There are not only fans who are anxiously awaiting the future of the MotoGP - which will gain global importance after World Championship promoter Liberty Media acquired Dorna - but there is even more professional marketing expected by the MotoGP promoter, as well as improvement on social media. MotoGP manufacturers and teams expect increased financial subsidies, while riders expect higher salaries, because Liberty Media will surely convince numerous Formula 1 investors and sponsors of the advantages of investing in the relatively inexpensive "Formula 1 on two wheels".
After all, two years ago, Liberty Media had paid about $950 million Euros to the teams, while Dorna Sports S.L. had contributed about €70 or €80 million Euros to the Moto3, Moto2, MotoE, and MotoGP teams. And, of course, the premier class teams always receive the lion's share of these payments.
Because the revenues of most top car manufacturers and their sponsorship contracts are not comparable to those of their motorcycle counterparts, Formula 1 teams can afford huge budgets. The budget cap in F1 had been reduced to $140 million Euros for 2022, with plans to reduce it further to $135 million Euros for the 2023 season through 2025. But these figures were based on a 21-race season and were adjusted accordingly, with an additional $1.2 million Euros for each race above that threshold, since the 2024 and 2025 seasons included and will include a 24-race schedule.
Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna's 78-year-old CEO since 1993, could be joined as co-CEO by 71-year-old American Chase Carey, easily recognized by his huge mustache. The American entrepreneur was executive vice president of 21st Century Fox before becoming chairman of the Formula One Group from January 2017 to March 2021, succeeding Bernie Ecclestone.
Carey has had a meteoric career and has long been considered a close confidant of Australian-born Rupert Murdoch, who became an influential billionaire in the United States through his media empire. Carey built the Fox television network in the United States for Murdoch in the 1980s and developed the Murdoch group's lucrative paid content strategy. In the past, insiders had speculated that Carey would take control of the Fox Group if Murdoch resigned, but the 96-year-old continues to run all operations and is expected to be succeeded one day by his sons.
For the past several months, Dorna CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, has been negotiating new five-year contracts with the five factories (Honda, Yamaha, Ducati, KTM, and Aprilia), and the six satellite teams LCR, VR46, Gresini, Pramac, Tech3, and Trackhouse for the new 850cc era, which will run from 2027 to 2031. The satellite teams will all remain on board, but there are still open issues in the negotiations, including financial and other aspects. Therefore, it is uncertain whether contracts will be signed in 2025. "There's no expiration date," the team owner said.
The fact is that the maximum number of Grand Prixs per year will remain at 22. But it is unclear which manufacturers will remain on board for 2027. KTM and Aprilia are two candidates who have not yet cleared their doubts. The future majority owner of the Austrian manufacturer, Bajaj, will decide in the upcoming months whether to continue investing about €40 million Euros a year in GPs and keep the "Ready to Race" slogan alive.
KTM is considering transferring its MotoGP contracts with Dorna from the KTM Factory Racing division in Munderfing, Austria, to the independent KTM Racing AG in Frauenfeld, Switzerland. This maneuver could bring investors and new shareholders on board the MotoGP project if Bajaj closes the funding spigot for the extensive motorsports program as early as 2026. This independent racing company could also delegate contract work to the research and development team in Austria.
However, KTM Racing still has no MotoGP slots for the five years after 2027. Dorna could take back the two slots (as it did with Suzuki) and possibly offer them to new interested parties. Team owner Hervé Poncharal holds the two Tech3 slots and hopes to get HRC's support if KTM is unable to supply him with the material for 2026.
BMW is once again flirting with the MotoGP, but not until 2028. However, after about six failed MotoGP projects in the past 25 years, no one in the paddock takes the Bavarians seriously anymore.
An exclusive report by GPOne.com revealed that MV Agusta Motor is interested in participating in the MotoGP starting in 2027. However, the Sardarov family, which owns the company, is not willing to embark on any financial venture and would prefer to buy or lease the new 850cc engines from a competitor, if this plan is allowed by the new regulations.
Remember that, in the early years of the new four-stroke MotoGP era, starting in 2002, this concept was allowed. Team Roberts built the chassis themselves, initially using KTM V4 engines, then Honda V5 engines, and only later the proprietary Proton five-cylinder engines. Bob MacLean and Peter Clifford's Red Bull WCM team had planned to use the Moriwaki chassis and Honda V5 engines for 2003, then it developed its own inline four-cylinder based on the Yamaha R1 engine, before commissioning a V6 engine from Blata in the Czech Republic. But that never saw the light of day.
It was always clear at Aprilia that, after the death of Piaggio Group Chairman Roberto Colaninno, the expensive MotoGP project under the leadership of his son, Matteo Colaninno, would be put under the magnifying glass. Aprilia had hastily re-entered the MotoGP World Championship in 2015, partly because Roberto Colaninno wanted to throw down the gauntlet to his renegade racing boss, Gigi Dall'Igna, who joined Ducati in October 2013. But, after the first victories, and Aleix Espargaró's title fight in 2022, the growth trend of Aprilia Racing - which has been led with great skill, insight, and thoroughness by new CEO Massimo Rivola since January 2019 - came to a halt.
Rivola had turned the RS-GP into a winning bike, thanks to numerous new engineers, dissolved the joint venture with Gresini Racing after seven years, received two slots of its own from Dorna (made available after Marc VDS withdrew), and then had a satellite team for the first time in 2023 with Razlan Razali's RNF team.
The final breakthrough was expected in 2025 with the new rider duo, Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi, but the Spanish world champion suffered two serious injuries and then announced that he would use a contractual clause to retire and look for another engagement. The clause reads that the world champion could leave Aprilia at the end of the year if he was not involved in the title fight after the first six Grand Prixs. However, at that point, #89 had zero points due to falls and injuries.
Martin's plan is to join HRC in 2026 for an extremely lucrative compensation. Given that Marc Márquez earned between €15 and €20 million Euros a year at HRC, Martin's annual salary could be between €5 and €10 million Euros. Former Repsol Honda team principal Livio Suppo once said: "We are Honda. We can afford it."
Aprilia Racing, of course, does not have a successor of Martin's caliber in sight for 2026. That is why Michele Colaninno was so deeply disappointed after the open dispute and exchange of blows with Jorge Martin who, initially angry, had even considered retiring from MotoGP after the 2025 season.
Aprilia had already withdrawn once from the MotoGP World Championship. The company's CEO at the time, Ivano Beggio, withdrew the 990cc three-cylinder Cube from the Championship at the end of 2004, after three years of the five-year contract with Dorna, when Aprilia became insolvent and was acquired by the Piaggio Group.
Experts believe that Piaggio is still undecided whether to sign a new five-year contract, in light of the global sales crisis in the sports motorcycle market, especially since it has never been able to find a main sponsor for the project, which has an estimated cost of €30 million Euros per year, since 2015.
If the worst-case scenario occurs, and KTM and Aprilia Racing withdraw from the MotoGP World Championship at the end of 2026, after Suzuki had already withdrew at the end of 2022, that would leave only three manufacturers (Honda, Yamaha, Ducati) that would have to provide three to four customer teams each. Therefore, it might make sense to allow potential newcomers, such as MV Agusta or BMW, to lease customer engines from their competitors.
So far, KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer speculates that the most prestigious motorsport series will continue to be financed under its new owner, Bajaj, until the end of 2027. The new 850cc V4 engine developed by Engineer Kurt Trieb is already running on the test bench. Aprilia also has the 850 cc prototype in advanced development under the direction of Engineer Sterlacchini, who replaced Romano Albesiano, now in Honda-HRC. Only the decisions of these two important manufacturers are awaited.