KTM MotoGP rider continues push for change to “not fair” test rules

KTM rider Enea Bastianini is continuing to push for a change to MotoGP’s test rules for next season.

2027 will see MotoGP introduce its new 850cc bikes, but some riders are set to start the season with much more experience of the new machines – which also have different aerodynamics, new tyres from Pirelli, and are free of ride height devices – than others.

Ducati, for example, has had both Marc Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer riding its 850cc Desmosedici at the official tests that have been run this year at Brno and the Red Bull Ring; Toprak Razgatlioglu has ridden the Yamaha; both Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez have been able to sample the new Aprilia; and Diogo Moreira has had laps on Honda’s 850.

All of these riders are staying with the same manufacturer next season. There are some riders who are changing brands who have also been able to get 850cc laps in: Luca Marini and Joan Mir for Honda, and Pedro Acosta for KTM.

Nicolo Bulega has also been able to gain 850cc mileage during this year, riding as Ducati’s official test rider in a number of private tests since the spring.

Of the 2027 race riders, Bulega will have more experience of the package he will ride next season than anyone else, but the other riders who have tested the 850cc machines also have much more experience of next year’s bikes than riders like Enea Bastianini, who will move from Tech3 KTM to Trackhouse Aprilia and will not ride an 850cc bike until the post-season test in Valencia next month.

Bastianini’s case is repeated several times over across the grid: Jorge Martin, Ai Ogura, Francesco Bagnaia, Alex Marquez, and Fabio Di Giannantonio being some of the other names who have not ridden in the official tests held during the 2027 season.

It means that, going into next February’s Sepang test, riders like Bastianini will have completed only one day of running on their 2027 bike, whereas others will have had several. The most extreme case is Bulega, who, as a rookie, will also be able to take part in the Sepang Shakedown in advance of the official Sepang test.

Bastianini is pushing for MotoGP to change the rules for the Shakedown test to allow riders who are changing brands to be able to ride at Sepang during those two days in order to make up for the comparative lack of track time they’ve had with next year’s bikes in 2026.

The Italian first spoke about his desire for this in Indonesia, but he says that even now, a month later, there has been no development.

“There hasn’t been any progress,” Bastianini said, as reported by GPOne, of the plans to have full-time riders who are changing brands eligible for the Sepang Shakedown test next year. 

“I think we need to keep working on it and try to discuss it. 

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it this weekend or when we return to Europe, but we also need to discuss this with the other riders.

“In the end, we’ll have very few laps available to get comfortable with the new bikes and go straight into racing under these conditions, while other riders will have had the chance to do a lot of testing – that’s not fair.”