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The Race MotoGP Podcast
Bagnaia saves his title bid
Pecco Bagnaia went from a bizarre final lap crash while leading MotoGP's Catalan Grand Prix sprint to pulling off a very intelligent Sunday race win that keeps things poised in the title fight.
But he was just one of three riders to crash from the sprint lead - all for different reasons. And with Bagnaia, championship leader Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez finding ways to all take nearly identical points hauls from Barcelona despite having wildly contrasting weekends, this strange event gives Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer plenty to delve into on The Race MotoGP Podcast.
That includes the latest round of 2025 rider market talk, with Aleix Espargaro's retirement announcement - and surprise likely next move - kicking things off, new talk of how Ducati might resolve its Martin/Marquez factory seat debate emerging and some very leftfield moves appearing in paddock speculation.
Throw in Enea Bastianini protesting the stewards by ignoring their penalties and Val and Simon having a passionate argument over Yamaha's form, and there's plenty packed into the episode.
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Acosta to Ducati? And other early 2027 MotoGP rumblings
52:58|The 2027 rule changes mean MotoGP riders and teams are going to have to take massive early punts with their next deals.It’s kicking off already with reports that Pedro Acosta’s camp is already angling to get him onto a factory Ducati, but that certainly won’t be the only pre-Christmas plotting going on.Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer convene on The Race MotoGP Podcast to discuss that Acosta/Ducati possibility, where the resurgent Honda fits into the rider market machinations and who we really think deserves nice sweet-handling Aprilia and a reassuring hug from Massimo Rivola.BLACK FRIDAY: Get 50% off your first month when you sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube
Should Yamaha let Quartararo leave? Listener questions answered
01:02:24|Yamaha is embarking on a bold new chapter with its V4 engine - but how hard should it work to make sure Fabio Quartararo is part of that chapter?The Race MotoGP Podcast crew (Matt Beer, Simon Patterson and Valentin Khorounzhiy) tackles this question as part of a major Yamaha overview, and also field questions about the impact of Marc Marquez's absence on the end of the 2025 season in this Q&A special.Also discussed is Jorge Lorenzo's new coaching partnership with Maverick Vinales and a truly bewildering recent claim from the series boss about MotoGP racing on street circuits.BLACK FRIDAY: Get 50% off your first month when you sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube
What we learned from day one of MotoGP 2026
40:10|The traditional post-season MotoGP test at Valencia effectively kicked off the 2026 season, so Matt Beer has made an exhausted and hungry Simon Patterson and Val Khorounzhiy join him for an extra edition of The Race MotoGP Podcast to talk about it.Toprak Razgatlioglu’s public MotoGP debut and some particularly eye-catching Aprilia developments - some with a clear eye on the 2027 rule changes - feature strongly, as well as the vibes erstwhile title rivals Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin were giving as they put their horrible 2025s behind them. Plus the story behind the surprise appearance of the latest Valentino Rossi protege.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube
MotoGP 2025 ends with a big warning to Ducati
55:57|Marc Marquez’s absence might make the end of the 2025 MotoGP season a deceptive picture, but Aprilia’s Valencia Grand Prix 1-2 and Ducati’s general woes since its new champion was hurt make for an intriguing winter.The Race MotoGP Podcast’s Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate how seriously we should take Aprilia’s late-2025 form and Ducati’s fluctuations since Marquez was hurt.Franco Morbidelli is one of those riders Ducati has to have big question marks over - was his bizarre crash on the grid at Valencia a last straw for his long-term career?We debate that plus the first serious criticism for Simon Crafar’s stewarding regime and where MotoGP should actually hold its season finale.FREE WEEK: Want to try before you buy on our bonus MotoGP content? You can view new content published on Patreon for FREE until the end of Tuesday 11th November Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube
Can Acosta be a bigger 2026 threat to Marquez than Bezzecchi?
