Paddock Pass Podcast

Miguel Oliveira was the man of the moment in Portimao. The home crowd came out in force with a packed paddock there to greet the Portuguese star's every turn. The BMW man delivered on track with a hat-trick of podiums. For Steve and Gordo there was no other place to start than with his performance. Nicolo Bulega continues to dominate WorldSBK with his perfect record maintained from pole position. His teammate, Iker Lecuona, impressed this weekend with a solid trio of runner-up finishes. The Spanish rider said afterwards that he "was doing my job" to complete a perfect weekend for the Aruba.it Ducati squad. There were plenty of other stories to follow inside the paddock from the Superbike class with Yamaha, Honda and bimota but with the brand new Sportbike class starting, a Chinese manufacturer winning for the first time in Supersport and the WorldWCR kicking off their campaign we'll be back on Patreon to cover the support classes. Sign-up at Patreon.com/PaddockPassPodcast

Five steaks on the BBQ: all black. Adam Wheeler and Neil Morrison complete their weekend at the Circuit of Americas by joining a sleep-deprived David Emmett to go over the talking points and topics from round three of 2026 MotoGP.

Adam Wheeler and Neil Morrison are joined in the paddock at the Circuit of the Americas by none other than local hero Joe Roberts to talk pathways for American riders to Grand Prix, bike builds and music!

Adam, David and Neil try to fit some scope to a first return to Brazil for MotoGP in more than two decades and with enough talking points to fill a start straight crater. A good Grand Prix or a farce? Where do Aprilia go from here? Winners/Losers and more! Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool. www.renthal.com/road/ Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

Adam, David and Neil call MotoGP’s superb pitlane report and presenter Jack Appleyard as the Brit shelters from another Brazilian deluge of rain in Goiânia. Jack tells us how the circuit is shaping-up, what are the wider impressions of the venue and predictions for the weekend.

The guys offer their takes on the return to Goiânia for the first time in almost thirty years by watching and reviewing the last ‘MotoGP’ race at the site: the 1989 500cc Grand Prix! Watch/listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KccfYmZGIBY and then watch and listen and give us your view. We also speak to technical guru Craig Scarborough about MotoGP aero and Michael Scott tells us about the GP trips to South America. Pic by Gold and Goose. You can find Craig Scarborough as Scarbstech on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/scarbstech/ X https://x.com/ScarbsTech and BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/scarbstech.bsky.social Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool. www.renthal.com/road/ Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

This week Adam, David and Neil talk with Red Bull KTM Tech3 Team Principal Guenther Steiner on his transition to the Grand Prix paddock. We also have a fantastic paddock pass competition for Patreon subs, so, on that note, we go into our favourite Grand Prix venues and experiences for 2026. Sign up for our Patreon for a chance to win Paddock Passes! https://www.patreon.com/posts/competition-to-2-151623101 Adam's article on MotoGP contracts: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/thai-motogp-opener-had-it-all-but-off-track-tensions-rise-in-team-series-stand-off/ Merch: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/merch Neil's article on Pedro Acosta: https://motomatters.com/analysis/2026/03/07/neil_morrison_pedro_acosta_from_buriram.html

Italian sauce for your Pad Thai? Adam, David and Neil go through their calls and categories for the opening round of the 2026 MotoGP season. ‘Moments’, ‘Winners & Losers’, ‘Grades’ and much more as we Tuk Tuk our way through the first review show of the year.

Adam and Neil bring you the first of the MotoGP Grand Prix Notes shows in 2026 and both are joined by veteran Spanish journo Manuel Pecino to talk Marc Marquez, the state of the paddock, the Yamaha and Fabio Quartararo dysfunctionality and more. Join up to Insider or Expert tiers for the shows on Friday and Saturday!

