Overview
- Ducati confirmed on Tuesday that Marc Márquez has extended his factory MotoGP contract through 2028, giving the team continuity around its 2025 world champion.
- Two days later Ducati announced Francesco Bagnaia will leave the factory team at the end of 2026 and that Pedro Acosta has signed for Ducati for 2027–28 to pair with Márquez.
- On Thursday Aprilia made Bagnaia’s move official with a four‑year contract through 2030 and said his last race for Ducati will be the Valencia Grand Prix in November 2026.
- The sequence of announcements follows a recent settlement of manufacturers’ commercial talks with MotoGP and accelerates a wider ‘silly season’ of linked swaps likely to include Jorge Martín, Fabio Quartararo and Ai Ogura.
- Beyond rider headline names, the moves matter because manufacturers are retooling their lineups to tackle the 2027 technical shift to 850cc machines and the switch from Michelin to Pirelli tyres, which could change development priorities and title odds.