Podcast: The winners and losers from the 2026 Sepang MotoGP test

The 2026 MotoGP pre-season is officially underway, following three days of testing at the Sepang International Circuit this week.

With 2026 marking the final year of the 1000cc regulations, there is a lot of anticipation about what teams will produce for their last bike of the current rules.

Ducati dominated the 2025 campaign, winning 17 grands prix on its way to the world championship with Marc Marquez, who was responsible for 11 of those victories.

But Ducati did have to face a growing threat from Aprilia, particularly in the second half of the campaign.

As pre-season testing got underway, however, Ducati looks to have re-established itself a step ahead of the chasing pack with its updated GP26.

The new bike topped the test outright with Alex Marquez, while the Gresini rider, Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez completed promising race simulations on the GP26.

The overall feedback from the riders was that the front-end was more predictable, with the bike seemingly having a wider operating window compared to the GP25.

Aprilia continued to look strong, albeit with work to do, while KTM appeared to be moving in the right direction.

The Austrian brand came through on its promise of a more aggressive development path for the RC16, which Pedro Acosta and Maverick Vinales gave optimistic feedback on at the end of the test.

Honda also looks to be trending upwards, though clearly with work still to do to get on terms with Ducati.

Yamaha’s test proved disastrous, with an engine issue on its new V4 forcing the brand to sit out day two. Yamaha also lost Fabio Quartararo to a finger injury on the opening day, while the new M1 just didn’t look like it had advanced much from last year.

On the latest edition of the Crash MotoGP Podcast, host Dre Harrison is joined by Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan and Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren to discuss each manufacturer’s Sepang test.

They also delve into the rider market drama that preceded the Sepang test, discussing rumoured moves for Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Martin, Pedro Acosta, Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez.