Fernández in Yamaha Factory e Oliver con ZXMoto per il MXGP 2027

Before the World Championship even resumes, 2027 is taking shape in the pits. Yamaha Motor Europe has announced Rubén Fernández in the Yamaha Factory Racing MXGP team for next season, while ZXMOTO has given Oriol Oliver a place in its official project for the move into MXGP. Two different moves, but both significant for the grid of the premier class.

Fernández, 27, comes from Vigo and returns to Yamaha on a YZ450FM. For him, it is a return to a familiar home: he had raced with the Japanese brand in the MX2 World Championship in 2020, then went through six seasons at Honda, with the last four as a HRC factory rider in the top class. His record also includes one Grand Prix win, secured in 2023, fifth in the World Championship that same year and fourth overall in 2025. In 2027 he will find Tim Gajser alongside him, within a structure that Yamaha has centralised at its base in Gerno di Lesmo, in Italy.

On the other side of the market, according to Motocross.it, ZXMOTO officially unveiled its sporting programme for 2027 at EICMA with JM Racing. The Chinese manufacturer enters the MXGP World Championship with an official team and chooses Oriol Oliver as one of its two leading riders. The Spaniard comes from a debut season in MXGP with SS24 Gabriel KTM and in the new project will share the garage with Norwegian Kevin Horgmo, who has also moved to the official structure.

For Fernández, it is a return to a familiar environment, but within a completely different technical setting. For Oliver, meanwhile, it is the step up into a reality that is only just beginning, with a brand that is entering the top class and immediately trying to measure itself against the big names in the World Championship. The paddock is moving like this, piece by piece: a return that reopens a story, a debut that writes a new one.