01:00:10|Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia stole the show again in MotoGP, continuing their remarkable late-season run with an emphatic victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao.But while Bezzecchi deserves to be seen as a legitimate challenger to Marc Marquez’s dominance coming into 2026, can the same be said about an ever-improving Pedro Acosta and a resurgent KTM - despite the fact they still cannot win? Val Khorounzhiy and Simon Patterson discuss this in an on-site episode, while also touching upon a potent Alex Marquez weekend that was just short of greatness, another 2025 low for Pecco Bagnaia and Nicolo Bulega’s eye-catching debut.Plus, was the stewards’ panel too lenient on Fermin Aldeguer - and what was going on with Joan Mir?FREE WEEK: Want to try before you buy on our bonus MotoGP content? You can view new content published on Patreon for FREE until the end of Tuesday 11th November Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube
A major Ducati debut, plus five riders to watch as 2025 wraps up
01:01:19|Ducati's World Superbike star Nicolo Bulega is making his MotoGP debut in Portimão in relief of the injured Marc Marquez - and, even beyond him replacing the champion, it's more significant than your usual stand-in call-up.But does Bulega, who will be part of Ducati's MotoGP test team next year, have a real shot at a MotoGP future? And what does he need to show this weekend and in the season finale in Valencia?Valentin Khorounzhiy and Simon Patterson preview this Ducati debut, before naming five other riders you should watch closely over the final two rounds of the campaign - all of whom face an urgency to go into next season in better form.FREE WEEK: Want to try before you buy on our bonus MotoGP content? You can view new content published on Patreon for FREE until the end of Tuesday 11th November Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube
Free preview: Our take on 2015's infamous MotoGP flashpoint
19:38|We’ve been reliving MotoGP’s extraordinary 2015 season all year long in The Race Members’ Club and have reached the big flashpoints - the trilogy of the Phillip Island accusations, Sepang clash and Valencia penalty that turned Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez’s simmering tension into an explosion that still echoes around MotoGP a decade on.We’ve done bonus-length in-depth episodes about both Phillip Island and Sepang, and you can get a taste of them here in the main The Race MotoGP Podcast feed with these clips from those episodes, as Simon Patterson, Megan White, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate how Rossi revealed his Phillip Island conspiracy theory and what actually happened in the crucial Sepang collision.JOIN THE RACE MEMBERS' CLUB TODAY!
Moto3 crash overshadows Bagnaia and Marquez’s big weekends
44:21|Pecco Bagnaia’s yo-yo MotoGP 2025 season was back on the up at the Malaysian Grand Prix - at least until a puncture intervened - while Alex Marquez had even more to celebrate, but everything at Sepang was overshadowed by a terrible pre-race Moto3 accident involving champion Jose Antonio Rueda and Noah Dettwiler.Simon Patterson joins Matt Beer to report from the paddock with what we know about the crash, aftermath and paddock reactions to it.Bagnaia’s latest swings, the significance of Alex Marquez’s second place in the championship, Aprilia’s dramatic slump, Pedro Acosta falling foul of a new rule and Fabio Quartararo’s new Yamaha ultimatums are all debated too.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube
What Aprilia’s surge means for MotoGP 2026
53:54|Ducati had its worst MotoGP race since 2021 in the Australian Grand Prix sprint, while Aprilia dominated the whole weekend - with works rider Marco Bezzecchi and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez splitting the race victories.So is the Aprilia now the best bike in MotoGP? Is it the bike to beat going into 2025? Is this all a mirage created by Marc Marquez’s injury absence? Where did this Fernandez performance come from given he’d never even run in the top three in a MotoGP Sunday race until now? What would Jorge Martin be achieving on this bike if he’d been injury-free this year?Phillip Island gave Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer plenty to debate on The Race MotoGP Podcast.Beyond the Aprilia results, the latest Pecco Bagnaia disaster, KTM stand-in Pol Espargaro’s heroics and Yamaha’s odd weekend are all debated too.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more.Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube