Paddock Pass Podcast

Adam, David and Neil are joined this week by Motorsport.com’s Oriol Puigdemont, one of the best news breaking journalists in MotoGP. The guys tackle their expectations and anticipations for the season ahead: Best GPs, sources of worry and excitement, riders we’ll say goodbye to for 2027 and more.

Laughter, mockery or jealousy? Adam, David, Neil and Steve chat the latest in 2026 MotoGP – the championship launch - and then also work through a slew of hot takes sent into the show after the Sepang test. Pic by MotoGP.com

Adam, David (housed in his Malaysian hotel), Neil and Steve gather to air their thoughts, impressions and offer their ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the immediate wake of the first MotoGP test of the year. Pic by MotoGP.com

Adam, David, Neil and Steve wade into this episode with opinions and expectations for the resumption of MotoGP duty and the first of two official tests to start 2026. Sepang will have the curious backdrop of a manic silly season of rider contract talk…but will also provide the first views of the last MotoGP race bikes of the current era. Photo thanks to MotoGP.com

Adam, David, Neil and Steve decide to use the lull before the (Sepang test) storm to throw a few questions of their own for 2026 and beyond. Robots in MotoGP?! What happens when Marc retires? Who will own Neil's heart! Notes from the episode: Adam's article on the Idols movie https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/behind-the-scenes-with-idols-motogps-f1-movie-launching-this-week/ Front End Chatter podcast including an item on the Verge electric and solid state batteries https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-220 Flash Forward podcast episode on robot athletes https://megaphone.link/FLASH1045822699 Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

Four days of testing on the Iberian Peninsula gets underway this week at Jerez. Two days of action will get underway at the Southern Spanish circuit on Wednesday before the paddock moves to Portimao. Iker Lecuona's move to the Aruba.it Ducati squad will see the Spaniard armed with the best bike on the grid and a team looking for their star man of the future. Could it be Lecuona? If he can perform well this year he'll be in the pound seats to be the man at Ducati if Nicolo Bulega moves to MotoGP. If Iker underperforms the Italian squad will look elsewhere to a host of out of contract MotoGP riders. The pressure won't ramp up for a few rounds but Lecuona needs to hit the ground running in 2026. Miguel Oliviera has already made the move from MotoGP to WorldSBK but what can we expect from him this year? Steve and Gordo breakdown his prospects and why this test is important for him and his new crew chief, Andrew Pitt. Bringing with him a wealth of experience as a rider and enginner Pitty is a wildcard in the mix at BMW. He's the man that could unlock potential from the package and give Miguel an extra gear compared to his teammate, Danilo Petrucci. The intra-team battle at BMW is set to be intriguing with the experienced Michael van der Mark in the shadows as test rider and a good yardstick to judge their performances on this week. At Honda Jake Dixon will be back in action and out to prove that lessons have been learned since his last days on the Fireblade. Three crashes were a blot on the November copy book for the British rider and it'll be interesting to see how his pace fares this week. After a raft of injuries in recent years for Lecuona Honda are already down a man with his replacement, Somkiat Chantra, ruled out of action after fracturing his forearm. Jonathan Rea was always scheduled to test this week for the Developement Team but will he now be seen as a potential replacement for Chantra at Round 1? Ryan Vikers and Tetsuta Nagashima are the other options. At bimota the biggest change is personnel. Axel Bassani has a new crew chief for 2026 with Uri Pallares rejoining the Provec run operation. The Italian rider has shown flashes of potential on the bimota but needs to make a step forward this year. Will changing crew chiefs bring with it a change of fortunes? It looks like bimota will only run Alex Lowes for a single day of this test. They also saved a day in November for the British rider. Is that a way to allocate the test dates more evenly throughout the campaign? Testing is always a chance to run the rule over rider changes. No change will be more significant than Alvaro Bautista joning Barni Racing. The double champion has a brand new bike for 2026 and the improved Ducati V4R might be exactly what he needs to be back on top. The fight for top Independent Rider honours this year should be led by Bautista but Jerez will give us a chance to see him in his new colours and on his new mount. There's lots to talk about as every in WorldSBK and we'll keep you up to date throughout the campaign!

A rapid-fire reaction from Italy and the launch of the Ducati Lenovo team for what is the company’s centennial. Adam is joined by the host of the event, TNT Sports commentator and friend of the podcast Gavin Emmett, to provide some news and views on Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia and the GP26 livery.

