Gresini rider Fermin Aldeguer is set to join VR46 for the start of MotoGP's 850cc era in 2027.

It emerged in the Goiania paddock that Aldeguer has negotiated a significantly improved contract with Ducati for next year, as part of a deal that will see him join Valentino Rossi’s team.
 
 It follows KTM and Alex Marquez reaching an agreement for the two-time world champion to replace Pedro Acosta in the Austrian marque's factory line-up next year.
 
Marquez and Aldeguer's anticipated departures will leave the Gresini squad, owned by Nadia Padovani, without riders for 2027 and, for the moment, without bikes, since the team founded by the late Fausto Gresini has not yet managed to close an agreement to remain a satellite Ducati team.

Motorsport.com understands that talks between Gresini and Ducati are still open, but the Bologna-based manufacturer's terms are far from the budget currently available to the Faenza-based team.

The unique aspect of 2027 is the implementation of new technical regulations featuring 850cc engines and new motorcycles, meaning that all riders racing Ducatis next year will be using the same machinery, which drives up the price.

In parallel, the championship promoter MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (formerly Dorna) remains in open discussions with the MSMA (the manufacturers’ association) to renew the five-year contract between both parties that expires at the end of the year. That agreement will determine what amount each team will receive for participating in the world championship, and it will be then when Gresini will know exactly what money it has to negotiate with Ducati and sign riders.

Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Racing

While that is happening, VR46 has moved ahead by securing a rider it has been pursuing since 2023, when it emerged that Luca Marini was going to leave his brother’s team to join Honda.

At that time, Ducati maneuvered to secure then-Moto2 rider Aldeguer, who signed for four years (two+two). The deal had an exit clause at the end of the second season, but he is not going to execute it, although he could have done so, having had offers to join factory teams.

According to what Motorsport.com has learned from the rider’s camp, the Spaniard has reached a full agreement with Ducati to complete the two remaining years of his contract until 2028, with a significant increase in  salary and bonuses.

“We have not yet signed the new contract, but we have shaken hands. Fermin will continue two more years with Ducati and the contract is with the factory, with material and treatment of a factory rider, receiving updates almost at the same time as the factory team riders, although we will race with VR46,” the sources confirmed.

VR46's Pablo Nieto commented that “the interest in having Fermin is great and has been known for some time, we believe he is a very interesting rider. Now it only remains t see who will be the second rider at VR46, a seat “that right now is very open” and for which the two current riders, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli, are candidates, but also “other young riders with potential.”

Alex Marquez targeting factory MotoGP seat at Yamaha and KTM

VR46 looking for mix of experience and youth in 2027 MotoGP line-up

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Autodromo Ayrton Senna in Goiania, Brazil, has been experiencing heavy rains and flooding all week, which potentially will see MotoGP strike the new race from the calendar.

It's been 37 years since Autodromo Ayrton Senna in Goiania, Brazil, hosted a MotoGP race. But after being fully refurbished, it was selected as the location for Round 2 on the MotoGP calendar this year.  Everyone was stoked for the event, as MotoGP was returning to one of the biggest hubs for motorsport around.

Brazilian fans are among the most passionate of all motorsport fans. 

But it's increasingly looking as if the race won't get to wave the green flag, as heavy rains and flooding have besieged the locale, causing big portions of the racetrack to be submerged. Crews at the track have done admirable jobs by drying the track out fairly quickly and moving big amounts of water every time the skies open up, but more rain is predicted. 

And while no one wants to talk cancellation, especially after changing the dates for the Qatar MotoGP race so it can hopefully be held, and both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's cuts by Formula 1 due to the ongoing war in the Arabian Gulf, there's definitely scuttlebutt that Brazil could get culled, or at the very least, moved to another time on the calendar. 

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"Heavy rain in Brazil has brought flooding to the refurbished Autodromo Ayrton Senna in Goiania, which is set to host round two of the 2026 MotoGP season this weekend," states the report from our siblings at Motorsport, adding, "Although forecasters predicted that rain would hit Goiania in Brazil all week, nobody expected the volume of water that fell to be significant as it has been. The rain pummelled the Autodromo Ayrton Senna in Goiania, which has been completely refurbished to host a new MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix. On Monday afternoon, it started to rain heavily as a storm hit the region, and this continued in varying degrees of intensity throughout the whole night."

Crews were seen working continuously to dry the track out, sweeping water off the track, and utilizing the sun and Brazil's ambient temperature, which at the time of writing sits at 82 degrees Fahrenheit. However, according to the State of Goias' , a flood and heavy rainfall alert remains in effect, with more rain coming, the heaviest of which will likely occur both on Thursday and today. 

According to Motorsport's report, "Nobody in Goiania wants to hear talk of suspension of the event, even less after the recent announcement of the relocation of the Qatar GP to the end of the season. There are 48 hours left before the on-track action begins and the organisers trust that the rain will break and everything can be ready for MotoGP to compete again in Brazil."

I'd call that pie-in-the-sky thinking, myself. Mother Nature suffers no one, and she'll humble your ass quickly. But for the Brazilian fans awaiting the MotoGP race, as well as for those affected by the flooding, downed power lines, broken infrastructure, and displaced lives, I hope the rain halts. We'll just have to wait and see.