Is there any better for a race than Phillip Island? Well, given all the news at the weekend Steve and Gordo report from on the ground with the thoughts of the locals, the staff and the paddock on the bombshell news that MotoGP will move to Adelaide. Will WorldSBK follow? It certainly seems that way. On track, Nicolo Bulega was imperious as he starts his quest for global domination. The Aruba.it Ducati star man is a little more likeable than a bond villain and a hell of a rider. We break down his weekend which featured an incredible, almost unnecessarily, dominant performance in the wet conditions of Sunday. There are plenty of stories to follow this weekend. The first double podium for bimota since 1988 has confirmed the resurgence of Axel Bassani. His Sunday double will have given him a huge boast in confidence that this season he can be a closer challenger to his teammate, Alex Lowes. Lowes was one of the fallers in the wet conditions in Race 2 and we look at what caused many of the falls. The rise and fall of Independent Ducati's is set to be a big story this year. Steve said in our preview show that "on your good days you've got to take advantage of the package." Lorenzo Baldassarri certainly did that. The Italian, who refuses to acknowledge his season aboard a GMT94 Yamaha as a Superbike campaign, impressed the paddock this week. In testing he was quick but to withstand the pressure from Bassani in the closing stages of Race 1 was rewarded with his first career podium finish. Yari Montella had his first career front row and podium too. At BMW are the reigning World Champions in a tailspin? It depends on who you ask. That being said the two-day Portimao Test on March 9-10 will be critical for them. It was a weekend of highs and lows Miguel Oliveira. The rookie had everything thrown at him over the weekend. A superpole crash that relegated him to the back of the field was followed by two superb recovery rides in both conditions to leave him one point ahead of his teammate, Danilo Petrucci, in the standings. The performance gap between them seemed much higher this week. Yamaha's Xavi Vierge was the fastest man in blue this week but came away with zero points after a big crash in Race 1. Andrea Locatelli looked lost for most of the opening round but in wet conditions he found some confidence and came away fifth position. Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool. www.renthal.com/road/ Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

Adam and Dave set a hard alarm clock in Europe to join Neil from Buriram airport and talk about the second and final MotoGP pre-season test: Are Aprilia favourites? Is Marquez struggling? Why have no more riders been announced? And are things really that bad for Yamaha? Plus, our verdict on the future of the Australian Grand Prix. Oriol Puigdemont's article on why the rider contract announcements have been delayed https://es.motorsport.com/motogp/news/equipos-motogp-anuncian-fichajes-2027-motivo-analisis/10799669/ Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool. www.renthal.com/road/ Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

Adam, David and Neil are joined this week by Motorsport.com’s Oriol Puigdemont, one of the best news breaking journalists in MotoGP. The guys tackle their expectations and anticipations for the season ahead: Best GPs, sources of worry and excitement, riders we’ll say goodbye to for 2027 and more.

Laughter, mockery or jealousy? Adam, David, Neil and Steve chat the latest in 2026 MotoGP – the championship launch - and then also work through a slew of hot takes sent into the show after the Sepang test. Pic by MotoGP.com Adam's piece on the MotoGP launch in Kuala Lumpur: https://race19.substack.com/p/perspective-motogp-opens-2026-with Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool. www.renthal.com/road/ Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

Adam, David (housed in his Malaysian hotel), Neil and Steve gather to air their thoughts, impressions and offer their ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the immediate wake of the first MotoGP test of the year. Pic by MotoGP.com

Adam, David, Neil and Steve wade into this episode with opinions and expectations for the resumption of MotoGP duty and the first of two official tests to start 2026. Sepang will have the curious backdrop of a manic silly season of rider contract talk…but will also provide the first views of the last MotoGP race bikes of the current era. Photo thanks to MotoGP.com

Adam, David, Neil and Steve decide to use the lull before the (Sepang test) storm to throw a few questions of their own for 2026 and beyond. Robots in MotoGP?! What happens when Marc retires? Who will own Neil's heart! Notes from the episode: Adam's article on the Idols movie https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/behind-the-scenes-with-idols-motogps-f1-movie-launching-this-week/ Front End Chatter podcast including an item on the Verge electric and solid state batteries https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-220 Flash Forward podcast episode on robot athletes https://megaphone.link/FLASH1045822699 Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

Four days of testing on the Iberian Peninsula gets underway this week at Jerez. Two days of action will get underway at the Southern Spanish circuit on Wednesday before the paddock moves to Portimao. Iker Lecuona's move to the Aruba.it Ducati squad will see the Spaniard armed with the best bike on the grid and a team looking for their star man of the future. Could it be Lecuona? If he can perform well this year he'll be in the pound seats to be the man at Ducati if Nicolo Bulega moves to MotoGP. If Iker underperforms the Italian squad will look elsewhere to a host of out of contract MotoGP riders. The pressure won't ramp up for a few rounds but Lecuona needs to hit the ground running in 2026. Miguel Oliviera has already made the move from MotoGP to WorldSBK but what can we expect from him this year? Steve and Gordo breakdown his prospects and why this test is important for him and his new crew chief, Andrew Pitt. Bringing with him a wealth of experience as a rider and enginner Pitty is a wildcard in the mix at BMW. He's the man that could unlock potential from the package and give Miguel an extra gear compared to his teammate, Danilo Petrucci. The intra-team battle at BMW is set to be intriguing with the experienced Michael van der Mark in the shadows as test rider and a good yardstick to judge their performances on this week. At Honda Jake Dixon will be back in action and out to prove that lessons have been learned since his last days on the Fireblade. Three crashes were a blot on the November copy book for the British rider and it'll be interesting to see how his pace fares this week. After a raft of injuries in recent years for Lecuona Honda are already down a man with his replacement, Somkiat Chantra, ruled out of action after fracturing his forearm. Jonathan Rea was always scheduled to test this week for the Developement Team but will he now be seen as a potential replacement for Chantra at Round 1? Ryan Vickers and Tetsuta Nagashima are the other options. At bimota the biggest change is personnel. Axel Bassani has a new crew chief for 2026 with Uri Pallares rejoining the Provec run operation. The Italian rider has shown flashes of potential on the bimota but needs to make a step forward this year. Will changing crew chiefs bring with it a change of fortunes? It looks like bimota will only run Alex Lowes for a single day of this test. They also saved a day in November for the British rider. Is that a way to allocate the test dates more evenly throughout the campaign? Testing is always a chance to run the rule over rider changes. No change will be more significant than Alvaro Bautista joning Barni Racing. The double champion has a brand new bike for 2026 and the improved Ducati V4R might be exactly what he needs to be back on top. The fight for top Independent Rider honours this year should be led by Bautista but Jerez will give us a chance to see him in his new colours and on his new mount. There's lots to talk about as every in WorldSBK and we'll keep you up to date throughout the campaign! Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

