2026 Grid Almost Set - Catalunya Preview

Honda and VR46 are making moves - predictable ones - and the 2026 grid is nearly complete. I analyze the latest rider signings, and then try to figure out whether Marc Marquez can continue his epic win streak this weekend at Catalunya!

The Rundown:

- MotoGP News: Silly Season deals that aren't so silly
- Honda Signs Luca Marini - why boring makes total sense
- Honda Also Signs Johann Zarco - because old guys rule
- VR46 signs Franco Morbidelli - and nobody is surprised
- Catalunya! My preview of round 15 of the World Championship
- The Track - with the chance of a thrilling finish
- The Favorites - can anyone catch Marc
- The Watch List - three riders on the rise
- The Hot Seat - can Enea keep it going?
- The Picks! For the Sprint and the MotoGP Race

Who do you think will win the CatalanGP? Let me know on Facebook or the Motoweek Reddit Sub.

Find all of the latest episodes at Motoweek.net, follow on Bluesky and Instagram – and you can support the show on Patreon!

Thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Frommotoweek dot neg. It's the MotorWeek podcast with your host Wilson.
Why Hello, and welcome to Motoweek. My name is Wilson.
Thank you so much for listening to the only Moto
GP show on the Internet that thinks this week's run
of official silly season announcements make sense. But they're also

(00:24):
a little disappointing. And I only say they're disappointing because
they actually do make sense, if that makes sense at all.
Ahnda resigned two riders that they should have resigned right there.
Forty six resigns a rider that everybody would have been
shocked if they didn't re sign. So now all that's

(00:44):
left to finalize the twenty twenty six grid is for
Yamaha to figure out exactly which bike of theirs Jack
Miller is gonna ride, and then which youngster is going
to be taking over for some Cat Chantra on the
LCR bike, although we pretty much know that's going to
be the Yoga Morera. So a silly season that started
months ago with all kinds of controversy and rumors floating

(01:08):
around because of Jorge Martin and the potential chain reaction
of moves that could have resulted by him making that
shift to Honda. Instead of all that craziness, everything kind
of fizzled out, and so for the most part, everyone
just re signed everyone. And then the two full time
riders that currently sit lowest in point totals are heading

(01:30):
off to do other things next year, one to make
room for Dialogu Morera and the other one actually to
make room for the one unexpected and interesting thing that
happened in this silly season, Yamaha signing Till Parkert's got Leoglu.
And I'm not just saying that because his name is
so much fun to say. It's going to be interesting
to see him on that ride, and it was kind
of a surprise that he made that move so late

(01:52):
in his motorcycle racing career. So not a lot of
excitement when it comes to silly season, but we've got
something to make up for it a race this weekend. Yes,
there should be way more excitement on the way in
the next couple of days as Moto GP returns to
action for yet another double header. And this is a
very interesting doubleheader because it comes preloaded with some built

(02:15):
in drama because we start on home turf for the
Marquez brothers in the Barcelona area. Then we immediately move
to the primary stomping grounds for Peco and Bez and
the VR forty six riders in Misano. And in addition
to seeing the Spanish and the Italian riders face off
in each other's countries, this doubleheader is also very likely

(02:37):
the place where we will see Mark Marquez all but
guarantee that he'll be the twenty twenty five world champion,
although I'm still standing by what I was saying he'll
actually clinch in Japan, but these next two races are
pretty much where he's gonna shut everybody down and make
it a foregone conclusion. So on this episode of the show,

(02:58):
we will talk about the three riders signings that happened
this week, and then we're going to move on to
preview Round fifteen of the twenty twenty five MotoGP World Championship,
the Catalounya GP or Catalan GP if you want to
call it that, and it's happening at the home of
some of the most incredible finishes in the history of
the premiere class, maybe sitting just behind the Red Bull

(03:20):
Ring in that category. The circuit to Barcelona Catalunya in
picturesque Montmello, Spain. Now, before we get started, I would
like to take a brief moment to invite you over
to the website if you've never checked it out before.
You can find all of the latest episodes as soon
as they're released at motoweek dot net. You can follow
on Blue Sky just search for motoweek, or on Instagram

(03:41):
at motoweek USA, and most importantly, leave your comments right.
You can do that on Facebook at Facebook dot com,
slashmotoweek dot net, or over on the reddit sub at
r slash motoweek. And if you do want to support
the program, don't feel obligated, but you can on Patreon
at patreon dot com slash motorwek. And I want to

(04:02):
apologize in advance because we've been having the craziest weather
where I am here in southern California, and we usually
don't have rain this time of year, but we got
rain for a couple of days and now it's all
clearing out and so are my sinuses. So if I
sound a little stuffed up, that's the reason for it.
I don't know, it probably doesn't sound as bad as
it feels to me, but I feel like my voice

(04:24):
is like all up in my nose right now, but
we're going to power through it because we've got a
lot of stuff to talk about. And before we get
to the race, I want to talk a little bit
of Moto GP news because we had not one, not two,
but three riders signings announced this week, and shockingly enough,
not a single one of those involved Praymak and Jack Miller.

(04:46):
The one thing we've been waiting for since before the break,
or right as the summer break started. Yamaha still haven't
told us what's going on there, and in the process,
just about the entire rest of the grid has now
filled in around that one remaining slot at PREMAK and
I didn't intend to talk about Jack Miller, but I
will say this because we don't have any official announcement yet.

(05:07):
I really think that it's taking this long for one
of two reasons. Either Yamaha is going to shock us
all by announcing that they're going to sign Manu Gonzalez
out of Moto too, but I don't really think I
see that happening. We would have heard rumors, pretty strong
rumors by this point. I think the other possibility is
that they're trying to decide whether Jack Miller is going

(05:29):
to just continue on at Pramak or if he could
possibly make a move to the factory team. And I
think that latter option is a real possibility, and that's
what's holding things up is Yamaha trying to figure out
all the contracts associated with that. And the reason I
think that is because Fabio Quatraro has made it very
very clear multiple times that he prefers Jack to be

(05:50):
a Yamaha rider. He appreciates the experience and the development
possibilities that he brings to Yamaha, and it's no secret
in the garage that pretty much and everybody who's ever
ridden alongside Jack Miller has considered him to be a
great teammate and he's got a very positive attitude that
it brings to the box in general and usually works
really well with that other rider on his squad, and

(06:13):
that's a rare thing in Moto GP. And I don't
know what the working relationship between Fabio Quatruraro and Alex
Rins is a factory Yamaha, but I mean, the fact
of the matter is Rins isn't even performing, so I
don't know how much value Fabio feels he's getting from
the other side of his garage, and so he might
be lobbying behind the scenes to get a swap made.

