‘I don’t have anything’ - Moto2’s runaway leader still chasing 2027 MotoGP seat

Runaway Moto2 championship leader Manu Gonzalez says “I don’t have anything” in relation to a 2027 MotoGP opportunity, as Trackhouse links go cold.

The 23-year-old Spaniard has been a cut above the Moto2 field in 2026 for the Intact GP team.

After eight rounds, Gonzalez has won four races and finished off of the podium just once. He is now 49.5 points clear of the pack following a third successive win this season last weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

That followed an absolutely crushing display at Mugello just a week prior, when he beat the field by 5.3 seconds at a track synonymous with tight, pack races.

His form has only strengthened his case to make the step to MotoGP in 2027. Prior to Mugello, his name did not factor in much of the rider market speculation, with Moto2 contemporaries like Dani Holgado and David Alonso seemingly securing MotoGP deals over him.

Even Intact GP team-mate Senna Agius now looks on course for a MotoGP step, as he has strong links to Tech3 KTM.

After Mugello, the tide finally looked like it was starting to shift in Gonzalez’s favour, as reports linked him to talks with the Trackhouse Aprilia team.

However, at Balaton Park, those links seemed to go cold.

"I'm in the exact same position as I was..."

It’s a fit that would make sense. Trackhouse has been surprised by the loss of Ai Ogura to Yamaha for next year, while Raul Fernandez’s future is up in the air as his form remains hit and miss in 2026. Davide Brivio’s expected exit to Honda next year likely makes Fernandez’s situation harder.

Gonzalez tested the Trackhouse Aprilia last year at Aragon when Ogura was absent through injury.

The strong rumours in recent weeks are that Enea Bastianini will exercise a release clause in his KTM contract and move to Trackhouse.

That, in theory, still leaves a space open for Gonzalez. But, after winning at Hungary, his update on where 2027 talks are at was not hopeful.

“I'm in the exact same position as in Mugello,” he said.

“I hope to be able to say something, but I can't. I can't because I don't have anything.”

He laughed at the end of that statement, but it’s a tragic position to find himself in. Next year presents a perfect opportunity for a rookie to join MotoGP and hit the ground running.

As well as the switch to 850cc bikes levelling the field, Moto2 riders will be dealt a major boost by the change from Michelin to Pirelli rubber, which they currently race on in the intermediate class.

Does Gonzalez have the wrong passport?

Gonzalez appears to be an unfortunate victim of nationality: his Spanish passport, in many ways, works against him.

That’s especially brutal with Dani Holgado - a Spaniard - set to step up to MotoGP in 2027 with Gresini Ducati, while David Alonso - who races under a Colombian flag but was born in Spain - moving to Honda.

There is now a push to diversify the nationalities represented on the MotoGP grid a bit more away from the groundswell of fast Spaniards and Italians who have dominated for most of the 21st Century, which has opened the door for Australian Agius to make a step.

But a good rider is a good rider, at the end of the day, and Gonzalez is proving beyond doubt in Moto2 this year that he is ready and deserving of his shot.

“Austin was a difficult race, and we still did P5,” he said in Italy. “So, to win a championship, the key moments are not today [the wins]. These are the difficult moments. Because there are 22 races and each point for sure counts a lot. And these races where you suffer, and you have a crash. And you lose that point that maybe you say, ‘OK, we have to accept it, do P6, P7 and finish the race’.

“And these points are what really count for the championship. And last season we did some races where we lost these points. So we need to concentrate on these days because they will come. For sure, there are tracks that we will suffer a bit more. So we have to be ready for these moments.”