A rapid-fire reaction from Italy and the launch of the Ducati Lenovo team for what is the company’s centennial. Adam is joined by the host of the event, TNT Sports commentator and friend of the podcast Gavin Emmett, to provide some news and views on Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia and the GP26 livery. You can watch the recording of the launch livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvIhLlp6WVc Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

Adam, David and Neil travelled to the Sky studios in Milan as guest of Aprilia Racing to see the 2026 RS-GPs and hear what CEO Massimo Rivola, Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini and, of course, Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin had to say about the upcoming MotoGP season. Here are our three ‘takeways’ from another slick Italian presentation. You can watch the recorded livestream of the Aprilia launch here: https://www.youtube.com/live/tql7ZOS66XM?si=lrbv9Pe5Z1YLpITe Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

The wheels are just starting to roll on 2026 so how about a few fun, uninformed and highly speculative predictions and ‘things we’d like to see’ for MotoGP this year?! Pedro Acosta to Yamaha? Dani Holgado to KTM? Is this the year Liberty makes it's presence felt? Join Adam, David and Neil for some wacky (as well as shrewd?) takes and more. FIM bans restarts at trackside https://motomatters.com/news/2026/01/11/fim_bans_track_side_restarts_in_worldsbk.html#comment-127314 Fermin Aldeguer breaks femur https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/fermin-aldeguer-remains-hospitalised-after-surgery-and-awaits-medical-discharge/10789456/ Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast We have merch! Get your t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more here: https://paddockpasspodcast.com/shop

The year is in the books for the Paddock Pass Podcast and we'll close it out with our final show. Steve and Gordo review the year that was with topics such as our rider of the year, round of the year, surprise of the season and others covered!

The cooling-off period has ended, the final interviews have been written-up, some listener questions have been dealt-with, so now’s the time for the last call on the longest Grand Prix season on record: Our Moments, Surprises, Favourite/Worst races, Disappointments and more. Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool. www.renthal.com/road/ Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast

2025 is almost at an end and there is a feel for the future in the raft of listener questions we received for the latest Paddock Pass Podcast. 2027 rider moves, technical presumptions, Liberty’s changes, recommendations and more from Adam, David, Neil and Steve. Pic by Polarity Photo Neil: The Director - Daniel Kehlmann https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220160387-the-director David Fintan O'Toole - We Don't Know Ourselves https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56769525-we-don-t-know-ourselves Naomi Kritzer - Liberty's Daughter https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192777167-liberty-s-daughter Steve: Patrick Radden Keefe - Say Nothing https://saynothingbook.com/ Peter Brown - The Wild Robot https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26030734-the-wild-robot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Robot Adam: Motorcycle Grand Prix - Insider Stories from World Championship Racing. https://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Grand-Prix-Insider-Championship/dp/1789296773/ The Bear - Season 3, Hulu Faithless - Champion Sound https://www.roughtrade.com/en-de/product/faithless/champion-sound#51969535017291 Thanks to Renthal Street for supporting the podcast. Head to the Renthal website for handlebars, sprockets, chains, and more, using the Fit Your Bike tool. www.renthal.com/road/ Thanks also Pole Position Travel. Go to the Pole Position website to book a package to visit a MotoGP or WorldSBK round, Use code PPOD25X for a discount. www.polepositiontravel.com Sign up for for exclusive content from the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks https://patreon.com/paddockpasspodcast