(06:34):
And that would be very easy with Jack because he's
out of contract at the end of the year, but
Alex Rins is in the middle of a contract and
who knows what the terms of that contract are. When
the rumors were floating around that maybe Diogo Morrero will
go to Yamaha, the word behind the scenes was that
Yamaha were willing to pay Alex Rins to essentially sit
out or maybe just be a test rider, but pay

(06:54):
him a full time salary to be able to make
that happen. I don't think they will go that route
here in less of course, they're going to go get
Man new Gonzalez, but I could see them negotiating with
Alex Frinz and his team right now to make the
swapover to Premac. That would allow Jack Miller to come
to the Monster Yamaha squad, and he and Fabio Quachraroro

(07:14):
may make a very good pairing to start to develop
that V four engine next year in advance of the
role change in twenty twenty seven. And it's important for
every manufacturer to be ready for that rule change, but
it's especially important for Yamaha because they're not just going
to be changing the displacement of their engine. They're moving
to an entirely different platform with a V four, and

(07:36):
so they need to do as much development as possible
on the thousand CCV four because that's going to be
the basis for what becomes the eight hundred and fifty
CCV four. Well, I mean, if they're smart about it,
it's going to be and so I don't know. There's
probably talk internally at Yamaha that if they want to

(07:56):
keep Jack for his experience and for his skill developing
the bike, that they should give him the best opportunity
to do that. In my opinion, that would be on
the factory team, in constant communication with Fabio and Fabio's
team and Fabio's engineers, so the two of them can
try to make the bike as good as possible, even
if it doesn't end up benefiting Jack Miller in the end,

(08:18):
because he might not even be around in twenty twenty seven,
or if he is, he's very likely not going to
be competing for a championship. But if he can both
set up Fabio to be able to be competitive for
podiums and wins starting in twenty twenty seven, and along
with that encouraging young riders like a man of Gonzalez
to consider Yamaha as a first option for coming to
the premier class. Then a little bit of shuffling now

(08:41):
could potentially go a long way for Yamaha heading into
this new era of Moto GP with the smaller engines.
So that's what I think is happening behind the scenes,
but that is purely speculation on my part. I will
not do what some Internet people do and say, oh,
my sources are telling me. No, I'm just making it up.
But I think it's one of those options. And I

(09:04):
would not be surprised at all to see Jack Miller
end up on the factory team. And that's kind of
what's been holding things up. So that's the unknown. Now
let's talk about the known, because, like I mentioned a
moment ago, there were three rider contracts that were announced
this week, covering twenty twenty six and in one case,
twenty twenty seven. The first one Honda signing a contract

(09:26):
extension with Luca Marini for twenty twenty six, proving in
my opinion that Honda are obviously listening to this show
because just one week ago, just one week I said
that Luca Marini is the right rider for Honda at
this moment. So what they do? They listened to the
show and they went out and they offered him a contract.

(09:47):
Of course they did, all right, kidding aside, This is
the right move for Honda in their current situation. I mean,
Joe Inzarco might be their most experienced and successful rider
right now, and more on him in a moment, but
Marini is really their most consistent and there hasn't been
a lot of fanfare or a lot of headlines surrounding him,

(10:08):
but he's simply done a really good job in a
really bad situation. And I think it's great to see
him get not just a contract renewal, but a factory
contract renewal, all on his own and with a manufacturer
that has absolutely nothing to do with his legendary half
brother or his brother's team VR forty six. And for

(10:28):
those who don't know, because there could be some people
who don't know, Luca Marini is the half brother of
Valentino Rossi, so I believe they have the same mom
You guys, can correct me if I'm wrong on that one,
but one way or the other, lucas a lot younger.
Valentino has supported him his entire career, which is really
awesome to see. And because of that, he came up
through the VR forty six program and he was put

(10:50):
on the VR forty six bike, and a lot of
people viewed that as, for lack of a better description, nepotism.
They put him on the bike because he's Vallet's half brother.
But Marini did a really good job after a slow start. Admittedly,
he did a really good job his final year on
the VR forty six. Jucati made that move to Honda,
which was crazy at the time, but I mean, if

(11:12):
you get offered a factory contract, you gotta take it.
And man, he has really stepped up his game and
gotten better. It's just not all that obvious because the
bar who is very low and so it's hard to
recognize the improvement when he's going from you know, twelfth
to fifteenth on a race weekend to you know, somewhere
between sixth and tenth, and his average finish in MotoGP

(11:36):
races this year is only tenth, but he scored points
in every single Sunday race that he's entered in twenty
twenty five, and his average finish is only one and
a half places behind Zarco. And remember Zarco's average is
weighted by that win and two podiums that he's had
in Sunday races this year, and so that speaks even
more to the consistency of Lucu, Marini and Johann hasn't

(11:59):
scored points in the remote GP race and he has
four DNFs. Marini has zero, although he has missed three
races with injury. But the point here is that Honda
doesn't need someone to go out and win a championship tomorrow.
They need consistent data to know if they're really making progress,
and that's exactly what Marini has been giving them. Luca

(12:19):
doesn't wreck often, and like I said a couple of
weeks ago, he performs pretty much level with the capability
of the bike. And I hope that doesn't sound like
an insult. What I'm saying is he's not Mark Marquez
or Fabio Quachraro, where he can single handedly, just through
sheer talent alone, make up the deficiencies of the bike. Instead,

(12:40):
what he's given, that's what he returns, and that's what
Honda needs right now. They aren't going to compete for
a championship next season. At best, they might take another
step forward that would put them kind of around KTM level,
maybe a Prillia level if they're lucky, But I don't
want to get too optimistic here, and so they don't
Jorge Martin, and in fact, I think Jorge Martin is

(13:03):
in that same category as a mart Marquez or Fabio Couacrraro,
where if there are deficiencies with the bike, he might
mask them just by how good he is, right And meanwhile,
Luca in his last year on a Ducat he scored
multiple podiums. Why because that's what the bike was capable of.
He didn't go out there and win a bunch of
races and going a tear and challenge for the championship.

