A shortened one-day test at Valencia gave MotoGP's rookies their first official MotoGP laps, but offered precious little time for the five factories to sort out their data streams for the winter. Aprilia was again the main pacesetter
The first official MotoGP outing for 2026 rookies Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Diogo Moreira was pushed back on Tuesday as the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia required several hours to dry following a heavy thunderstorm on Monday night.
Tuesday’s running eventually began after almost three hours of delay, leaving 4.5 hours of track time. Several teams and technicians had little to do until conditions finally allowed them to work.
When riding finally started under clear skies, the tight competition from the grand prix weekend continued. Seventeen riders were covered by less than one second. At the top of the times were Trackhouse and Aprilia riders Raúl Fernández and Marco Bezzecchi, who had finished first and second in Sunday’s race. Championship runner-up and Sprint winner Alex Márquez was once again the fastest Ducati rider, with older brother and world champion Marc absent due to ongoing rehabilitation from his right shoulder injury.
Aprilia again headed the timesheets, but Fernández and factory rider Bezzecchi had contrasting reactions afterwards. Fernández, winner of the Australian Grand Prix and one of the strongest riders in the closing stages of the season, was frustrated after spending the entire day on his 2025 configuration. “We don’t have anything from Aprilia’s side,” he said. “I know they had to try a new aero package, but we have to wait to see how Marco and Jorge [Martín] like it. Both of them tried. Davide Brivio told me we have to take the maximum from our [current] package.”
Alex Márquez was the top Ducati rider
Red Bull
Aprilia reminded Trackhouse of its role as an independent satellite team while the factory riders tested new bodywork and other upgrades on bikes running a temporary ‘Tiger’ livery. Bezzecchi’s pace underlined the factory’s determination to move forward. The Italian said he could not clearly recall whether his fastest lap was set with the 2026-spec machine or the 2025 bike used for comparison. “I think I did around 10,000 km on this season’s bike. So in 40 or 50 laps with something new, it’s impossible to fully understand. We will see in Sepang.”
Martin, the injury-ravaged 2024 champion, claimed: “Sometimes I feel like a rookie on this bike because it is difficult to understand when we change things,” highlighting how little time he’s spent at race speed through a perturbed campaign. The Spaniard sang positively about a new fairing and chassis but it’s still clearly a work in progress. “The turning was more natural and fitting to my style,” he claimed. “I tried a lot of ergonomics and a different tank and footpegs…but it was a big confusion for the riding style.”
In the Gresini pitbox, Alex Márquez felt the restrictions of the day. “Less time on track than expected and less time to try what we wanted,” he said, while embracing the extra love from Ducati now that he’s moved to full factory status and will have 2026 equipment. “I feel the support,” he said. “A lot of red [shirted] guys in the [pit] box. Every run, the bike was different and it’s not easy to find the limit of each package.” Team-mate Fermin Aldeguer was fourth fastest as he continued to work with the superlative GP24, tweaked some electronics and also tried the GP25 aero.
All Yamaha riders tested with the V4 engine
Yamaha
Pecco Bagnaia, who won his 2022 and 2023 world titles at Valencia but was taken out on lap one this year in a continuation of a difficult 2025 campaign, was cautious about the significance of the GP26’s early impressions. He finished 10th and is focusing on the full pre-season test in Malaysia in 11 weeks.
KTM evaluated three aerodynamic packages. “With one, I could brake much harder and stop better. With another, I could still stop better, but not as much, and I could turn more,” said Brad Binder, working for the first time with new crew chief Phil Marron. Star rider and Red BullKTM team-mate, Pedro Acosta, was another ace who was cagey over the upgrades.
Honda and Yamaha fielded their new riders. All four Yamaha riders used the new V4 engine. Razgatlıoğlu cut his fastest time in half to finish 1.2 seconds behind Fernández in only his second day on a MotoGP bike, but he could not comment due to the terms of his SBK BMW contract. Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha’s lead rider, was cautious.
The MotoGP finale in Valencia cemented Aprilia’s resurgence and belatedly celebrated Marc Márquez’s renewed greatness but it also produced a strong gesture from the other success story of 2025: ‘The other’ Márquez
By
Adam Wheeler
The Frenchman and 2021 world champion had been nonplussed over the V4 on his first circulations at Misano in September. In Valencia he was at least a little diplomatic after charging to what brand-mate Jack Miller described as a “scorching laptime” in 15th and 0.5sec from P1. “We had to find the base setting so the goal was not to find something that’s better than Misano,” he said. “Too early to say if I am happy or not. We spent a lot of time to change many things on the setting. We are clearly missing our strongest point, which is the front feeling.”
“Tomorrow will be an important day,” he added in reference to Yamaha’s private use of Valencia for another crack on Wednesday.
Moreira, Brazil’s first MotoGP racer in two decades, gave Honda’s presence some fresh impetus. As with most MotoGP rookies, the carbon brakes and the prospect of slowing a 220mph missile into shape for Valencia’s first Turn 1 were the dominant initiations. “We need to warm-up the brakes very well and in the beginning it was difficult to understand where we need to stop the bike,” the 20-year-old said. “I was a bit scared at the beginning, but in the end I enjoyed it a lot.” Moreira also said the Honda was, “difficult to describe. It’s my first time. I was learning the lines” but also cited how the RCV has increased in competitiveness.
Eleven weeks and counting to the last instalment of MotoGP’s 1000cc epoch.
