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By Riccardo Tafà| Posted June 16, 2025 | In MotoGP, MotoGP
The technical regulation of MotoGP engines 2025 – 2026
The evolution of the MotoGP technical engine regulations is at the heart of the development strategies, sponsorship and communication choices of teams and sponsors. For a CMO or sponsorship manager, understanding the regulatory details related to MotoGP 2025 and MotoGP 2026 means not only enhancing the economic investment, but also aligning with the sport’s values of sustainability, innovation, and spectacularity. In this article, we will look in detail at the technical specifications of the engines, the homologation and concessions system, the freeze on specifications for 2026, and the fallout for business and corporate communications.
Overview of the MotoGP 2025 regulations
MotoGP technical regulations are defined by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) in the FIM Grand Prix World Championship Regulations – 2025 edition printed on January 31, 2025. The 2025 regulations govern championship prototypes, with a focus on safety, cost leveling and sustainability. The document covers all classes (MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3), but here we focus on the premier class and MotoGP 2025 engines.
Displacement and cylinder configuration
The maximum displacement in 2025 remains 1000 cm³, with four-stroke four-cylinder engines and a maximum cylinder diameter of 81 mm. The choice of a 4-cylinder engine at 1000 cc is the result of years of development to maximize power (about 250 hp) and maintain the balanced package between acceleration, torque and durability of critical components.
Ratios and minimum weight
Regulations impose 6 maximum gears per sequential gearbox and a minimum weight of 157 kg. Limiting the number of gears is designed to preserve the spectacle by avoiding continually close shifts, while the minimum weight protects both safety and tire management and fuel consumption during Grand Prix.
Engine approval and number of units
At the beginning of each season, manufacturers must homologate their engine package, specifying the final configuration they will use for the championship. Each driver is entitled to seven standard engines for the entire season; however, the concessions system may grant 9-10 engines to manufacturers with fewer championship points in order to incentivize innovation and reduce the performance gap.
Concession system
The MotoGP concessions system rewards teams with fewer constructor points, offering:
- Extra test days and more authorized test riders.
- Increased number of type-approvable engines and freedom of development.
- Possibility of aerodynamic upgrades and specifications on electronic devices.
- Flexible tire allocation for testing.
This mechanism aims to ensure more competitive races and to provide space for up-and-comers to get closer to the giants of the paddock.
Fuel, electronics and mappings
The max tank is 22 liters, and thestandard ECU controlsanti-start and anti-clearance, as well as injection and traction control parameters. Engine maps must comply with the approved limits, with no hidden switches or modifiable RPM channels, ensuring uniformity of power and cost reduction.
Freezing of specifications for 2026
The Grand Prix Commission has ruled that 2025 engines will also be frozen for the 2026 season, preventing new aerodynamic or mechanical evolutions for performance purposes. The only exceptions allowed are:
- Safety: changes to eliminate risks in the race.
- Reliability: replacement of defective critical components.
- Proven non-availability of replacement parts as long as they do not improve performance.
This measure aims to control costs and maintain a balanced level of competition ahead of the major regulatory change in 2027).
Implications for cost and competitiveness
Freezing 2026 enables:
- Optimize development budgets by planning targeted investments during the transition period.
- Reduce the rush to upgrades at the beginning of the year, focusing efforts on reliability and marketing.
- More stable communication strategies: technical partners can plan campaigns related to known motorcycle performance.
- For sponsors, ensuring technical continuity means associating the brand with a history of solid and sustainable expertise.
Sponsorship and marketing strategies
Understanding the MotoGP 2025-2026 technical regulations enables:
- Align the brand message with the themes of innovation and sustainability.
- Create technical content (white papers, webinars, videos) that enhances the partnership.
- Propose on-track activations based on frozen motor reliability.
- Monitor KPIs related to performance and visibility in a transparent way.
An effective sponsorship plan integrates technical storytelling and on-track benefits, strengthening corporate stakeholder engagement and ROI.
Towards 2027: the future of MotoGP engines
Starting in 2027, the era of MotoGP engines will change:
- Reduced displacement to 850 cc.
- Maximum bore dropped to 75 mm.
- Engines per pilot limited to six per season.
- New rules on aerodynamics, sustainable fuels, and shared GPS data.
These changes aim to make the sport safer, more sustainable, and more spectacular. Those who invest today will be able to take advantage of the 2025-2026 “freeze” period to better prepare for the regulatory jump.
To implement a winning sponsorship strategy over the next two years and take advantage of every technical and communication opportunity, contact RTR Sports Marketing: we will turn this knowledge into a concrete competitive advantage.
Riccardo Tafà
Managing Director for RTR Sports, Riccardo graduated in law at the University of Bologna. He began his career in London in PR, then started working in two and four-wheelers. A brief move to Monaco followed before returning to Italy. There he founded RTR, first a consulting firm and then a sports marketing company which, eventually, he moved back to London.
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Read MoreWhy choose RTR Sports Marketing
In an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
Save time and money
When first approaching a motorsport sponsorship project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Motorsport is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
The right information, the right choice
Motorsport is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A motorsport sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which racing series, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the beating heart
Activations are the real heart of motorsport sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a motorsport marketing project, you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase online, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Objective measurements for a certain return
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
Sit back, relax, we’ll take care of it
We have been involved in motorsport sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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