(13:25):
He was given a bike in the Ducati that's consistently
capable of finishing on podiums, and he finished on some podiums.
And I know that it sounds like what I'm saying
is he's so mediocre it makes him valuable to Honda,
and maybe I am, you know, because Honda is at
a level right now and it seems that level seems
to have gone up over the past couple of rounds,

(13:47):
and so if they give him a more capable bike
here in the next couple of rounds, I think we'll
see Luca Marini perform better. And so he's a great
measuring stick of where Honda is compared to the rest
of the field, and that makes him a really good
fit for right now. And so Honda gains a lot,
but Marini gains a lot as well. It gives Luca

(14:08):
an open audition to get better and stick with the
Honda factory team when that new rule package shows up
in twenty seventeen, he'll be pushing thirty years old at
that point, and you know, without a Moto GP victory
so far in his career, he's kind of facing an
uphill battle for that obstacle staying with the factory team.

(14:28):
So he kind of has to hope that next year
Honda does give him a better bike and he can
continue to use what he's given very efficiently. But overall,
good move for Honda, good opportunity for Luca Marini. And
then immediately on the heels of that announcement, Honda went
a step further, giving Joan Zarko, not a one but
a two year contract extension now contract csses aside. I'm

(14:53):
looking at you when I say that, Miguel Olivera. That
would make Zarko not only the first Honda rider guaranteed
to make it to the new eight hundred and fifty
cc Era in the premier class, but it would also
mean that he'll be thirty seven years old at the
end of this new deal, which, let's be honest, that's
impressive because thirty seven is pretty ancient for a Moto

(15:17):
GP rider not named Valentine Rossi. And we all know
that Rossi was just there because he had such an
epic career that he was allowed to race as long
as he wanted to. And when he was thirty seven,
he wasn't doing a whole lot, I mean, at least
not compared to Rossi and his prime, or even a
little bit after his prime. But with Zarko, Honda is
really really on the bandwagon here, and it's understandable. I mean,

(15:38):
he's got Honda's only victory since twenty twenty three, which
he scored earlier this year. He's someone with more experience
than almost anyone on the grid and yeah, he'll be
thirty seven at the end of the contract, but he
was a late bloomer in general to begin with. He
didn't really start hitting a stride in Moto two until
he was in his mid twenties. He didn't even come

(16:00):
to the Premier class until he was twenty seven, although
at that point he somehow already looked like he was
thirty eight or forty, and then he hasn't aged since then.
He looks exactly the same to me now as he
did when he came in to move a GP. But
one way or the other, he's still a solid option
for a rider that can develop a bike and much
like Luca Marini helped show its potential. Think somebody like

(16:25):
Jack Miller, he's very analogous to Jack Miller, or does
somebody like Colin Edwards, but with more podium potential. And
of course Zarko being French, he's from an area that
is really important to Dorna and I'm sure Liberty Media
as well, So everybody across the board is happy to
see him continue on for the next couple of years,
and in the end, Zarko being re signed is very

(16:47):
similar to the Luca Marini extension. It gives Honda yet
another rider that can help both show and extract the
proper potential out of the bike, even if he doesn't
have the potential to compete for a time, and he
doesn't even if they moved them up to the factory team,
he wouldn't be fighting for a title, not on that
bike at this stage in his career. But the biggest

(17:07):
takeaway from both of these signings of veteran riders, guys
that are both thirty years or older, is that it
means Honda is clearing the way for at least one
young rider, and it looks overwhelmingly like that rider is
going to be Dioga Morera coming up from Moto to
You know, I still think Mandu Gonzalez is more Moto

(17:28):
GP ready, But like we've been talking about, Honda doesn't
need ready right now. It needs more potential so that
when the guys like Marini and Zarko can make this
bike into something twenty twenty seven and beyond that, there'll
be a great platform for Marera to take advantage of.
So they're really setting the stage for the future at

(17:49):
Honda if Morera can pan out, which, of course, who knows,
We're going to see. Well, we're not going to see
yet because it's not official yet, but I do expect
that announcement to be made soon. So two silly season
contracts that really lean into veteran experience leading up to
the twenty twenty seven rule change at Honda. That trend

(18:09):
then continued as we head to the third announcement this week,
with Ducati m VR forty six letting us know that
Franco Morbidelli has been given a contract extension that'll carry
him through the twenty twenty sixth season. And I know
that you know, like Marini and Zarko those announcements, this
one isn't terribly exciting. It's a bit mundane. And that's

(18:31):
because Frankie is no longer a rider that you realistically
think of as a championship contender, and much like Marini's
thirty years old, he's really passed that threshold of a
legit contender. And I understand that some of you right
now are like, wait a minute, Mark Marquez. But Mark
Marquez is in a different world than every other rider

(18:53):
probably who's ever ridden in Modo GB. I'm not saying
he's necessarily the best. I will let the ROSSI and
Marquez and mckdowan and Casey Stoner and Jacko ma Augustini
fans fight that out. Not sticking my nose into that one.
But I mean, what Mark He's doing at over thirty
years old this year is something that nobody's ever seen

(19:14):
a Moto GP. And so for normal people like your
Marinis and Zarco's and Morbidelli's, once you hit thirty, you've
passed the threshold of having that capability of being a
legit contender. But what Frankie does have is a very
strong connection to the VR forty six Academy and the
VR forty six team. Now that doesn't mean this is

