CAN HONDA HRC CASTROL RETURN TO WINNING WAYS IN MOTOGP 2026?

Honda HRC Castrol has become the last team to reveal its 2026 MotoGP livery.

Joan Mir, Luca Marini, on 2026 factory Honda MotoGP bikes. Credit: Honda Racing Corporation.

Honda has unveiled its factory MotoGP livery for the 2026 season in an online event, becoming the final team to show off its 2026 colours.

The livery is largely similar to what it used in 2025, which was the first season of HRC’s partnership with Castrol on its factory MotoGP team after Repsol ended its lengthy association with the team at the end of 2024.

The colours are not all that is the same between Honda’s 2025 look and its 2026 image, as both Luca Marini and Joan Mir stay on for a third year of their partnership at the team. For Mir, it will be a fourth season with HRC after joining from Suzuki at the end of 2022, while Marini has been at Honda since the end of 2024.

2026 Honda HRC Castrol MotoGP bikes. Credit: Honda Racing Corporation.

“It’s a pleasure to begin another season with Honda HRC Castrol,” said Marini.

“The progress we showed in 2025 was incredibly rewarding and all winter I have been working to improve myself and begin this new season in 2026. 

“Our objectives are clear: to be there fighting near the front and take full advantage of any and all opportunities which are presented to us. Everyone in this project has done their homework over the winter and I am itching to get back on the Honda RC213V and ride again.

 “In the last year of the 1,000cc we need to finish in a good way and enjoy the beautiful moments along the way.”

Joan Mir added: “Another beautiful bike that I am proud to ride, being part of Honda HRC Castrol is something very special. In 2026 we need to find the consistency we struggled with last year, we showed that both myself and the Honda RC213V have the speed and ability to make Honda HRC proud. 

“These two pre-seasons test will be very important to prepare everything well for the start of the year, I am certain that all the Honda HRC engineers have been working diligently during the winter. 

“There is no time to wait around, we need to be working from the first lap to achieve our maximum and return Honda HRC to where it belongs.”

2026 Honda HRC Castrol MotoGP bike. Credit: Honda Racing Corporation.

Both riders are out of contract at the end of this year, and Honda has reportedly already signed Fabio Quartararo to fill one of its factory seats in 2027. Diogo Moreira, who was revealed in his Pro Honda LCR colours for his rookie season in the Italian team’s launch on 1 February, is also potentially in-line for a factory promotion in 2027 should he perform well enough this year. The Brazilian’s current contract with HRC expires in 2028.

Honda’s position in the rider market has been improved by the developments it made during 2025, especially in the second half of the season in which it claimed podiums in both Japan and Malaysia with Mir.

- Alex Whitworth

VR46 STAR MAKES INTRIGUING COMPARISON AFTER DEBUT MOTOGP TEST

Celestino Vietti offered some interesting feedback on the VR46 MotoGP bike after the Valencia test

 

Celestino Vietti, VR46 Ducati, 2025 Valencia test
© Gold and Goose
 

VR46 Academy star Celestino Vietti says the Ducati MotoGP bike he tried on Tuesday at the Valencia test required a riding style “more or less similar” to Moto2.

The Italian was called up by the VR46 squad on Sunday night to stand in for Franco Morbidelli in Tuesday’s Valencia MotoGP test, after the latter injured his wrist in a bizarre startline crash.

Vietti completed 24 laps on the Desmosedici at a best time of 1m32.511s, which was 3.138s off the best pace and 1.314s behind 2026 MotoGP rookie Diogo Moreira.

Rookies always make note of the difference in power and braking performance on a MotoGP bike compared to what they are used to in Moto2.

However, Vietti noted that the braking zones for a MotoGP bike were the same as he used in Moto2, while the way of actually riding was very similar too.

“It was a really special day, a day I will never forget,” he said.

“The bike is impressively fast on the straights, but also the power of the brakes to stop the bike is really impressive.

“You brake like Moto2, but a lot, lot faster.

“So, it was really a special day. I want to say thanks to everybody: Ducati, VR46, and my team in Moto2. I’m so sorry for Franco, who had to miss the test.

“It’s really physical, especially the braking, because you arrive really fast, but the metres you stop the bike are more or less the same [as Moto2].

“The handling I was expecting it to be stiffer, but the bike is light and you can ride it in a really good way, more or less like Moto2.

“So, I didn’t do a lot of laps, so I feel good. Maybe if I did more laps I’d be more tired.”

He added: “Now the Moto2 with the Triumph engine, you have to pick it up, you have to do the drive, a lot of corner speed - a bit more than MotoGP, but it’s something similar.

“So, more or less, the riding style is similar.”

Next year will be the 24-year-old’s sixth season in Moto2, with his performances so far not doing enough to earn a promotion to the premier class.

Asked if he felt this test would boost his immediate MotoGP hopes, he replied: “I don’t think so.

“It’s a present from the team; I really appreciate it.

“Maybe it’s more an extra motivation for me to try to do well in Moto2 and try to have the opportunity to ride it more.”

 - Peter McLaren