Honda gets serious: Toprak and Acosta in its MotoGP sights

MotoGP

Honda’s MotoGP project currently has huge momentum, which is why it’s jumping early into the 2026/2027 rider market, chasing Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Pedro Acosta

Razgatlıoğlu on his way to his recent WSBK hat-trick at Portimao

Razgatlıoğlu on his way to his recent WSBK hat-trick at Portimao

BMW Motorrad

Mat Oxley

The big story at the start of 2025 pre-season testing was that Yamaha is back. But that was a Sepang mirage.

Honda is now leading the Japanese MotoGP renaissance, getting closer to the front with every race and now readying itself for the moment the RC213V is fit to fight for victory again by jumping early into the 2026/2027 rider market.

Honda has two riders in its sights: reigning WSBK champ Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and disgruntled KTM MotoGP star Pedro Acosta.

Two head honchos from the Honda Racing Corporation were at last weekend’s Dutch World Superbike round at Assen. HRC has a team in WSBK but that was unlikely to be the primary reason for their presence.

In racing there are rumours and then there are rumours. This is the latter – when information comes from multiple paddock sources and when executives are spotted in conspiratorial huddles between race trucks.

This is the HRC plan, according to those rumours: HRC will sign Razgatlıoğlu for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Next year the magically talented Turk will ride for Honda’s factory WSBK team, then the year after he will move into the factory MotoGP team.

It’s difficult to imagine a more perfect scenario for Razgatlıoğlu, who’s been talking about moving into MotoGP for the last few years. When he raced WSBK with Yamaha he was given a couple of tests on a YZR-M1 MotoGP bike, but didn’t get on too well, for various reasons, including Michelin’s front slick.

Toprak Razgatlioglu and BMW World Superbike crew

Razgatlıoğlu took BMW from WSBK struggler to world champions – could he do the same with Honda in MotoGP?

BMW Motorrad

Razgatlıoğlu’s corner-entry skills, with Pirelli’s WSBK front slick, are jaw-dropping: he can lock the front for many metres, with the rear wheel in the air, then throw the bike into the corner and hit the apex. This is pretty much a unique talent — other riders wouldn’t make the corner in this situation.

If Razgatlıoğlu was already in MotoGP, I have little doubt he would be struggling with the Michelin front. Without the same grip and feel he wouldn’t be able to attack corners in the same way. And if you can’t enter a corner as you want, the entire corner and therefore the entire laptime is compromised.

This is why the 2026/2027 HRC plan is so perfect for Razgatlıoğlu. He can race WSBK aboard a factory Fireblade next year, while testing MotoGP bikes whenever possible, using Pirelli tyres, because MotoGP switches to Pirelli in 2027.

Related article

“I think if MotoGP used the Pirelli front, the braking point would change a bit, because when you brake with the Pirelli you can understand everything,” he told me last year, months before the Pirelli MotoGP announcement. “The other tyre [Michelin] looks a bit difficult.”

Although Pirelli is designing a new front slick for MotoGP, it’s likely the tyre will have the company’s DNA of plenty of feel.

MotoGP’s new-for-2027 technical regulations also ban holeshot/ride-height devices and reduce downforce aerodynamics, which should also make a move from superbikes to MotoGP less complicated.

“A MotoGP bike is fantastic because on the straights the engine and gearbox are unbelievable,” says Razgatlıoğlu. “The bike is a bit difficult after a superbike, because a superbike is a bit heavier and a soft bike. A MotoGP bike is a bit hard.

“All young boys who like bikes have a dream to one day ride a MotoGP bike, so this [the M1 ride] was incredible for me, because when I started the motorcycle life I had a dream to become a world champion, but my dream wasn’t for MotoGP, because it seemed too far, because I come from Turkey.

Pedro Acosta, KTM

KTM’s struggles aren’t making Acosta a happy man

Red Bull

“When I was young I followed Kenan [Sofuoglu, his manager and five-times World Supersport champion], always thinking MotoGP was too far, but now we are very close [to MotoGP]. I’m very happy for this because we’ve always come step by step.”

HRC’s move for Acosta comes during grim times for KTM, never mind Maverick Viñales taking the chequered flag in second place last Sunday in Qatar.

Acosta has been MotoGP’s hottest young property since he burst into the premier class at the start of last season, so the double nightmare of KTM’s financial crisis and the 2025 RC16’s poor performance inevitably got the rumour mill churning into action and insider info suggests he’s talking with HRC.

Related article

The 20-year-old Spaniard has a machine performance clause in his current KTM contract, so if the RC16 isn’t up to scratch, he can go elsewhere, although it’s rumoured that HRC could pay KTM around six million Euros to release him from his contract.

An HRC deal does make sense. The world’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer is obviously 100% determined to make it back to the front of MotoGP and recent results suggest that is a process that’s very much underway. Last Sunday in Qatar, Johann Zarco‘s race pace aboard his LCR RC213V was only three-tenths of a second slower than winner Marc Márquez‘s.

Perhaps even more significant are the uncertainties caused by KTM’s financial woes. Company bosses insist the brand will stay in MotoGP, but although a restructuring plan has restored some stability to the company, KTM still owes billions, so it’s far from out of the danger zone. You can therefore see why Acosta might want to take his talent somewhere safer.

And if Acosta does go to Honda, will he take vital KTM staff with him? Because engineers also want a secure future.

Acosta has built a super-strong relationship with crew chief Paul Trevathan since he moved into MotoGP and attributes some of his 2024 success to the New Zealander.

Pedro Acosta during the Qatar GP

Acosta shouldn’t be fighting mid-pack

Red Bull

“Paul isn’t just an engineer with a computer,” says Acosta. “I really love how he manages all the crew, how he manages my head, how he manages everything around me and how we’ve made our group super-close, so it’s not possible to put shit between us. It’s super nice.”

That’s why Acosta kept Trevathan and other key personnel when he moved from Tech 3 to the factory Red Bull team this year.

“I’ve kept Paul, my data guy, my electronics strategist and my tyre guy, who was my Moto2 mechanic and is now one of my MotoGP mechanics.

“Keeping the same people around you is super-important. Paul and my whole team is my bubble – even when we’re not at races we spend time together.”

Some years ago KTM caused a Honda brain drain by taking several staff from the factory Repsol team. This time brains may be heading in the opposite direction.

Comments

Loading Comments