BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP has confirmed a complete lineup change for Gresini 2027 MotoGP: 2020 World Champion Joan Mir, arriving from Honda, and Moto2 rookie Dani Holgado, both on two-year deals through 2028. They replace Alex Márquez, departing for a factory KTM seat, and Fermín Aldeguer, moving to VR46. Gresini 2027 MotoGP is the fifth piece of this week’s grid reshuffle, following Ducati, Yamaha, and Aprilia.
Joan Mir’s Factory-Spec Second Chance
Mir won the MotoGP World Championship in 2020, his second season in the premier class, and took third in the standings the following year. What has followed since has been genuinely uneven — he still has only one MotoGP race win despite the title, and his four seasons at Honda following Suzuki’s 2022 withdrawal from the series have been marked by a high crash rate, though he typically scores points when he finishes.
Gresini 2027 MotoGP gives him a fresh start with real equipment behind it: Mir will race a factory-spec Desmosedici at Gresini, the same specification machine as Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta at the factory Ducati Lenovo Team. It’s his first satellite-team ride in a MotoGP career that started with Suzuki in 2019 — but with factory-level machinery underneath him.
Mir is contractually barred from commenting publicly on the move until his Honda contract expires on December 31, 2026, which is why the official announcement carries no quote from him directly.
Dani Holgado: MotoGP’s First 2027 Rookie
At 21, Holgado becomes the first confirmed rookie signing of Gresini 2027 MotoGP — and the first rookie signing anywhere on the 2027 grid. He currently rides Moto2 for CFMoto Aspar, was 2024 Moto3 World Championship runner-up behind David Alonso, and was named 2025 Moto2 Rookie of the Year with two race wins that season.
His 2026 campaign has been more modest — sixth in the standings at the midpoint, with a third-place finish in Thailand and a win in Brazil — but the underlying talent was enough to secure a two-year MotoGP deal regardless. Gresini has a specific track record here: the team previously developed Aldeguer the same way, and Holgado steps into a program built for exactly this kind of promotion. “It is literally the dream of my life to race in the premier class,” Holgado said.
Alongside the rider announcements, Gresini confirmed a multi-year continuation of its partnership with Ducati Corse. Team owner Nadia Padovani, widow of the late Fausto Gresini, described the pairing directly: “the other aims to rediscover his best sensations and make the most of his potential,” and offered a farewell to the outgoing pair — “two riders who have given a lot to our team.” Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall’Igna confirmed the renewal in similarly brief terms: “a relationship built over time, based on shared values.”
With Gresini 2027 MotoGP now set, a solid portion of the 2027 grid has been announced in a single week — Ducati, Yamaha, Aprilia, and now Gresini, all restructured ahead of the new Concorde Agreement and the sport’s 850cc technical reset. A former World Champion on factory machinery and the grid’s first rookie signing give Gresini a genuinely compelling story of their own inside a very crowded week of news.
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