The Race understands that double MotoGP world champion Pecco Bagnaia is in the final stages of sealing a deal with Aprilia for 2027 and ‘28.
He would join compatriot and close friend Marco Bezzecchi to create something of an all-Italian dream team as Aprilia launches a credible bid for world championship success.
Bagnaia had initially been linked to a move to Aprilia as soon as it became apparent that Pedro Acosta would be taking his place alongside Marc Marquez in Ducati’s factory effort for 2027. The combination of his relationship with Bezzechi and the prospect of how he would fare under the management of team boss Massimo Rivola meant Aprilia was seen in the paddock as somewhere that would bring the best out of Bagnaia.
However, those rumours had somewhat cooled in recent weeks amid reports that Yamaha had put together a big-money offer to lure Bagnaia into joining Jorge Martin, replacing both Alex Rins and the Honda-bound Fabio Quartararo with a world championship winning dream team of its own by pairing the 2024 and ‘25 title rivals, who had also been Mahindra team-mates in Moto3 back in 2015-16.
The pendulum has swung back the other direction in the past few days, though, as the MotoGP paddock assembles at Buriram for the final pre-season test and the opening round of the championship a few days later.
Italian media reports suggested that the currently more competitive package at Aprilia was turning Bagnaia’s head away from Yamaha’s more financially lucrative deal, and The Race understands Bagnaia is now close to formally committing to an Aprilia move.
Bagnaia choosing to put on-track form first is perhaps not a surprise given the difficult season that he endured in 2025, with a torrid time alongside Marquez on a bike that he never looked comfortable on leading to a rather lacklustre fifth place overall in the championship standings and prompting a desire to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.
And while Yamaha’s revamped V4-powered MotoGP project certainly has both untapped potential and would come with a significantly more substantial salary option than Aprilia, its road back to the top level still clearly needs more time; time that 29-year-old Bagnaia might feel he doesn’t have right now.
According to The Race’s sources in the paddock, the situation has advanced again in the past 24 hours, with sources close to the parties involved suggesting that Bagnaia is now on the verge of putting pen to paper with Aprilia.
That would mean that Aprilia would then be the first factory team on the grid to have secured its full line-up for MotoGP’s new 2027 regulation bikes, with Bezzecchi’s contract extension with the squad already announced earlier this month during pre-season testing at Sepang.
The delay in deals being completed elsewhere is in part because it seems like the most obvious contract extension on the grid – that of Marc Marquez with Ducati – is still to be signed, as the reigning world champion continues to play hardball in negotiations to secure his preferred one plus one contract rather than the series’ standard two-year deal.
Marquez had hinted at Ducati’s launch last month that the rider market was moving faster than he would ideally like, as he has long been thought to be keen to eventually return to long-time home Honda.
While committing to another two years with the Ducati team with which he utterly dominated 2025 might look on paper like an obvious call for the 33-year-old seven-time MotoGP world champion, his thoughts about his own future and the rapid improvements Honda is now producing mean it’s not that simple for him.