yamaha and finished second to Joan Mir in the championship. He has not won since. After two seasons at VR46, Morbidelli moves to World Superbike in 2027 with the factory Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, effectively trading places with Bulega. He will take over the Panigale V4 R that Bulega used to dominate the 2026 WSBK season in record-breaking fashion.

Álex Rins: Rins won six MotoGP races, five for Suzuki and one for LCR Honda at Austin in 2023. One of the Suzuki wins came in the brand’s final MotoGP race in 2022. He was a title contender in Moto3 and Moto2, but never won a world championship. His three seasons with Yamaha have produced no top-six Grand Prix finishes. Rins has said he has turned down World Superbike options to race cars in 2027, though he has not yet announced which series.

Maverick Viñales: Viñales leaves MotoGP racing with 10 wins, the most of anyone departing, and wins with three manufacturers: Suzuki, Yamaha, and Aprilia. He was also the 2013 Moto3 World Champion. A shoulder injury from 2025 kept him out of several races in 2026, and he is last among the team riders in points. His relationship with KTM broke down over the summer, and he lost his Tech3 seat. He is the only departing rider without a plan. He has said his MotoGP story is not over and has ruled out World Superbike. Ducati has denied reports linking him to a test-rider role.

Bring on MotoGP 2027

All this change sets up the most unpredictable MotoGP season in the modern era. Every manufacturer starts with an all-new bike, new Pirelli tires, and the same concession rank, and no one has yet raced an 850cc machine. Proven winners are betting on new partners, and five rookies arrive with titles and race wins from Moto3, Moto2, and World Superbike on their résumés. The test after the Valencia finale will offer the first look at who has adapted fastest, but the New World Order won’t be settled until the 2027 season is underway.