POL ESPARGARO SAYS 2027 MOTOGP RULES WILL SHAKE UP RIDING AND PERFORMANCE

Pol Espargaro says the switch to the 2027 MotoGP regulations will feel far more dramatic than many riders and fans expect, even if lap times don’t immediately look wildly different. Speaking after Friday practice at Silverstone—where he was classified 21st out of 23—Espargaro described the contrast between the current 1000cc MotoGP bikes running Michelin tyres and next year’s 850cc machines on Pirelli rubber as “insane.”

Espargaro’s return to the current specification has been limited. He is a KTM test rider and has been heavily involved in development work on the Austrian factory’s 2027 bike, so this weekend’s outing—standing in for the injured Maverick Viñales—was his first real run on the soon-to-be-extinct 1000cc/Michelin package since February’s Sepang test. The change back, he said, was a shock.

“You cannot believe how much MotoGP will change next year,” Espargaro said. He added that the scale of the adjustment for riders will be underestimated: “How many riders are going to struggle in this new [850cc] category, it's insane.” In his view, moving from the smaller Moto2 765cc platform to MotoGP will be comparatively straightforward for some, while the reverse jump will be much harder. “Now I start to understand Toprak, you know? Because to jump from Michelin and this [1000cc] bike to Pirelli and a bit smaller [850cc] engine, it's pretty easy. But to jump the opposite way, to the 1000 [and Michelins], it's another world,” he explained.

Espargaro said he feels like a rookie on the current bike, needing to relearn the “time distance in every corner,” including braking points, how efficiently the bike stops, and where to pick up throttle and where he ends up. He singled out the engine character as a major factor: “From fourth gear on, this bike is insane, the torque is insane and it's something that you need to integrate and normalise.”

That physical and technical difference is also reflected in his stress level during the session. “At the moment I'm super stressed, because all the inputs are coming too fast and I'm not able, so today I didn't want to make any stupid mistakes and go for it tomorrow,” he said.

Espargaro also warned that riders coming up from Moto2 could have a meaningful early advantage because they are already comfortable with Pirelli tyres. “I feel more ready to ride a Moto2 than a MotoGP [after the 850cc/Pirelli tests]!” he said. He referenced conversations with Dani Holgado, adding that he felt closer to Moto2 riding than MotoGP after reviewing data and watching how the Moto2 riders operate. “The change is insane. It's going to be a challenge for the current MotoGP riders [used to] the 1000 bikes with the Michelin against the Moto2 riders who will come next year. They are going to be insanely fast,” he added.

Beyond tyres and engine capacity, Espargaro believes the 2027 rule set will bring a major physical shift. He claimed the 850cc/Pirelli combination will allow riders to race twice as far back-to-back compared with the current 1000cc/Michelin package. “You cannot even compare,” he said. “With the 850 and the Pirellis I can do two races in a row. It's much, much less physical. And with the 1000 bike, after two laps the heart rate is so high that it's insane.”

He also pointed to additional regulation changes, including the ban on ride-height devices and further aerodynamics restrictions. When asked whether the changes will be good for spectators, Espargaro said he expects two benefits: fewer injuries and closer competition once the field equalises. “The first is that riders are going to get less injured, because the speed, the category is going to be much smoother,” he said. “And then apart from the beginning of the year… when everyone is going to be more or less on the same level… the competition is going to be super close. But it will take time.”

On the competitive outlook, Espargaro suggested Ducati could be well placed from the start due to its experience with Pirelli in WorldSBK. “I mean it's easy to think that Ducati is going to be fast from the first day, because they have all the information from Superbike,” he said. “In the end it's a kind of superbike. The [850 MotoGP] is not changing much from the bikes from Superbike.” He highlighted tyre management as a key area where Ducati may have an edge: “Especially how to treat the tyres… to make them last better on the races, or to perform better on one lap. They have a lot of information that the other manufacturers don't, that are not in superbikes.”

The report also noted that WorldSBK title leader Nicolo Bulega, expected to join MotoGP with VR46 Ducati next season, set the pace during last week’s private 850cc test at Mugello.