(19:35):
a charity gig. I mean, Frankie's got two Moto GP
and two sprint podiums this year alone, and he scored
twelve total top fives, and he's sixth overall in the championship,
just forty three behind pekobag Nyaya for third. And now
that he's over his injury, he's got the bike. If
he puts his head down and races hard, he can
make it back to third in the championship. He's gonna

(19:57):
have to battle with his teammate Fabio di jan Antonio
and he's really going to have to battle with Marco Bitzeki,
but he has that ability still. The opportunity is there now.
The good part is that Frankie who has shown us
real speed over his entire career, and in addition, there's
always been a very likable character in the championship. But
not only will he get to continue under the banner
of his mentor's team at VR forty six, but far

(20:19):
more importantly, I think being on the grid next year
means he will get the chance to race in Moto
GP's long awaited return to his quasi home country of Brazil,
which is where his mom is from. And trust me,
the Brazilian fans will absolutely be familiar with Franco and
will definitely be cheering him on, and of course they

(20:40):
very likely are going to have Dioga Morera to root
for as well. So it's really great that he's going
to get that opportunity to race in a country that
means so much to him and his family. So Frankie
gets resigned. I don't think anybody's surprised by this. He
has certainly run well enough to merit another contract. The
only bad news in these announcements is that with these

(21:02):
three confirmations, there's not much left and none of it
is shrouded in any mystery or really has any hidden surprises.
It's almost certainly going to be Diyoga Morera to Honda,
Jack Miller somewhere there at Yamaha, and then we're often
running for twenty twenty six. It also means that the
rider I think is the more polished of the Moto

(21:25):
two up and coming Stars Championship leader, Manu Gonzalez, is
very likely going to be overlooked, and that honestly is
a bit surprising, seeing as he's in an excellent place
to win the Moto two championship, especially given the inconsistency
of both Aaron Connett and the aforementioned Morera. And Cannet's
inconsistency isn't this year. I mean, that's been across his

(21:47):
entire career, and as much as I'm a fan of
all of the riders we just talked about, with contract
extensions and potential contracts, I can't help but feel that Manu,
being from Spain, is holding him back, which is an
odd odd thing, and I really think it speaks to
the state of mind of all of the manufacturers right

(22:08):
now because everybody other than Dukati, they aren't thinking about
twenty twenty six and the fact that Mandu Gonzalez is
probably the most Moto GP ready rider in Moto two
right now. They're thinking about twenty twenty seven and developing
that new bike and having the proper package on track
right away. And let's be honest, young riders aren't going

(22:28):
to really get you over that hurdle or get you
to the finish line there. You need veteran experience and
that's exactly what these three signings represent. And so it's
a really weird time to be an ultra talented rider
in Moto two because you could be a champ that
manufacturers would normally be fighting over to try to discover

(22:48):
that person to make them into the next mart Marquez
before anybody else can. And instead, because of this very
unique situation in Moto GP, with this looming rule change,
not many people are interested at all, at least not now.
They want next year, those veteran riders to help bolster
the program and get that new bike developed while getting

(23:09):
to the end of the road with the current bike
in such a way that that platform, chassis, engine, everything
is directly applicable to what comes afterwards in twenty twenty seven.
So when you think about it, it is really strange.
Now that being said, once we get early into twenty
twenty six, it's going to be a wild, wild, silly

(23:31):
season because now all of the manufacturers are going to
be looking at twenty twenty seven and beyond and establishing
themselves and establishing their dynasty in the way that Ducaldi
has right now, and so everyone is going to be
looking for the next big thing, and the rider market
is going to be way more attractive for young talented

(23:53):
riders coming up. So things could get really really crazy
in about six months from now, but right now, pretty
boring end to silly season. But enough about that and
any potential controversy. Let's move on to bigger stories, more specifically,
Moto GP back in action this weekend, kicking off a

(24:13):
very unique Spain Italy doubleheader that really has a strong
draw towards the top riders in the sport right now,
and so it's gonna be very interesting. Half of the
contenders are gonna have home field advantage one week and
then the other week the other half are gonna want
to play the spoiler and embarrass those home field contenders

(24:35):
in front of their hometown fans. So it's gonna be
very interesting to see who can accomplish what, although I'm
sure Mark Marquez is going to accomplish a lot no
matter where he's racing. But before we get to the riders,
let's first talk about the track, the famous circuit to
Barcelona Catalunya in Montmelo, Spain. Now, like most European tracks,

(24:55):
Catalunya gives you a little bit of everything, but puts
it in a small enough space where fans can see
a lot of the action from pretty much anywhere on
the outside of the circuit. It does a great job
of accomplishing that, and with a number of riders, including
the Marquez brothers, claiming this as their home track, right
lyst it's the closest track to Servera, Spain, the crowd

(25:15):
should be sizeable and definitely enthusiastic. Now, Katalunya has a
relatively big straight I mean we're not talking Maugello or anything,
but still big enough for power to be a factor
along with the slip stream. And the great thing about
Catalunya isn't that it has both fast and slow corners,
or that it puts an emphasis on edge grip. Lots

(25:35):
of places do that, but here it's all about pacing.
Every time things seem to open up a little bit
and you get a bigger speed corner, it tightens right away.
You've got the straight into a slow one two combo,
the faster turns at three and four into a very
tight five. Turn nine launches you onto the short backstraight
that ends with the tightest turn on the circuit after

(25:57):
the reconfiguration, and that fast slow, fast slow type of
rhythm not only levels the playing field a little bit,
but it opens the door for strategy, and we've certainly
seen that here before in some very famous races. Now
the reconfigure turn ten does take away some of the
momentum from that final sector, but I actually think it
adds excitement because you get another heavy breaking zone, you

(26:20):
get another chance to make passes, and you get another
chance to make mistakes too, and you still get that
iconic final corner where bravery can make or break your race,
as we've seen multiple times, most famously in that battle
between Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorento. And if you have
not seen that race from two thousand and nine, you

(26:41):
are in trouble. Your assignment is to go find it
and watch it. Now, you can just watch the last
couple of laps, but I would highly recommend you go
back and watch the entire race just to get the context.
And really you need to watch the entire season up
until that point to understand the die ynamic between Valentino

