Following the quietest stretch of the year, with just one grand prix taking place over the last six weekends, MotoGP will burst back into life on 28-30 August as MotorLand plays host to the Aragon Grand Prix. With the remaining 10 races scheduled over the next 14 weekends, the championship will go into overdrive, and any mistakes or injuries could potentially have a lasting impact on the title run.
The championship fight remains finely poised between Aprilia and Ducati, which have traded blows so far in what has proved to be the most open multi-manufacturer battle in recent memory. Aprilia appears to have a slight edge heading into the 13th round of the season, but all could change on a track that suits its biggest adversary.
Here are five things to look out for at the Aragon Grand Prix
Marc Marquez’s fightback
Aragon has been a happy hunting ground for reigning world champion Marc Marquez. The Spaniard has recorded seven premier class victories at MotorLand since his debut in 2013, and has been unbeaten there since moving to Ducati in 2024. Not many would be betting against a record-extending eighth victory for Marquez, although it may not come as easily this time around.
Not only is Aprilia stronger than it was at the Sachsenring just two races ago, but Marquez is coming off the back of a rough weekend at the British Grand Prix. The 33-year-old cut a dejected figure after reaching a new low point in his recovery, failing to put up a fight to some of his Ducati stablemates, let alone the dominant Aprilias. While refusing to panic after finishing a distant seventh, it was alarming that he struggled in those areas that had previously been among his strengths at Silverstone.
Of course, one race won’t decide the outcome of the championship, and Assen already showed that Marquez is likely to struggle at certain tracks this year.
What ultimately matters is how he performs at his strongest venues, and the Aragon weekend could go a long way in helping him trim the points gap to the front.
Can Aprilia maintain its momentum
The British GP weekend marked one of Aprilia’s most complete performances of the season. Almost everything went its way as it made a big statement to start the second half of the season. In all sessions that mattered (qualifying, sprint and the main race), its riders locked out the top three positions, leaving Ducati to fight over the scraps. Had it not been for a rare mistake from Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura, Silverstone would have been a perfect weekend for Aprilia.
But the question is whether it can carry that momentum into Aragon and deny Marquez a victory that already looks likely on paper. For that to happen, lots of things will have to fall into place. Jorge Martin will have to continue the form he regained at Silverstone by reverting to an older set-up, Marco Bezzecchi will have to make further progress on his physical recovery, and Trackhouse riders will again have to give their factory counterparts a run for their money.
Further, the riders will have to stop tripping themselves up and work as a cohesive unit. With the Borgo Panigale marque boasting years of championship-winning experience, Aprilia will need to perform at its very best to dethrone its fellow Italian rival.
Johann Zarco’s comeback
Johann Zarco will be racing in MotoGP for the first time since May’s Catalan GP, provided he is able to clear a fitness test on Thursday.
The LCR Honda rider has endured a painful and lengthy recovery period, which has already stretched over 100 days, after his leg became trapped in Francesco Bagnaia’s Ducati during the first restart in Barcelona.
Initially scheduled to undergo surgery on his broken knee, Zarco opted for rehabilitative treatment at home, with the increasing rate of progress in the last weeks allowing him to bring forward his planned comeback.
Not much is expected from Zarco given his physical condition and lack of running on a MotoGP bike - he was only able to ride a supermotard and a Honda superbike during his injury layoff - but his return means the LCR team will be back at full strength for the first time in months.
Meanwhile, Fermin Aldeguer is also expected to return at Gresini after missing the last two race weekends, meaning Maverick Vinales will be the only full-time rider absent from the Aragon grid.
KTM’s engine performance
KTM will be back in the spotlight after completing necessary changes on its troubled engines this month. The Mattighofen-based manufacturer was forced to trade performance for reliability after a series of issues on Pedro Acosta’s bike left it with no option but to reduce engine power.
KTM had to wait for approval from rival manufacturers to unseal the engines, but once it was granted, it was able to complete the fixes in time for the Aragon GP. Whether that will allow KTM to restore its engines to full power remains to be seen, but the news will certainly be a big boost for all four of its riders.
While KTM has established itself as the third-best manufacturer on the grid, behind only Ducati and Aprilia, it has now gone four race weekends without scoring a podium. Pedro Acosta’s second-place finish in the Hungarian GP marked the last time a KTM rider stood on the rostrum this year. The RC16, hence, needs every available horsepower to mix with Aprilia and Ducati at the sharp end of the pack.
Francesco Bagnaia and Toprak Razgatlioglu's resurgence
After disastrous outings at Silverstone, Franesco Bagnaia and Toprak Razgatlioglu will be aiming to bounce back at Aragon and get their campaigns back on track.
For Bagnaia, this was the first time he failed to score a point this year, reminiscent of his 2025 nadir when he often had no explanation for his struggles on track. The Italian has enjoyed far better form this year and everything suggests the British GP was an outlier and what has otherwise been a solid recovery season. Bagnaia has won at Aragon before and finished third last year, so he will be hoping he can regain the form that made him a regular podium contender before the summer break.
Like Bagnaia, Razgatlioglu also endured a wretched weekend in Britain. The only rider he beat in the entire field during qualifying and the main race was Yamaha tester Augusto Fernandez, as he struggled for performance in long corners. Aragon’s stop/start layout should suit him more, but he will have to move away from his WSBK-style riding style if he is to achieve his goal of finishing a race inside the top 10.
