MotoGP’s technical rules get a major shake-up for 2027, and Marc Marquez is backing next year’s Moto2 rookies to excel in the first year of the new regulations.

Ordinarily, rookies would be expected to take some time to get up to speed with MotoGP bikes, which are much more powerful and technically complex than the Moto2 machines.

Next year the power will be slightly reduced for MotoGP – and the technical complexity, too, thanks to the removal of ride height devices.

But arguably the biggest change of all next year is the switch from Michelin to Pirelli as the sole tyre supplier.

Many current MotoGP riders have never raced with Pirelli tyres. In fact, only Ai Ogura, Fermin Aldeguer, Diogo Moreira, and Toprak Razgatlioglu have experienced Pirelli race rubber before, Razgatlioglu in WorldSBK and the other three in Moto2.

It’s this Pirelli experience that Marc Marquez thinks will be an advantage to next year’s Moto2 rookies, who will step up without having to change tyre brands for the first time since MotoGP introduced a sole tyre manufacturer in 2009.

“The bikes will change [next year], but not a lot,” Marquez said at the British Grand Prix, as reported by Crash.net.

“I mean, they are a little bit less powerful, but the tyres will be the biggest difference.

“We don't know [exactly how] - because we still only tried the tyres for one day - but every tyre manufacturer has a different riding style.

“I think that the young riders who are coming from Moto2, they were ‘born’ with Pirelli tyres, so it will be a bit easier for them to adapt.

“But let’s see. It will be very interesting.”

Two Moto2 riders are currently confirmed to be stepping up to MotoGP next year: Dani Holgado with Gresini, and David Alonso with Honda. It’s also expected that Senna Agius will move up with the Tech3 team and that Izan Guevara will take Jack Miller’s spot at Pramac Yamaha, although neither of these have been officially confirmed yet. 

Additionally, Nicolo Bulega is expected to move across to MotoGP from WorldSBK, making it six rookies on the MotoGP grid in 2026 with Pirelli experience. Add those to the four riders with Pirelli experience from this year and almost half the grid could have a catalogue of experience on the Italian brand’s tyres to fall back on in the early days of the new regulations.