(27:02):
Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, the ongoing power struggle between those
two riders. That season was through the roof. I mean,
it was just off the charts epic, and it all
came to this iconic moment at Catalunya that was one
of the best races ever in Moto GP. And now,

(27:23):
obviously if you're a fan, actually I'm not going to
give it away if you haven't seen it yet, So
just go watch the race and then come back here
and let me know what you thought about it if
you've never seen it before. My whole point is that
that last turn, even with the chicane that's been put
in before, it is a place where anything can and

(27:43):
has happened in the past, and so the opportunity is
ever present that we could see similar drama in that
corner this weekend as well. Now, Catalunya was repaved a
couple of years back, but it's had time to wear
in now, so I don't think there'll be any problems
with grip, especially if temperatures are nice, and right now
it looks like conditions are going to be really good,
not too hot, not too cold, although that's really a
matter of perspective. I'm sure to the world BEEG commentators

(28:06):
they're gonna say it's a little warm, because I think
the highs are like in the low eighties. And it's
hilarious to me, at least when those guys are like,
oh my gosh, it's a scorch. You're out there and
it's like eighty one degrees or twenty seven celsius. When
you're used to one hundred and fifteen like it was
last week here, which is like what forty six, forty seven,

(28:29):
forty eight in that area celsius. Then you're hoping for
a day that's only eighty one or twenty seven celsius.
Although when you're riding a motorcycle and you're in leathers
and everything like that, that is hot. Absolutely, that's hot,
all right. So that's where they're racing. Now, let's talk
about the riders on this all important weekend. We'll do
this preview the way we normally do. The favorites, the

(28:51):
guys I think have the best chance of winning. Will
move on then to my watch list, which are riders
that I don't necessarily think are going to finish right
off the podium. They might pete four a podium, but
they just have interesting stories heading into this weekend that
makes me want to pay particular attention to them. And
then we'll wrap up with the hot seat, the riders
I think absolutely positively have to perform for one reason

(29:13):
or another, and I will tell you what that reason is.
So let's start with the favorites. We will take these
guys in Championship Border, which means our discussion, as usual,
starts with mister Mark Marquez and Catalounya is an interesting
track for Mark because statistically it is Mark's home track.
It's about an hour closer to his hometown of Servera

(29:34):
than Aragon Is. But as far as which of those
tracks he prefers, it's pretty obvious that it's the latter
of those two. I mean, Mark has absolutely dominated in
the past at Aragon, like he did this year. Kicking
off that epic wind streak that he's still riding heading
into this round, but he hasn't had that same feeling

(29:56):
in Barcelona and it shows in the stats. Now, just
like we were talking about with the weather, it is
all a matter of perspective what not having the same
feeling means. Because Mark is still easily the best rider
on the Moto GP grid in terms of success. In Catalunya.
He may only have two victories in the premier class,

(30:17):
but he has eight Moto GP podiums and one sprint podium. Now,
a lot of riders would consider that their best track anywhere,
not just their second favorite in their home country. And
I did see a comment that Mark made where he
was like, oh, I don't know, I don't feel as
comfortable at Barcelona, and I'm like, dude, you have two
wins and eight podiums here and you're saying you're not comfortable.

(30:41):
That's why places like Aragon and Circuitive of the America
is he's just simply unbeatable when he stays on the bike.
So even with this race not being an Aragon, this
is still a place where Mark has had a lot
of success in general, and that doesn't even take into
account how insanely incredible he's been this year, coming into
his home track on a streak of seven double win

(31:03):
weekends and fourteen consecutive points victories in a row. He
is far and away the best rider in the sport
right now, and I think that irons out any potential
psychological inconsistencies with him thinking about Catalunya coming into the weekend,
Mark is the rider to beat, and somebody is going
to have to go out there and prove they can
beat him, even if it is a bit of an

(31:24):
unusual track in Mark's mind. At least, this is also
an interesting track for his brother Alex Marquez, because Alex
hadn't really been good here at all until last year
in the Solidarity GP, which was the season finale that
was moved to Barcelona because of the flooding in Valencia,
and in that round, Alex continued what he had started

(31:47):
a couple of weeks before that in Malaysia by giving
us a mini preview of what we could expect in
twenty twenty five. In Sapang, he finished fourth in the sprint,
fourth in the race. Then he went to Barcelona finished
fifth in the sprint and fourth in the race. And
at the time it seemed like he just had a
strong finish to the year. He happened to put together
back to back rounds where he raced really, really well.

(32:09):
What we didn't know is that he had actually taken
a step forward, and that was a little preview of
what we were ultimately going to get in twenty twenty five.
And that's why I like him for this weekend, because
we've seen track after track this season where Alex hasn't
had any history built up, and yet he goes out
and the way out performs anything close to what we've

(32:31):
ever seen out of him. But at this track, he
at least does have some momentum and confidence, and that
momentum and confidence came from around where he was already
in the mode that he's been in this year. He
had already taken that step forward and was just trying
to figure out how to best harness it in those
last two rounds of twenty twenty four. And so I

(32:51):
think that what we saw in the Solidarity GP is
pretty representative of the type of speed he can bring
this time around. But he also has a heck of
a lot more momentum and confidence right now than he
did at the end of last season. So I think
that he's got a really good opportunity to get himself
moving in the right direction again, because there's no question

(33:13):
that Alex has struggled with consistency since coming back from
the summer break. I mean the last three rounds, he's
only had a single podium that came in the Austrian Sprint.
So to get that consistency and those second place finishes
established again, Catalunya offers a great opportunity if he can
maintain focus and stay out of gravel traps. And then

(33:34):
the final rider in the favorites category and this is
a tough one for me, but I'm going to put
him back in and don't worry, I'll explain it all.
Peko Bagnaya is the final rider for me in this
category and man, this this should be a race full
of so much potential for him. He didn't used to
be very good at all in Catalunya in his first

(33:55):
three years. Peco was clearly just trying to figure this
place out. But in the last three years it really
started to click for him in terms of speed, even
if it didn't always work out in terms of results.
But last year just like with Alex, even more so
actually than Alex. It all came together for Peco Bagnyaya
in Catalunya. He had wins in both the Catalan GP

