FIM releases first official list of drivers competing in three categories for the 2026 World Championship

In just two weeks, the official practice ban will end and the 2026 pre-season will begin for all three categories, but before that, the International Motorcycle Federation has released the first list of pilots who will take part in the World Championship, which will start from February 27th to March 1st at the Buriram Circuit in Thailand. There will be a total of 32 Spanish riders, nine in MotoGP and Moto3, and exactly half, 14, in Moto2.

For MotoGP, which will be the last year for 1000cc, there is no news about the already known grid of 22 riders and pre-allocated numbers. As usual, when Marc Márquez becomes champion, the number 1 jersey will be vacant and Jorge Martín will recover 89. These two great newcomers, both rookies, will be known as No. 7 Toprak Razgatlioglu and No. 11 Diogo Moreira. Spanish motorcycles continue to contribute the most number of motorcycles to the championship with nine riders, while Italian motorcycles have six and Italian motorcycles have 15 out of 22.

In Moto2The team, whose crown was ceded by Diogo Moreira, has 28 drivers, half of them (14) Spanish, and many of them are strong contenders for the crown, led by Manu González, the two drivers who competed with champion Moreira for the title, and Aron Canet, who switched teams from Fantic to Marc VDS. Of the five rookies, four are from Moto3: champion José Antonio Rueda, runner-up Ángel Piqueras, Luca Lunetta and Taiyo Furusato, while Alberto Ferrandez from Europe’s Moto2 has been promoted to Pramac.

If veterans González and Kane, as well as 2025 third-place finisher Barry Baltas, carry the weight of a theoretical championship favorite, it will be interesting to see how a second year in this category fares for two talented drivers in Rookie of the Year Dani Holgado and David Alonso.

Alex Marquez, Investor

Interestingly, the Moto2 World Championship has added a new sponsor. Momoven will sponsor Sasaki and van den Goolberg’s Dutch RW Racing team and the Spanish management team. Javi Martinez Co-owner of Finenetwork XTI Mir Racing Team and executive advisor to Momoven. And in addition to Momoven being one of his personal sponsors, he has Alex Marquez as a strategic investor.

in Moto3 Champion Jose Antonio Rueda will not defend his title, and Angel Piqueras will not defend his runner-up spot, leaving eight rookies in the field. All have Junior GP World Championship experience and will be led by the Cantabrian, also a former Rookies Cup champion. Brian Uriarteenters the pits for Red Bull KTM Aho instead of Rueda. The rest are Jesús Rios, Rico Salmela, Casey O’Gorman, Hakim Denmark, Veda Pratama, Zen Mitani, and Leo Lammerstorfer. Nine of the 26 people registered will be Spanish nationals.