BK8 Gresini Racing Heads to Sepang, a Year After Winning There

BK8.io is the crypto casino from BK8, and from 30 October to 1 November the BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP team races at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit, the track where it won the Grand Prix a year ago. It is round 19 of 22. The team arrives with both riders in the top ten of the championship, one of them recovering from hand surgery, and with both set to leave at the end of the season. Sepang is also where the team began this season, with its presentation in Kuala Lumpur and the pre-season test that followed. This preview sets out the weekend, the team's form, the tickets and what to watch.

The weekend at a glance

The official MotoGP timetable, confirmed by the MotoGP.com event page and repeated by Sport-Flash, runs as follows in Malaysian time (UTC+8). The Sprint is 10 laps and the Grand Prix is 20 laps of the 5.54 km circuit.

How the team arrives

The last two rounds were mixed. At Motegi on 4 October, one rider crashed out of both the Sprint and the Grand Prix while the other finished ninth in the race. At Mandalika on 11 October, both scored in the Sprint, fifth and seventh, and one finished seventh in the Grand Prix, according to the Mandalika race results and Cycle News. The other crashed out and broke a bone at the base of the thumb in his right hand, which needed surgery. After 17 rounds, the championship standings have the team's riders eighth on 172 points and tenth on 125.

The injury kept the injured rider out of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. The team announced on 19 October that a stand-in would take the number 54 Ducati, and said its rider "is working to get fit and race in Malaysia in less than two weeks", as reported by Motorsport Week and Paddock News 24. Whether he races at Sepang is the first question of the weekend.

Why Sepang matters to this team

The team won here last year. At the 2025 Malaysian Grand Prix, its lead rider finished second in the Sprint and then won the Grand Prix, according to both Wikipedia and the 2025 Sepang race results. It was the team's first season as BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, after BK8 News became its title sponsor in February 2025.

The circuit also opened this season. The team presented its 2026 colours in Kuala Lumpur on 31 January, in an event hosted by BK8 News, and then went straight to the Sepang pre-season test, where one of its riders set the fastest time of the test on the final day. The run of seven rounds that ends at Valencia is mapped in the run-in preview from Mandalika to Valencia, and the history of the title sponsorship is kept on the BK8 MotoGP sponsorship page.

Tickets

The circuit sells tickets for the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia through its own event page. When it was checked on 21 October, the page listed these prices and stated that Friday 30 October is free entry to all seat zones. Prices are the circuit's own and can change as stands sell out.

The hospitality tiers are the circuit's own packages, separate from the Formula One Paddock Club sold for the Sepang race in October, which is explained in the guide to F1 Paddock Club tickets and benefits. The circuit says a record 190,977 fans attended the MotoGP weekend in 2025.

What to watch

Three things stand out. The first is fitness: whether the injured rider is cleared to race, and how his hand holds up over 20 laps in Sepang's heat. The second is the farewell. On 2 July the team confirmed that both current riders will leave at the end of the season and that a new pairing has signed for 2027, so this is the pair's last Sepang weekend together under the BK8 News name. The third is the sponsorship itself. The title deal was announced for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, and no term beyond Valencia on 29 November has been announced. How the BK8 News name has spread from this team to Formula One is set out in the comparison of the BK8 News MotoGP and Formula One deals.