(34:18):
and the Solidarity GP, and he had a sprint win
in the season finale too, So he's won his last
three races at Catalunya. He also had to spend putting
back in twenty twenty three, but I'm more interested in
what he did a year ago because on paper, that
creates such an interesting situation where Bagnyaya comes in having

(34:39):
won the last three points races at his teammate and
arch rivals home track, which we just established was a
place where Mark says, I don't feel as confident here,
I don't feel as dominant here. So if we were
in a situation where Mark and Peco were neck and
neck for the championship lead, this could be a critical

(34:59):
round where Bagnaya brings in extra confidence at a place
where it would have even more of an impact in
terms of momentum to go out and beat Mark in
front of all those hometown ninety three fans. However, fortunately
for us that is most definitely not the case. Instead,
Peco isn't good at all right now. I mean, the

(35:22):
confidence just isn't there, and the results aren't there. The
last podium of any sort for Peco Bagnaya was July
thirteenth in Germany. That is a full month and a
half ago, and of course, not only is he not
in the championship hunt, but he hasn't had the speed
to compete with Mark at all, even if he was
close in points. But because he was so good here

(35:44):
a year ago, there is a chance for this to
be a good recovery round for Peco, and it kind
of has to be because Marco Pitzeki and the VR
forty six riders are hot on his rear wheel for
third in the standings. And that is the per segue
to take us from the favorites category onto the watch list,
because we're going to start there with one of the

(36:06):
riders I just mentioned, Marco Bitzeki, And I realize that
I have Marco on the favorites list for Hungary, and
rightfully so every so often I accidentally get one right,
and I still think that Marco is the second best
rider in the sport right now, even if he does
keep getting beat by youngsters in the final lapse of races.

(36:28):
But in terms of overall speed and consistency, Bez is
second now only to Mark and he's clearly ahead of
both Alex Marquez and Peco Bagniaya at the moment. So
if that's the case, then why is Peko on the
favorites list when he's struggling and Bizeki not on the
favorites list when he's riding really, really well. The reason

(36:50):
is really simple. He hasn't been great here in the past,
and I'll spare you all the boring stats, but for
all intents and purposes, Marco Bizeki has been a tenth
place rider in Catalunya, and so that doesn't really scream
pick me, pick me. But while Bez has been thoroughly
average in Catalunya, Aprilia as we know, hasn't Ali Schaspago,

(37:12):
and of course it's his home track too. Ali Schaspago
was great here on the RSGP, and even Maverick Vinalez
podium don that bike as well. And of course the
current Aprillia is now better than it was then, and
you could argue that Bez overall is a better rider
than he was back then, even though he was on
a Ducati. And you could certainly argue that Marco is

(37:35):
one hundred percent more confident on the Aprilia than he
was at the start of the season, with at least
one podium in a points race for the past five
consecutive rounds. Peco Bagnyay is crying as I say that,
And so in a world where Ducati is dominating, Marco
has been the only consistent challenger, So that in the
rsgp's recent history, here have me watching to see if

(37:58):
Bez can overcome his past finishes and race more like
someone like Galiciaspargo would attack this track on that particular bike.
So let's move on now from Marco to another rider
that could be challenging those top contenders this weekend, Pedro Acosta,
who is right behind Bez in terms of momentum. I mean,

(38:19):
while Marco is on a run of five straight excellent
rounds and like six of the last eight, Acosta has
gotten himself headed in the right direction as well. He's
been showing a speed on and off pretty much since
back at Lama, but the last three rounds have finally
seen the youngster come into his own and I like
not just his results, but the level of intensity he's

(38:39):
riding with and the level of confidence that's come along
with that. You know, we all know that the KTM
was farther away from Ducati than Aprilia was this year,
and despite some flashes of speed out of Maverick Vignalis
and Brad Binder here and there, the results associated with
those flashes have been sporadic. But Acosta has really started

(39:01):
to harness consistency here in the second half, and I
don't see why that can't continue this weekend. Now, his
sample size here career wise is far smaller than someone
like Bitzeki. I mean, Pedro's only run in the premier
class at Catalunia for one year, his rookie year, so
that means two rounds. But even though the twenty twenty

(39:22):
four Catalan GP was just six rounds into his Moto
GP career, he did show us some speed there. He
was consistently quick in practice, qualified on the second row.
Then he scored a podium in the sprint. He was
fighting for the lead and the podium in the Moto
GP race before making a big mistake and washing out
into the gravel trap about ten laps in, and that

(39:45):
sent him outside the top ten. He finished thirteenth in
that one wasn't able to improve upon that in the
Solidarity GP, where I believe he finished tenth in the
Moto GP race. But the important part here is that,
especially in that first round of twenty twenty four, the
speed was there, even if he struggled a little bit
more in the Solidarity GP afterwards. Now he gets a

(40:08):
fresh shot at Barcelona with a little bit of momentum
built up over the past couple of rounds, and we
get to see how that affects his end result in
front of the Spanish fans, even if this isn't really
his home track. I mean, he's from Mayorka, so technically
I guess Valencia would be his home track, although you
got to get on a boat or a plane to
get to either of those circuits from where he lives,

(40:28):
so he might consider both of them to be his
home track, and one way or the other, the Spanish
fans are definitely going to support him if he's having
a good weekend, and I think he's got potential to
have a good weekend. I also think that potential lies
with the final rider on the watch list this week,
and that's where hey, Martine, and I realize as I
say this that on the post ray show from Hungary,

(40:50):
I pointed out that his results in the Hungarian GP
were a little bit deceptive, and I stand by that
he had a phenomenal first lap where made up a
bunch of places when everybody was clumped together. Then once
things settled in, he was only able to pass two
more riders the rest of the way, and so that's

(41:10):
more representative of a great start as opposed to some breakthrough,
you know, overwhelming race pace to make up twelve places,
you know, from start to finish. And likewise, I noted
that his lap times were inconsistent, and all those things
are true, right, but that's to be expected from a
rider who has now only finished two complete rounds on
a brand new bike, and of course he's also run

