MotoGP regulations have largely remained stable in recent years. The current 1000cc engines were introduced in 2012, Michelin has been the official tyre supplier since 2016 and the core chassis/aero ruleset has changed little since then, aside from the ban on front ride-height devices in 2023.
However, all three areas will be completely overhauled as part of MotoGP’s big rules reset for 2027. The current 1000cc engines producing close to 300bhp will make way for smaller 850cc units, Pirelli will replace Michelin as the sole tyre supplier, and the bikes themselves will look noticeably different following significant aerodynamic cuts and a complete ban on ride-height devices.
The scale of the changes makes this one of the most radical technical shake-ups in MotoGP’s modern history, and it has forced all five manufacturers to ramp up investment as they develop their next-generation bikes alongside their current machines. With effectively a clean-sheet design required, getting the concept right early will be crucial to avoid starting the new era on the back foot.
Even before the 2026 season started, manufacturers had already started early development work on their 2027 bikes. In December, KTM became the first MotoGP manufacturer to run its 2027 engine on track, with test rider Pol Espargaro completing first laps on the next-gen RC16 prototype at Jerez. Since then, Honda and Yamaha have also run early versions of their 2027 engines, while Aprilia and Ducati are expected to begin track testing their new prototypes by mid-April.
For KTM technical director Sebastian Risse, the new regulations present both a challenge and an opportunity. The key, according to the German engineer, is ensuring that the chassis, engine and tyres all work in harmony despite the reduction in both downforce and power.
“It’s these three big chunks. On the one hand, it’s the engine and on the other hand, it’s the aero. They go hand-in-hand. But then the third big chunk is the tyre, and all of them have to work together,” Risse told Motorsport.com.
“With the engine, I don’t want to say we are ready to race, but we had to work a lot on it in advance. We have run this engine already and we’re quite happy with it. It’s a very nice engine. It’s a step forward in many aspects that we were looking for, even for the old bike.
“Horsepower is a little bit like money. You need to understand where you want to invest this money or horsepower, and this is where aero comes into the game. The more power you have, the more you can use it for aerodynamic effects to create forces.
“If you have less [power], like we have in this case, you have to reconsider some of the decisions, like tuning the aero package, besides the fact that the dimensions are smaller.
“I wouldn’t say it comes naturally, but it fits well together because if you have less power, you also need less aerodynamics, and you can feed less aerodynamics.”
2027 KTM 850cc MotoGP engine
Move to Pirellis
The big unknown for manufacturers, however, is the introduction of Pirelli rubber. While the Italian brand has already organised some tests with current bikes, with more to follow with 2027 prototypes later this year, the final tyre specification is yet to be confirmed. As such, the development tyres will continue to evolve as the year goes on, meaning their performance and behaviour may also change during the testing phase.
“All this has to work together with new tyres, and this is a part where we don’t know so much,” Risse said. “We have big knowledge about aerodynamics in general and how we have developed our bike.
“We touched these tyres for the first time in the Misano test. We are quite happy and impressed with how they work and we don’t see any major drama at the moment. But these tyres will also develop, and the bikes will develop at the same time, and there will be a continuous interaction between these three topics (engine, chassis and tyres).
“We have the engine running and we have the bike running. We are happy with how it’s working so far. And we did not see one big bottleneck yet, where we have to put all the resources on. But we explore all the directions.”
Why downforce isn’t everything
The reduction in engine capacity means the next-generation bikes will inevitably produce less power, at least early in the rules cycle.
Aerodynamic performance will also be scaled back, with narrower front fairings and a smaller nose section aimed at reducing overall downforce.
As usual, engineers will come up with clever solutions to make the most of the restrictions and find any loopholes there may be in the rulebook.
However, Risse explained that peak downforce isn’t as essential in MotoGP as some may think, as tyre performance ultimately dictates how much aerodynamic load a bike can take.
“If you just look at the package constraints, the key to not suffer too much from these restrictions is efficiency,” he explained. “The more efficient your devices are and your shapes are, the less you will have to sacrifice for that.
“But on the other hand, already on the current tyres with the current bikes, we have achieved a point where downforce is not the primary target that you’re looking for because the tyres simply collapse. They cannot take it anymore.
“Every tyre saturates somewhere and different tyres saturate in different ways under different load cases. We will see how it is with the other ones [Pirelli]. But we have to create the forces we need and treat them nicely at the same time.
“So it’s not something that suddenly kicks in now and there’s a limitation to downforce. It’s already there, and we have learned how to deal with it.”
Sebastien Risse
With Pirelli still refining its tyre compounds ahead of the 2027 season, Risse feels “it’s a little bit too early to say” where the performance limit will be.
What also remains uncertain is how the new regulations will influence racing on track. Over the years, complaints have grown about riders struggling to follow each other closely due to the increased reliance on aerodynamics. In theory, cutting back on downforce should improve the spectacle, but the situation is a bit more complicated.
“This is a big reason why the rules are the way they are. We want to see nice racing. We want to see fights, and we want to see safe fights,” Risse said.
“This is also closely interacting with the tyre, because at the moment we cook the front tyre in slipstream, and this is then the reason why you have to stay so far away. Of course, when you have a less draggy [bike] and a smaller aerodynamic box in front of you, the slipstream effect will also become less. But many times, the limiting factor is more the front tyre than the slipstream itself.
“So let’s see how that is with other tyres. We don’t know [how it will be]. Maybe worse. Maybe better. We always hope to be better. And if not, we try to make it better anyway.”
It has been widely suggested that the 2027 bikes could be several seconds slower than the current prototypes. While it remains difficult to estimate performance without knowing the final tyre specification, Risse suspects new bikes won’t be any slower at around half the circuits on the calendar.
“There are some tracks where you almost never go full gas with the current 1000cc [engines]. So, if you look at Misano, if you look at Jerez, I don’t think they [2027 bikes] will be slower in terms of lap time. But on [some] tracks they are slower, that’s clear,” he said.
2027 testing
Motorsport.com understands that the first official test for the 2027 season will take place at Brno in June, where race riders will get the first opportunity to sample new machines with Pirelli tyres. A second Dorna-sanctioned test is expected to follow the San Marino Grand Prix in September, while manufacturers will continue to organise private tests to accelerate development of their next-gen prototypes.
Risse suggested the amount of testing manufacturers can complete ahead of the new season will ultimately be dictated by tyre supply rather than track time.
“The limiting factor is the tyres,” he said. “There is a limited amount of Pirelli tyres that we can use of this specification, and you can distribute this over more test days or over less test days, but in the end it is the same kilometres that you are making.
“How useful the kilometres will be for the development is also still a little bit hard to say because the tyres are developing, so we will not always have the same tyre [when the season starts].
“They [Pirelli] will make steps. Maybe everything is brilliant and they always work better and you can use all of them. Maybe some of them [tyre versions] also have to go in the wrong direction to indicate, ‘no, no, we have to go that way with the development’. That’s also completely normal if it happens, and that means it will take away some tyres from your plan, so you have to be a little bit flexible there.
“We are well set up, we have two test riders, we could test much much more than the amount of tyres allow, and we will use it to the maximum.”
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