The first major puzzle piece of the 2027 MotoGP grid has been put in place, with the announcement by Aprilia ahead of the start of pre-season testing at Sepang that Marco Bezzecchi has extended his deal with the team.
It was announced with typical Aprilia light-heartedness, as the team officially ‘married’ Bezzecchi to his bike after he proposed to the RS-GP last year during a post-race victory celebration, staging a wedding for them at the Malaysian circuit and issuing a marriage licence as the press release.
“I’m extremely happy to have renewed for another two years,” he said in the statement. “From the first day I signed, I had the goal in mind of building a long-term project. I’m happy to have found the support of the entire team and the whole Noale factory. I hope I’ll be able to give them a lot of joy, as they most certainly will with me.”
The announcement comes as no surprise given Bezzecchi’s impressive end to his first season with the team in 2025, ending the year with three wins, a further six podiums, and third overall in the championship standings.
Coming during the absence of then-reigning world champion Jorge Martin, who joined the team at the same time as Bezzecchi but endured a woeful series of injuries, Bezzecchi’s late season form further reinforced his unexpected status as the team’s number one rider and makes the contract extension even less surprising.
In fact, perhaps the only unexpected part of the news is the timing, coming as it has before the season has got underway and, perhaps more importantly, before any of the other key players in the championship have formally committed to their 2027 plans.
There have been hints for some weeks that world champion Marc Marquez was drawing closer to announcing a deal to stay with the factory Ducati team - but that has cooled in recent days amid speculation that they have been unable to agree on the length of his deal, with Marquez favouring a one-year option that gives him scope to look elsewhere after the first year of the new rules.
Likewise, despite reports last week that Fabio Quartararo had already committed to a Honda contract, he too poured cold water on that news ahead of the Sepang test, insisting that he hasn’t yet put pen to paper with anyone even as he admitted to being in talks with multiple factories.
Bezzecchi’s confirmation very much opens the door now for the team to start concentrating on who will be his team-mate in 2027, something that is very much up in the air after not only Martin’s injury-strewn season last year but also his fractious relationship with the team and his attempted mid-contract split with it last May.
He’s already been linked to a Yamaha ride for 2027, replacing Quartararo, and with Pedro Acosta rumoured to be heading to Ducati alongside Marquez, it in theory opens the door now for Bezzecchi’s close friend Pecco Bagnaia to join him - a move that could make a lot of sense for both parties.