(41:32):
two partial rounds. The consistency is going to improve, for sure,
and we've seen flashes of raw speed here and there.
The important part of Hungary is really a matter of
perception and confidence when it comes to Hori Martine, because
he doesn't see it the way I just, you know,
objectively analyzed it. He sees it as I started at

(41:54):
the back of the grid or almost at the back
of the grid, and I finished up near the front.
I've got this thing down. I can do this, And
that's really what Martin needs is that reinforcement, that boost
of confidence that he can carry into the next round.
And this is that next round he can carry it into.
So I think that it doesn't matter how many riders
he passed after the first slap. I just think it

(42:16):
matters that he got a really good finish and that's
going to help him this weekend because he's capable of
good finishes on a regular basis, and before the end
of the season he is going to be competing for
podiums with somebody wins I don't know yet, but definitely podiums.
And just as importantly, we know by watching Marco Bidzeki

(42:36):
that the RSGP is a podium worthy bike. So once
Martin gets in that comfort zone and the consistency is there,
he's going to be just as capable of getting on
the box as his factory teammate. Now I'm not sure
that Barcelona is the place he's going to do that,
but it certainly is going to send him further in
the right direction because he knows this circuit really well.

(42:56):
He scored four Moto GP podiums in one sprint podium
here ranging all the way back to twenty twenty two,
and over the past three seasons, the Martin nader has
been on podiums in Catalonia one way or the other,
including a double third the cap Is Ducati career and
of course the twenty twenty four championship last season. Can
he start to find more consistency, That's what I'm gonna

(43:17):
be watching for, is Jorge Racis for the first time
on an apprelia in his home country, even though this
isn't technically his home track. But the key, the key
for Jorge Martin is qualifying. He can't be at the
back of Q two and expect to keep doing this.
I mean, only Brad Bender can do that. Like literally,
it's in the Moto GP rulebook that Brad Bender is

(43:40):
the only rider that's allowed to start at the back
of the field and then finish in the top five
every single weekend. It was also written into his contract.
I believe. No, I'm joking, of course, But Jorge Martin,
I think he is gonna consistently get better and better
and better at qualifying. And that's the other good takeaway
from the Hungarian GP. Yeah, he didn't. He has a

(44:00):
lot of guys after he made up all that ground,
But he also wasn't losing to those guys around him either,
And so if he starts near the front, he's not
necessarily gonna have mark pace, but he's definitely capable of
battling for the final two spots in the podium if
he can smooth out those lap times from start to
finish as well. So he's got things going in the

(44:20):
right direction. I'll just be watching very closely to see
what kind of step forward he takes in Catalounya. All right,
so let's move on to the final category, the hot
seat riders, the guys who have to go out and
perform this weekend for one reason or another. We'll begin
and we'll take these guys in championship order. We'll begin
with then a Abastianini. And you know, Bestia is an

(44:42):
interesting case here as well, because, like we've seen out
of riders like Maverick Vinalis and Brad Binder, this year,
Bestia finally chipped in his contribution by showing a flash
of speed on the KTM. He landed fifth in the
Moto GP race and seventh in the sprint. A couple
rounds back at the Red Bull Ring, giving us hope

(45:02):
that not only KTM, but especially Aenea himself were maybe
starting to click into place in their quest to match
a Prillia in taking the fight to Dukati for podium spots.
But while Pedro Acosta was able to carry that momentum
forward into Hungary, for Bassinini, not so much. Although you know,

(45:24):
I really shouldn't say that, because he showed speed, he
qualified really well. He was fourth on the grid and
his end result in the sprint had nothing to do
with any kind of lack of performance on his part.
He simply got taken out by Fabia Quachruro in that
really weird incident. In fact, it was a super weird
race for an Abascianini that sprint in Hungary. He got

(45:44):
taken off the track by Fabia Quatchrraro that, in turn,
I guess, broke his rear ride height device that then
caused him to run into join Zarco a little bit
after that that netted him a double long lap penalty
that he was upset about. But he knew that his
bike was broken, and if you know your bike is
broken and it's going to affect how you're breaking into

(46:04):
a corner, you probably shouldn't be riding in close proximity
to others, and so he can complain on all he once,
but he deserved the penalty, but that double long lap
penalty took him out of contention Sunday, it would have
if he had finished the race. Instead, he had that
super scary incident early on when he lost the front end,
slid across the chicane and back onto the track and

(46:25):
thankfully didn't get hit by anybody. So we really don't
know what his ultimate potential or his ultimate speed across
the race was going to be compared to Austria, but
we definitely know he had bad luck and we still
know that he's trailing Tech three teammate Maverick dan Yallas
in the standings, despite the fact that Mavis had out

(46:47):
the last four rounds. So with a cost of having
proven that KTM can have both speed and consistency and
Bastianini needing to save face getting beat by his teammate
who's not even on the track, now is the time
for somebody with his talent level to start to take
advantage of that RC sixteen and really go out there

(47:07):
and do something with it. Next up is juam Meir
and I don't know if I should say this too
loud because it might jinx them, but the factory Honda
team has actually been really good the last two rounds.
Those Factory guys have kind of swapped places with what
we were seeing out of Joanne Zarco earlier in the year.

