MotoGP already has its first potential feud of the 2027 season, the result of tensions between two rookies preparing to make their debuts in the premier class.
Current Moto2 Aspar team-mates David Alonso and Dani Holgado will both graduate to MotoGP next year, with LCR Honda (on a factory Honda contract) and Gresini Ducati (on a Gresini contract) respectively.
Neither Alonso nor Holgado have fully lived up to flashes of title-contending form in the intermediate class, but both have done enough to secure graduations – with Alonso also bolstered by his reputation as perhaps Moto3’s greatest-ever rider.
The two were notably every-weekend rivals in the lightweight class, and when Holgado adapted more quickly to Moto2 than Alonso last year, he also did blot his copybook by running into the back of his team-mate at Jerez.
But a collision last time at Mandalika clearly crossed a line for Alonso, who was tagged by Holgado braking into Turn 1 and suffered a violent highside. It left him with a lung contusion and ruled him out of the red-flagged-and-restarted race – while Holgado was able to go again and snipe a podium finish.
Despite a weekend off and Holgado apologising for the crash in the aftermath, Alonso was unsparing in his assessment when prodded by Spanish broadcaster DAZN on the eve of the Phillip Island weekend.
He said he had “no relationship” with Holgado.
“Life is good, and you have to keep moving forward. When someone is not a good person, there’s nothing you can do. I’m doing my thing, and he’s doing his,” Alonso lashed out.
“We’re not a team. The incident is the least of it. Someone taking me out – that’s just part of racing, someone can do it to me, I can do it to someone, that’s the least of it.
“There’s a lot more to it than this. I’ll just keep doing my thing, and there’s no point wasting time on people who aren’t worth it.”
Holgado, whose response was sought out by DAZN, played down Alonso’s ire as a “heat of the moment” matter and said he was confident they would clear the air in the future.
But he also said: “It’s pure, full-on rivalry – and I think that’s also part of the sport.”
The 2027 MotoGP rookie class both are part of is easily one of the most hyped in MotoGP history, not even so much because of the names involved but because of the advantage the rookies could enjoy at the outset.
Their arrival coincides with MotoGP’s switch to Pirelli tyres and 850cc bikes. The bikes have already been likened to current Moto2 machinery; and as for Pirelli rubber, the four Moto2 graduates – Alonso, Holgado, Izan Guevara (Pramac Yamaha) and Senna Agius (Tech3 KTM) – have extensive knowledge of it from Moto2, while Nicolo Bulega (VR46 Ducati) not only knows Pirelli from World Superbike but has also been a central figure in Ducati’s ’27 prototype testing.
