Estrella Galicia 0,0 Grand Prix of Spain: Race report

The MotoGP World Championship returned to action in Jerez, Spain, for the opening European round of the 2026 season, following a three-week break after the Grand Prix of the United States in Austin.

It proved to be a more demanding weekend than the opening rounds of the season for the team, with both Joel Kelso and Eddie O’Shea struggling to find the right feeling with their bikes to fully exploit their potential. Despite the challenges, the team worked hard throughout the weekend to improve the set-up step by step, gathering valuable data that will be important moving forward as they continue to build towards stronger performances in the upcoming races.

Joel Kelso made a good start, moving up to fourth position through the opening corner. He remained with the leading group during the opening laps, running inside the top ten, but as the race progressed he was unable to maintain that pace and dropped into the second group. From there, Kelso continued to fight throughout the race, eventually crossing the line in 14th position.

Joel Kelso: Overall, it’s been a very tough weekend for us. It’s a small setback in our progress, but we’ll keep fighting. We have an important test here on Tuesday to try and come back stronger in Le Mans, and it will be important for us to start putting better results on the board.

On the other side of the garage, Eddie O’Shea faced a more challenging race from further back on the grid. After a difficult start, he gradually found his rhythm and began to make steady progress in the second half of the race. Leading the final group in the closing stages, O’Shea pushed to recover as many positions as possible, gaining six places overall to take the chequered flag in 18th position.

Eddie O’Shea: It’s been a pretty difficult weekend here in Jerez. It’s a track where things don’t come that easily for me. We’ve been struggling with a few areas on the bike, but hopefully we can find some solutions during Tuesday’s test and keep working to improve ahead of Le Mans.

With valuable data gathered over the weekend, the team will remain at the Jerez circuit for a test session this Tuesday, focusing on refining the bike set-up and building momentum ahead of the next round, which takes place next week at Le Mans, France.