Adam, David and Neil travelled to the Sky studios in Milan as guest of Aprilia Racing to see the 2026 RS-GPs and hear what CEO Massimo Rivola, Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini and, of course, Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin had to say about the upcoming MotoGP season. Here are our three ‘takeways’ from another slick Italian presentation.

The wheels are just starting to roll on 2026 so how about a few fun, uninformed and highly speculative predictions and ‘things we’d like to see’ for MotoGP this year?! Join Adam, David and Neil for some wacky (as well as shrewd?) takes and more.

The year is in the books for the Paddock Pass Podcast and we'll close it out with our final show. Steve and Gordo review the year that was with topics such as our rider of the year, round of the year, surprise of the season and others covered!

The cooling-off period has ended, the final interviews have been written-up, some listener questions have been dealt-with, so now’s the time for the last call on the longest Grand Prix season on record: Our Moments, Surprises, Favourite/Worst races, Disappointments and more.

2025 is almost at an end and there is a feel for the future in the raft of listener questions we received for the latest Paddock Pass Podcast. 2027 rider moves, technical presumptions, Liberty’s changes, recommendations and more from Adam, David, Neil and Steve. Pic by Polarity Photo

By popular demand of our Patreon supporters Simon Crafar joins on this week's podcast to explain his role as the Chairman of the FIM Stewards Panel for MotoGP. If you'd like to support the podcast check out patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast. The 500GP race winner has built a reputation within the paddock as a rider, an engineer, a commentator and now as an FIM Steward. When Neil sat down with Simon he explained the strengths of each member of his team and how they make decisions based on numerous factors. This interview is a fascinating insight into what can be one of the most controversial roles in the sport and how Simon has approached the job!

Part 2 of our WorldSBK season review! Steve and Gordo are once again joined by Alex Raby to break down the WorldSBK season. In Part 2 of our review we look at Alvaro Bautista's form, Locatelli picking up his first win, Bimota's return to WorldSBK and much more. The debate for our Top 5 heated up so let us know your thoughts on who makes your list!

WIth another year is in the books for the Paddock Pass Podcast covering the Superbike World Championship Steve and Gordo are joined by Alex Raby to break down the campaign that saw Toprak Razgatlioglu sign off his Superbike career as a triple champion before finally getting his MotoGP chance. Nicolo Bulega impressed everyone from the start of the season and we look at the Italian's performance to become Ducati's team leader. His performance was such that he effectively relegated Alvaro Bautista to a Bologna after thought. With Toprak moving on, Bulega having had a chance in MotoGP and Jonathan Rea retiring from full-time racing what does the future hold for WorldSBK and how is the overall health of the series? Later in the week we'll have Part 2 of our WorldSBK season review where we'll look at some of the other performers through the season and debate our Top 5 riders of the season

That’s it! 2025 MotoGP finally reaches the flag but not before Adam, David and Neil are able to get through the talking points and highlights of Round 22 at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit. Another Italian victory but Moto2 also breaks new ground. Our ‘Moments’, ‘Hire and Fires’ and ‘Grades’ as Dave also starts to salivate at the prospect of the first 2026 test.

Hello Valencia. It’s good to be back. Neil, David and Adam pick up the mics on the eve of the twenty-second and last Grand Prix of the year (don’t forget the test!) to run the rule on the Ricardo Tormo. They are also joined in Spain by MotoGP journo Don, Mat Oxley, who chats about his new book on Marc Marquez.

The clock is now ticking on the final days and hours of the 2025 MotoGP season so Adam, David and Neil go through the big talking points (plus our usual categories and listener questions) from the Media Centre at the Algarve International Circuit.

Adam and Neil welcome back the force-of-nature that is David Emmett to the MotoGP Media Centre and the motomatters scribe is full of beans for the first day of the Portuguese Grand Prix. The guys discuss HRC’s arrival to concessions status, riders’ thoughts on the Algarve International Circuit and the Sepang aftermath plus other topics

The full crew get on the mics to chew through three main topics surrounding MotoGP (and a bit of WorldSBK this week) as well as look ahead to the penultimate round of 2025 at the Algarve International Circuit. Predictions? Win/Lose? Plus more…