Ducati Drops Out of Rank A: Aprilia Now Level in the Title Fight

• Ducati scored 84.56 percent of the available points, missing out on Rank A by roughly four points.
• Aprilia moves up from Rank C to Rank B, while Honda drops back from Rank C to Rank D.
• From 2027, all five manufacturers will start together in Rank B.

With the Sachsenring round, the 2026 MotoGP season has reached its halfway point. Eleven of 22 race weekends have been completed, triggering the scheduled recalculation of the concession system. The result noticeably reshuffles the manufacturers’ ranking and determines which technical freedoms each brand can use over the next six months.

How does the MotoGP concession system work?

The system splits manufacturers into four tiers based on their championship points, with a lower tier granting more freedoms. What counts is each manufacturer’s constructors’ points from the preceding twelve months. Rank A requires at least 85 percent of the available points, Rank B between 60 and 85 percent, Rank C between 35 and 60 percent, and anyone below that falls into Rank D. The classification is reviewed twice a year, once at the season’s halfway point and once at its end. The idea behind it: manufacturers who are lagging should be allowed more testing and development to close the gap to the front-runners.

Why is Ducati dropping out of Rank A for the first time?

Ducati missed the 85 percent mark by only a hair’s breadth, which is why it is dropping out of the top tier for the first time. Since the current system was introduced for the 2024 season, the Borgo Panigale brand had remained in Rank A without interruption. Over the past twelve months, Ducati collected 657 of a possible 777 points, equivalent to 84.56 percent. Staying in Rank A would have required roughly four more points, or 0.44 percentage points. Ducati falling short of that threshold has less to do with any slump of its own than with strong rivals who have been scoring consistently.

What advantages does dropping to Rank B bring Ducati?

In Rank B, Ducati regains the right to wildcards and a larger tyre allocation, though in practice these freedoms will count for little. After two and a half years, the brand can once again field up to three wildcards, which were banned in Rank A. A possible use case would be test rider Michele Pirro, or Superbike World Championship leader Niccolò Bulega, who is widely expected to join the VR46 factory team in 2027. In addition, the allocation for private testing rises from 170 to 190 tyres. Since development has long since shifted to the new 850cc prototypes and the switch to Pirelli tyres, the extra leeway is unlikely to make much difference.

What changes for Aprilia?

For Aprilia, moving up from Rank C to Rank B ultimately brings few practical changes. With 561 points and 72.2 percent, the Noale-based brand draws level with Ducati following a string of strong results, putting it on the same footing for the remainder of the title fight. The price for that: the tyre allocation drops from 220 to 190, and the number of permitted wildcards falls from six to three. That mainly affects test rider Lorenzo Savadori, who has already completed one outing in Jerez and may have been planning another in Silverstone after the summer break.

Why is Honda dropping back to Rank D?

Honda was unable to hold on to the Rank C status it had only recently reached, and slides back down to the lowest tier. At the end of the 2025 season, the promotion from Rank D to Rank C, helped in part by a strong result from Luca Marini in Valencia, had still been celebrated as progress. It lasted only half a year. At 31.8 percent, Honda fell short of the 35 percent mark required for Rank C. In return, the brand now enjoys the greatest freedoms of all: testing with race riders included, which could make it easier for Johann Zarco to return from injury, testing at every Grand Prix circuit, an allocation of 260 tyres, ten freely developable engines instead of eight, and two aerodynamic updates instead of one. Given the focus on 2027, these advantages too are worth less than in previous years.

KTM and Yamaha remain unchanged

KTM and Yamaha retain their previous tiers. KTM finished at 49.8 percent and stays in Rank C, though it is now the sole manufacturer there following Honda’s demotion. Yamaha reached 23.6 percent and remains in Rank D, where the new V4 project got under way this season.

What happens to the concession system in 2027?

At the start of the new 850cc era, the classification will be reset completely. All five manufacturers will then begin together in Rank B, regardless of the points accumulated up to that point. At the same time, the new regulations bring tyre partner Pirelli into the series, and wildcards will be banned outright from 2027. The new bikes have already been tested in Brno and during the test following the Austrian Grand Prix; the full 2027-season field will ride them for the first time on 1 December in Valencia. That makes the current recalculation the last major shift in the balance of power of the outgoing 1000cc era.

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