Adam, David, Neil and Steve wade into this episode with opinions and expectations for the resumption of MotoGP duty and the first of two official tests to start 2026. Sepang will have the curious backdrop of a manic silly season of rider contract talk…but will also provide the first views of the last MotoGP race bikes of the current era. Photo thanks to MotoGP.com

Adam, David, Neil and Steve decide to use the lull before the (Sepang test) storm to throw a few questions of their own for 2026 and beyond. Robots in MotoGP?! What happens when Marc retires? Who will own Neil's heart!

Notes from the episode:

Adam's article on the Idols movie

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/behind-the-scenes-with-idols-motogps-f1-movie-launching-this-week/

Front End Chatter podcast including an item on the Verge electric and solid state batteries

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-220

Flash Forward podcast episode on robot athletes

https://megaphone.link/FLASH1045822699

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Four days of testing on the Iberian Peninsula gets underway this week at Jerez. Two days of action will get underway at the Southern Spanish circuit on Wednesday before the paddock moves to Portimao.

Iker Lecuona's move to the Aruba.it Ducati squad will see the Spaniard armed with the best bike on the grid and a team looking for their star man of the future. Could it be Lecuona? If he can perform well this year he'll be in the pound seats to be the man at Ducati if Nicolo Bulega moves to MotoGP. If Iker underperforms the Italian squad will look elsewhere to a host of out of contract MotoGP riders. The pressure won't ramp up for a few rounds but Lecuona needs to hit the ground running in 2026.

Miguel Oliviera has already made the move from MotoGP to WorldSBK but what can we expect from him this year? Steve and Gordo breakdown his prospects and why this test is important for him and his new crew chief, Andrew Pitt. Bringing with him a wealth of experience as a rider and enginner Pitty is a wildcard in the mix at BMW. He's the man that could unlock potential from the package and give Miguel an extra gear compared to his teammate, Danilo Petrucci. The intra-team battle at BMW is set to be intriguing with the experienced Michael van der Mark in the shadows as test rider and a good yardstick to judge their performances on this week.

At Honda Jake Dixon will be back in action and out to prove that lessons have been learned since his last days on the Fireblade. Three crashes were a blot on the November copy book for the British rider and it'll be interesting to see how his pace fares this week. After a raft of injuries in recent years for Lecuona Honda are already down a man with his replacement, Somkiat Chantra, ruled out of action after fracturing his forearm. Jonathan Rea was always scheduled to test this week for the Developement Team but will he now be seen as a potential replacement for Chantra at Round 1? Ryan Vickers and Tetsuta Nagashima are the other options.

At bimota the biggest change is personnel. Axel Bassani has a new crew chief for 2026 with Uri Pallares rejoining the Provec run operation. The Italian rider has shown flashes of potential on the bimota but needs to make a step forward this year. Will changing crew chiefs bring with it a change of fortunes? It looks like bimota will only run Alex Lowes for a single day of this test. They also saved a day in November for the British rider. Is that a way to allocate the test dates more evenly throughout the campaign?

Testing is always a chance to run the rule over rider changes. No change will be more significant than Alvaro Bautista joning Barni Racing. The double champion has a brand new bike for 2026 and the improved Ducati V4R might be exactly what he needs to be back on top. The fight for top Independent Rider honours this year should be led by Bautista but Jerez will give us a chance to see him in his new colours and on his new mount.

There's lots to talk about as every in WorldSBK and we'll keep you up to date throughout the campaign!

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A rapid-fire reaction from Italy and the launch of the Ducati Lenovo team for what is the company’s centennial. Adam is joined by the host of the event, TNT Sports commentator and friend of the podcast Gavin Emmett, to provide some news and views on Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia and the GP26 livery.

You can watch the recording of the launch livestream here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvIhLlp6WVc

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Adam, David and Neil travelled to the Sky studios in Milan as guest of Aprilia Racing to see the 2026 RS-GPs and hear what CEO Massimo Rivola, Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini and, of course, Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin had to say about the upcoming MotoGP season. Here are our three ‘takeways’ from another slick Italian presentation.

You can watch the recorded livestream of the Aprilia launch here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/tql7ZOS66XM?si=lrbv9Pe5Z1YLpITe

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The wheels are just starting to roll on 2026 so how about a few fun, uninformed and highly speculative predictions and ‘things we’d like to see’ for MotoGP this year?! Pedro Acosta to Yamaha? Dani Holgado to KTM? Is this the year Liberty makes it's presence felt?

Join Adam, David and Neil for some wacky (as well as shrewd?) takes and more.

FIM bans restarts at trackside

https://motomatters.com/news/2026/01/11/fim_bans_track_side_restarts_in_worldsbk.html#comment-127314

Fermin Aldeguer breaks femur

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/fermin-aldeguer-remains-hospitalised-after-surgery-and-awaits-medical-discharge/10789456/

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The year is in the books for the Paddock Pass Podcast and we'll close it out with our final show. Steve and Gordo review the year that was with topics such as our rider of the year, round of the year, surprise of the season and others covered!

The cooling-off period has ended, the final interviews have been written-up, some listener questions have been dealt-with, so now’s the time for the last call on the longest Grand Prix season on record: Our Moments, Surprises, Favourite/Worst races, Disappointments and more.

Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool.

www.renthal.com/road/

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2025 is almost at an end and there is a feel for the future in the raft of listener questions we received for the latest Paddock Pass Podcast. 2027 rider moves, technical presumptions, Liberty’s changes, recommendations and more from Adam, David, Neil and Steve. Pic by Polarity Photo

Neil:

The Director - Daniel Kehlmann

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220160387-the-director

David

Fintan O'Toole - We Don't Know Ourselves

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56769525-we-don-t-know-ourselves

Naomi Kritzer - Liberty's Daughter

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192777167-liberty-s-daughter

Steve:

Patrick Radden Keefe - Say Nothing

https://saynothingbook.com/

Peter Brown - The Wild Robot

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26030734-the-wild-robot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Robot

Adam:

Motorcycle Grand Prix - Insider Stories from World Championship Racing.

https://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Grand-Prix-Insider-Championship/dp/1789296773/

The Bear - Season 3, Hulu

Faithless - Champion Sound

https://www.roughtrade.com/en-de/product/faithless/champion-sound#51969535017291

Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool.

www.renthal.com/road/

Thanks also Pole Position Travel. Go to the Pole Position website to book a package to visit a MotoGP or WorldSBK round, Use code PPOD25X for a discount.

www.polepositiontravel.com

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By popular demand of our Patreon supporters Simon Crafar joins on this week's podcast to explain his role as the Chairman of the FIM Stewards Panel for MotoGP. If you'd like to support the podcast check out patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast.

The 500GP race winner has built a reputation within the paddock as a rider, an engineer, a commentator and now as an FIM Steward. When Neil sat down with Simon he explained the strengths of each member of his team and how they make decisions based on numerous factors.

This interview is a fascinating insight into what can be one of the most controversial roles in the sport and how Simon has approached the job!