(47:30):
The LCR rider has been off to a really mediocre
start in the second half, while the factory pair seemed
to have made a step forward, fighting in the middle
of the top ten. Like we talked about earlier, Luca
Marini is really leading the way for these guys, and
I'm a big fan of what he's doing on the bike.
But Juamir has the potential to produce results that are

(47:50):
just as good, and we've seen that recently when he
can stay on the bike until the end. And that's
been the problem for him his entire Honda career, staying
on the bike and out of gravel traps. But the
last two times he's done it, the last two times
he's taken a checkered flag. He's scored six place finishes,
which is consistent with the type of performance we've been

(48:11):
seeing out of Lucamarini. So the potential is there and
this is a good track for Meir to try to
realize it. He was quite good there in his Suzuki years.
He had a second place podium along with two fourth
place finishes and then a sixth his final time around
on the Suzuki. Being another Majorca guy, I don't know
if he considers Barcelona Valencia to be his home track

(48:32):
just like Pedro Costa, but again there will be fan
support if he can come out of the gate with
speed and qualify well, those are going to be the
keys for him as well. And then finally Miguel Olivera,
he is totally in limbo right now. I mean, Yamaha
haven't made that official announcement about next year, although all

(48:53):
signs point to Jack Miller getting the nod over Miguel,
which would lead to Olivera exploring maybe a potential testing
gig with a Prillia what people are talking about, but
one way or the other World Superbike Test gig, it
doesn't matter, I mean in a place on the Moto
GP grid is probably not in the cards. But the
best thing that Alivera could do to maximize whatever options

(49:16):
he has left or to at least solidify whatever he's
got left that would leave him on a bike as
opposed to an a dentist's office. It's to go out
and perform, and he's done that before in Catalouonya he
had that very popular win after a great battle with
Johan Zarco in twenty twenty one, and then he was
fifth there his first time in Barcelona on an aprillion

(49:38):
twenty twenty three. Now, unfortunately, things simply haven't been going
well to start the second half of the year. Really
all year long, things haven't been going well for him.
He scored four points in Hungary and those were his
first four points since back before the summer break. But
this is a chance for him at a track where
he feels comfortable and has had success in the past,

(50:00):
and trust me, results make people pay attention. So he's
got to find some if he wants to get the
best possible position for himself heading into twenty twenty six,
even if it's less ideal than what he had initially intended.
So those are the riders. That means the only order
of business left to take care of is for me
to attempt very poorly to make picks for this race,

(50:23):
like we normally do, I will pick the top three
for the sprint and the top five for the Moto
GP race. So let's start on Saturday. And third in
the sprint, I'm going to go with Alex Marquez. Yeah,
he's been struggling, but his speed didn't just disappear, right
It has to be in there somewhere, and he's been
so good on Saturdays this year that I'm going to

(50:45):
take a flyer on him to get on the podium.
In second, I'm going to go with Marco Bitzeki because
he's the second best rider on track right now, and
unlike the Sunday race, all those youngsters won't have enough
time to catch him in the close because it's only
half length. And then your winner on Saturday in the sprint.

(51:06):
Who else am I gonna pick? Mark Marquez? I mean,
he's on fire right now. Somebody's gonna have to go
out and show me that they can beat him moving
on to Sunday in the Moto GP race. In fifth,
I'm gonna go with Jorge Martin. Consistency is a question
for me, but this is a good track for him.
He'll be carrying some confidence from that result. In hungary,

(51:27):
so I like his chances to run well. In fourth,
we're gonna go with a rider we haven't talked about
yet on this episode, Fabio di Jayan Antonio. Both of
the VR forty six riders were excellent and hungry, yet
they always kind of get forgotten. But Digia had a
really strong round a couple of weeks ago. Although I
probably should have picked Franky because he got the new

(51:48):
contract deal, he's going to be super excited to go
out and perform to back that up. But I'm gonna
pick Fabio right off the podium instead. In third, I'm
gonna go with Pedro Acosta, keeping that KATM momentum, going
at a kind of sort of home track. In second,
once again, I'm gonna go with Marco Bitzeki, and this

(52:08):
might be a big ask, but he's been showing us
consistently competitive speed and I don't think that simply goes
away just because this hasn't been his best track in
the past. So Marco in second and your winner, Mark Marquez.
I don't care if this isn't his best Spanish track
or if he thinks he's not as good here as

(52:30):
he's at aragon A. Mark that's not as good as
Aragon is still crushing everybody right now and it's just
difficult to pick against him. So in the sprint on Saturday,
Alex Marquez third, Marco Pitzeki second, and Mark Marquez your winner.
In the Moto GP race in fifth, we're going Je
Martine fourth, Fabio di jan Antonio and on the podium
Pedro Costa and then the same top duo Marco Bitzeki's

(52:52):
second and Mark Marquez your winner. Do you agree? Do
you disagree? You know what to do? Get on Facebook
or Reddit and tell me why my picks are com
completely misinformed and who you think is going to win
the race instead. And since we have a race, that
means we will have a post race show, so check
back at the conclusion of the weekend. I will recap
all of the action in Catalunya, review the championship picture,

(53:14):
and then give you my take on the weekend. I
also think there's a small chance we could get an
announcement about either the final Honda seat or the final
Yamaha seat, either heading into this weekend or else on
the back end of the weekend. If so, we'll talk
about that coming up on the next show as well,
but probably not on the post race show. There probably
won't be time. Then. As soon as we get done

(53:35):
with Catalunya, we're gonna flip the script from the Spanish
Riders to the Italian Ones as a series takes on
the amazing world circuit Marco Simanchelli in sam Marino. That's
gonna be a fun one to preview next week. In
the meantime, you can leave your comments on Facebook or Reddit,
and I don't want you to miss a single episode
of the program, so if you haven't done it yet,
I would highly recommend you subscribe. You can do that

(53:58):
pretty much anywhere on Apple Podcast, YouTube Podcasts, Speaker, Stitcher player,
dot Fm, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible podcasts. Basically go to your
favorite podcasting site. Type in motoweek you should be able
to find the program. You can always get all of
the latest episodes as soon as they're released on the
website at motoweek dot net. You can follow on Blue

(54:19):
Sky just look for motoweek, or on Instagram at motoweek USA,
and you can leave your comments on Facebook at Facebook
dot com, slashmotoweek dot net, or over on the Reddit
sub at r slash motoweek, and if you do want
to support the program, don't feel obligated, but if you
want to, you can just go to Patreon dot com,
slash motoweek, and links to almost everything can be found

(54:43):
on the website at motoweek dot net. All right, so
until we talk again, just a couple of days from now,
let's see what happens. If somebody, anybody is going to
find a way to step up and challenge Mark, or
if he's just going to continue this run of double wins.
We'll find out sooner rather than later. And until then,
I want to thank you so much for listening. Ride safe,

(55:05):
and I'll talk to you soon.