MotoGP's 2026 season got off to a semi-official start on Tuesday at Valencia, with a single day of post-season testing following immediately on the heels of a record 22-round schedule.
Heavy rain on Monday and low ambient temperatures, however, meant that the test did not run as planned - with almost no track action in the first three hours as there was understandably precious little appetite to try to push the Michelin front on a damp surface clocking in at 13°C.
A red flag followed for some track work, a planned midday break was shelved and the test was extended by half an hour, right to the edge of daylight - so ultimately a meaningful chunk of running did take place.
Here's what we learned from MotoGP's last collective track event of the current year.
Aprilia marches on
By the standards of a post-season test this wasn't a particularly bombastic one in terms of 2026 prototype bits - in part because we'd seen the big-ticket item that is Yamaha V4 already, in part of because some of the manufacturers have drip-fed their upgrades in-season, in part because there's an engine performance development freeze between 2025 and 2026.
So Aprilia, despite finishing 2025 on a stunning run of form capped off with a 1-2 in the Valencia Grand Prix, was probably the loudest in terms of visible novelties. It was all aero - reworked at the front, slimmed down considerably at the side, and with a couple of seat aero versions (including one that was basically just a spoiler) - and it was significant enough to where Aprilia felt compelled to hide it with a bit of camo livery applied at the last second.
End-of-2025 form man Marco Bezzecchi was definitely pretty fast on the camo bike, but both he and tech director Fabiano Sterlacchini kept their cards close to their chest in discussing things post-test.
"It's different, of course, but as always not enough time to really understand it," Bezzecchi said.
"We tested many things but the day was a bit particular because of the weather conditions. Mixed feelings, as always, in testing - some positives, for sure, but also many doubts, many negatives, like every time in testing. It was just an appetiser."
Sterlacchini, opting not to pinpoint a specific intended aerodynamic benefit for the new pieces, simply said the aim was "to have the right aerodynamic coefficient in every phase of riding" between straightline speed (less drag) and corner entry (more drag/downforce).
Injury returnee Jorge Martin focused on an upgraded chassis - which he said was a clear step - already in use by his peers in-season, as well as solutions for rider comfort.
New aero was available to him, too, and he like Bezzecchi said it was inconclusive - "not a big difference" on the front but a benefit from "one of the specs on the rear".
Razgatlioglu strong out of the blocks
It is important to note here that this wasn't Razgatlioglu's first test in MotoGP or even his second test - he'd got to ride the Yamaha M1 in 2023 and he was on the V4 bike for a short stretch in private testing right before this test, so had more recent experience of it than the other non-full-time riders.
But it was very clear he'd had a promising day in placing 18th - second of the Yamahas, only seven tenths of a second off Fabio Quartararo.
"I was pretty surprised how fast he was today. I think he's going to be better than I had expected during next year," admitted Quartararo.
"I was quite impressed with the laptime that he did, and then I asked, and they said that he fitted two soft tyres [consecutively], to do a time attack - but yeah, you [still] need to do it!" said Alex Rins, who didn't fit the soft at all.
Pramac team manager Gino Borsoi said Razgatlioglu's adaptation to the braking style the Michelins require - compared to the Pirellis in World Superbikes - was going smoother than had been anticipated.
Razgatlioglu himself, of course, could not confirm or deny this, unable to go on record yet as he remains a BMW employee until the turn of the year.
Bagnaia perks up
From a professional standpoint Pecco Bagnaia's 2025 was, for 95% of it, a very public kicking - and it saved one last kick for the test, when Bagnaia's Ducati got away from him on a late-day time attack.
"I exaggerated Turn 2 a bit and went wide," was his smiling assessment.
Regardless, the two-time MotoGP champion sounded convinced he'd ended the year on a good note, with a better feeling on corner entry than he'd had for the vast majority of 2025.
"Honestly, quite happy that things were going well," he insisted. "I started the day with the previews of 2026, and they worked well, we managed to do a good job all the day. The feeling on braking entry was much better.
"Now we will check, understand, analyse everything to try to have this feeling like a constant. But I'm very happy about the things we tried."
Those things were largely "hidden" under the bodywork, though there was also new aero - which Bagnaia sounded happy enough with, but he cautioned that Valencia isn't a great track for testing it, "too tight, not very fast corners, we need to test it better maybe in Malaysia".
"This test is very difficult to take [spec] decisions. So it was more important to start to taste new things, but not exaggerate with a completely new bike," he said, echoing a widespread sentiment up and down pitlane.
Bulega saved the best for last
The laptimes at the end of a half-day of testing like this aren't particularly useful - but sometimes there are obvious, accurate takeaways from just one look at the classification. Razgatlioglu's positive test was one such takeaway - Nicolo Bulega's is another.
An eyebrow-raising soft-tyre run left Bulega, Marc Marquez's injury stand-in, within three tenths of the pace, good enough for eighth in the final order. It was a "very good" laptime, team-mate Bagnaia concurred. It was also a four-tenths upgrade on what he had managed in Q1 in-weekend.
"Honestly a test is better for me now - I needed some laps with no pressure, with time to improve," Bulega said, despite lamenting the programme being slashed by weather.
"It's difficult to improve in a race weekend because you don't have a lot of time, you feel a lot of pressure, you have to be fast always, in any condition.
"At the end of the day I was much faster, much more confident with the bike - and also the laptime was quite good. I did a mistake in my fastest lap, could've been even two tenths better, but anyway I am happy for the test because now I start to feel a bit more the MotoGP."
Bulega is understandably keen to play down the potential impact of this short run as a MotoGP rider for any future considerations - but his chances of MotoGP 2027 promotion simply must be higher now than two weeks ago.
Moto2 to MotoGP is still daunting
The Moto2 laptimes under tyre supplier Pirelli are a frequent source of marvel within the MotoGP media centre. Top prospect Dani Holgado's Moto2 pole time this weekend was within three seconds of the MotoGP pole - and a 1.6s upgrade on the fastest Valencia pole of Moto2's Dunlop era.
But going to the MotoGP bikes is still a culture shock. Moto2 champion Diogo Moreira's feedback after his first run on the LCR Honda, as reported by his new MotoGP team boss Lucio Cecchinello on the MotoGP testing feed was "Lucio, I s**t in my pants".
Moreira ended the day a perfectly sensible 1.8s off.
"The first exit it was difficult to open full gas on the straight, I was a bit scared at the beginning, but at the end I was enjoying a lot," Moreira reported.
"The most difficult to understand was the [carbon] brake - we need to warm up the brake very well, and also at the beginning it was difficult to understand when I need to stop the bike. At the end I think we made a very good job today."
Moreira wasn't the only MotoGP debutant in the test, with an unplanned bow handed to VR46 protege Celestino Vietti due to Franco Morbidelli's injury.
Vietti was desperate not to crash and wrapped up early after just 24 laps compared to over 50 for Razgatlioglu and Moreira, so him ending up three seconds off isn't really indicative of anything.
"The bike is impressively fast on the straight, but also the power of the brakes to stop the bike is really impressive also," Vietti enthused.
"It's really physical, especially the braking, because you arrive [into the corner] really faster, but the metres that you stop the bike are more or less the same.
"In the handling, I was expecting a little bit more stiffness, but the bike is really light, you can ride it really in a good way, more or less like Moto2."
