Jorge Lorenzo reacts to Pedro Acosta, Francesco Bagnaia 2027 MotoGP rumours: “Right choice”
Triple MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo says both Pedro Acosta and Francesco Bagnaia are making the right career moves for 2027.
There are still no official announcements, but Jorge Lorenzo is certain that reports linking Pedro Acosta with Ducati and Francesco Bagnaia to Aprilia for MotoGP 2027 are correct.
“For sure! 100%!” smiled the triple MotoGP champion, when asked by Crash.net about Acosta’s touted switch to the factory Ducati team in place of Bagnaia for the start of the 850cc/Pirelli era.
Lorenzo is equally convinced that Bagnaia is heading to Aprilia: “100%!”
"I think they've made the right choice"
Lorenzo made several headline-grabbing moves during his own MotoGP career and took on two of the sport’s most successful champions as a team-mate.
The Spaniard spent seven of his nine Yamaha seasons alongside Valentino Rossi, either side of two years with former AMA and WorldSBK champion Ben Spies.
Lorenzo then signed with the improving Ducati project for 2017 and 2018, where he raised his premier-class win tally from 44 to 47 GPs.
But his Desmosedici success came too late, with Lorenzo already committed to another huge challenge - as team-mate to Marc Marquez at Repsol Honda, for what proved an injury-blighted final campaign in 2019.
Asked how he views the Acosta and Bagnaia decisions, Lorenzo said:
“I think they've made the right choice. Pedro made the right choice to go to Ducati. He will have the same package as the best, as Marc. So, I'm sure he will be very good.
“And Pecco also, he needed to change, to start to think positive. And in Ducati, with Marc in the box, he was not fresh, he was not positive. And Aprilia is not so bad! So he will make the right move, I think.”
“Pedro will be very, very strong” at Ducati
Like Bagnaia, Lorenzo knows how it feels to face Marquez - who could tie Giacomo Agostini’s record of eight premier-class titles this season - within the same team.
However, while Marquez was the new arrival at Ducati in 2025, Acosta would be following Lorenzo’s Honda path and entering a team where Marquez is already the dominant force.
Does Lorenzo, a regular in the paddock in his new role as performance coach for Maverick Vinales, have any concerns about Acosta taking on Marquez head-to-head?
“It will be very interesting!” said Lorenzo, speaking before Acosta and Marquez battled during the Thai Grand Prix season opener.
“Probably, in the future, Marc will not have the two extra tenths [a lap advantage over the field in 2025] to play with, with Pedro in the team.
“This is my prediction.
"I don't know for the beginning of next year, but in the future, for sure, Pedro will be very, very strong.”
Acosta added weight to that prediction with a superb start to the season at Buriram, scoring a debut Sprint victory and finishing second in the grand prix to become the first KTM rider to lead the MotoGP standings.
Marco Bezzecchi won the grand prix from pole position for Aprilia after crashing from the Sprint lead, as RS-GPs turned the tables on Ducati by filling four of the top five places.
Marc Marquez lost victory in the Sprint after a late penalty, then retired from the grand prix due to wheel rim damage, leaving Ducati without a podium for the first time since 2021.
Meanwhile, after a promising testing form, Bagnaia endured another difficult weekend, missing Qualifying 2 and salvaging two ninth-place finishes from 13th on the grid.
Former Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia race winner Vinales is one of the riders tipped as a possible replacement for Acosta at the factory KTM team, but finished outside the points in Thailand.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
