The 2026 MotoGP season is due to get underway at the end of February at the Buriram International Circuit in Thailand, but before that comes launch season. Here are all the dates you need as each team unveils its colours for the upcoming season.
Pramac Yamaha - 13 January
Pramac Yamaha will be the first team to launch when it unveils its 2026 roster and livery on 13 January. The Italian squad’s launch will take place at Accademia Musicale Della Chigiana in Siena.
The satellite Yamaha squad has one of the most highly anticipated rider line-ups for the 2026 MotoGP season; although it retains Jack Miller for a second season, it also brings in three-time WorldSBK Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu for his debut grand prix campaign.
During its launch event, Pramac will also reveal its Moto2 livery for 2026.
VR46 Racing Ducati - 14 January
The VR46 Ducati team will be the next to launch, this time in Rome. The Italian squad keeps the same line-up as in 2025, with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli, and it is set to be a crucial season for the team after being largely out-performed by Gresini in 2025 despite its own status as the official satellite team of Ducati.
Aprilia Racing - 15 January
A day after VR46, the factory Aprilia team will become the first official effort to launch its 2026 campaign at the Sky TV studios in Milan.
After winning four grands prix in 2025, including the last two races in a row with Marco Bezzecchi, a title charge will be on the Noale marque’s agenda this year, although it will also be under the microscope for how Jorge Martin performs after his horrendous first season in black last year.
Ducati Lenovo Team - 19 January
The Ducati Lenovo Team had one of the most bizarre seasons in recent memory in 2025. It won all three MotoGP titles, 13 from 22 grands prix, 16 from 22 Sprints, and provided the environment and platform for Marc Marquez to complete one of sport’s most remarkable comebacks.
On the other hand, it was berated for the underperformance of Francesco Bagnaia, who won on only four occasions between Sprints and Grands Prix, didn’t score in any of the last five Sunday races, finished last in the Indonesia Sprint, crashed from last in the Indonesian Grand Prix, and finished fifth in the standings after complaining all season about the front feeling on the 2025 Desmosedici with which Marquez won the title with five races to spare.
As a result, despite its on-paper success, there became the feeling of decline around Ducati who appeared to be propped up by Marquez as Honda had been in the 2010s.
A more stable campaign will be on the Ducati Lenovo Team’s wishlist for 2026, but there can be no uncertainty that they enter the season as favourites to win all three titles once again.
Their 2026 season will launch, as has become a kind of tradition, at Madonna di Campiglio on 19 January.
Monster Energy Yamaha - 21 January
Yamaha's 2026 season has been defined already by two aspects: keeping Fabio Quartararo beyond the end of the season; and finding a way to be successful with its new V4 engine.
Undoubtedly the second aspect is more important for the Yamaha MotoGP project overall, but much attention will be given this year to the plans for Quartararo and what he intends to do in 2027 after several years of underperformance from the Iwata factory.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing & Red Bull KTM Tech3 - 27 January
The two KTM teams will launch simultaneously for 2026 on 27 January. Both Tech3 and the factory team retain the same rider line-ups for the upcoming season with Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder teaming up again at the factory squad, and Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales representing Tech3.
It is a new era for the French team, though, thanks to the new ownership headed by former WRC engineer and F1 team principal Guenther Steiner. The arrival of Steiner’s ownership group has also prompted suggestions that KTM could leave KTM at the end of 2026 when its contract with the Austrian factory expires ahead of the 2027 rules change.
Gresini Racing Ducati - 31 January
The final day of January will see arguably 2025’s most impressive team, Gresini, launch their 2026 season.
Alex Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer remain in the team’s line-up for this season after both excelled last year. Marquez started last season winless in the premier class but won three times in the second half of the season, while Aldeguer triumphed at Indonesia towards the end of his maiden premier class campaign.
Gresini’s launch will take place in Kuala Lumpur on 31 January, which is also the final day of the Shakedown test at the Sepang International Circuit.
LCR Honda - 1 February
Honda are the only manufacturer not to launch in January. The LCR team begins HRC’s 2026 on 1 February, unveiling Diogo Moreira in its colours for the first time as the Brazilian reigning Moto2 World Champion prepares for his debut MotoGP season alongside Johann Zarco aboard a Honda RC213V that showed substantial improvements in 2025.
Honda HRC Castrol - 2 February
The factory Honda team will bring MotoGP launch season to a close for 2026 on 2 February in an online event. It continues for the third straight season with Luca Marini and Joan Mir, and will be looking to build on what was an overtly positive 2025 season.
In addition to the team launches, there will once again be an official launch event organised by MotoGP itself this year. Last year’s launch event took place in Bangkok ahead of the Thai Grand Prix, but this year it will be held in Kuala Lumpur on 6–7 February, following the official test in Sepang on 3–5 February.
