MotoGP has returned to action in Malaysia today (29 January) ahead of the start of the 2026 season, giving us our first look at the factories’ new bikes.

Perhaps understandably, given that this year is the final one for the current MotoGP regulation set, most factories have not appeared with radical changes from the end of last year, at least not yet, on the first day of testing.

Ducati

The most obvious change at any factory is at Ducati, where there is a new front fairing with larger wings at the front which feature a double-plane lower element. The side-fairing is the same as that introduced at the Valencia Test last November.

It’s not a radical change in design philosophy, but an update which – as we’ve seen in recent years with Ducati’s aerodynamic upgrades – more aggressively follows the philosophy that has already been pursued.

Pirro's fairing also had the small opening at the bottom that was used last year by Nicolo Bulega both in his test at Jerez and post-season in Valencia, as well as the damper on the swingarm that Marc Marquez used most frequently in 2025.

Yamaha

Yamaha has also brought changes. At first it looks as through there are two swingarms, one like last year’s at Valencia with the hole in either side and another filled in, but looking closer it seems that there is a cover stuck over the hole in the one that seems filled in; the cover seems to be for branding purposes.

The exhaust is also different; both the long and short pipes from the new V4 are changed in shape and the angle of the shorter pipe is more vertical than in Valencia – it also seems to have been shortened.

Yamaha is also running different aerodynamic setups in Sepang, although the only differences seem to be at the rear. Toprak Razgatlioglu rode without aerodynamics on the tail section on day one of the Shakedown, while Augusto Fernandez used the rear wing setup that was used at the end of last year.

Neither Fabio Quartararo nor Alex Rins rode on day one in Malaysia; Razgatlioglu's teammate Jack Miller was also absent from the time sheets. Yamaha is now the only manufacturer in the bottom tier of the concessions, allowing it to test with race riders.

Honda

At Honda, the visible differences on day one are minimal compared with the end of last year. The exhausts, fairing, and chassis all seem to be the same as those used in Valencia last year. The swingarm appears similar as well, although with the aerodynamics Honda is using on that component it’s difficult to be completely sure.

Aprilia

Aprilia was the factory that brought the most radically different aerodynamics to the Valencia Test last November, and they have persisted with some of the designs taken there in Sepang.

Lorenzo Savadori rode both with the standard fairing of 2025 and the updated one that Aprilia took to Valencia. When using the new fairing, he only seems to have used the ‘hoop’ style rear aerodynamics, but not the box-shaped tail wings that also appeared in Valencia.

One aerodynamic update seems to be in the seat wings, which seem different in shape, at least in the endplate, compared to the Valencia Test.

On the chassis, there appears to be nothing new yet, and the front wheel aerodynamics are also unchanged.

KTM

Often the most radical developers in recent years, KTM found progress through stability in 2025 and it seems to be following that path at the beginning of 2026 as well.

The Ducati-style side fairing which debuted in Valencia appeared at Sepang in the hands of Pol Espargaro who also rode with a new swingarm.

At the tail section, KTM seems to have settled on the ‘stegosaurus’ style wings that Brad Binder favoured at the end of last year; neither Espargaro nor Dani Pedrosa rode with the rear aerodynamics that Pedro Acosta finished 2025 with.

Mika Kallio was also in action for KTM in Sepang. For the Finn, it was a first time riding at a Sepang test since 2022. He rode with black fairings that differed slightly from the standard designs Espargaro and Pedrosa were using, most notably with a horizontal wing connecting the outer edge of the side fairing wing to the main, inner part of the fairing. He also had a new swingarm that appears different to the one used by Espargaro.

There are also images of Kallio doing practice starts without the bike being in its lowered position, and his best lap time was a 2:03.203, putting him 16th of 23 on the combined times.