Indian Racer Sarthak Chavan secured P6 in his 3rd race of his first season. Qualified 19th in Barcelona, 12 in Estoril and 8th in Jerez, he is showing steady improvement in the pace. Sarthak is riding in European Stock Category in the FIM Junior GP for the first time this year, which is part of the Road to MotoGP program by FIM. Right now he is our best bet towards putting an Indian in the Moto2 grid.

If you've been confused by terms like "Rank A" or "Category B" floating around MotoGP coverage lately, here's a breakdown of what concessions actually are and where things stand right now.

What are concessions?

Concessions are MotoGP's manufacturer-levelling system. Every constructor (Ducati, Aprilia, KTM, Honda, Yamaha) gets sorted into one of four tiers — Rank A, B, C, or D — based on how many points they've scored recently. The worse you're doing, the more technical freedom you get to catch up: extra test tyres, more wildcard entries, engine development freedom, and aero update flexibility. The better you're doing, the more restricted you become.

The system was reintroduced at the end of 2023 specifically to stop one manufacturer (guess who) from running away with the championship year after year with zero checks on development.

What are different types of restrictions

1. Wildcard entries: You'd have seen guys like Augusto Fernandez entering the race in spite of the manufacturer having all the racers participating. They are called wildcards. Having more riders in a race will help a manufacturer to collect more data and provide better setups. Dani Pedrosa won a sprint podium like this

2. Frozen Engine: The manufacturer in applicable concessions should froze the engine development. This is applicable for all the tiers except D.

3. Number of Test tyres: Least number of test tyres are provided for manufacturers in tier A and the number increases as the tier goes down.

4. Private testing with race riders: Manufacturers in the lowest tier will be able to test with their race riders. Where as Manufacturers with higher concessions will be able to test only with test riders.

5. Number of engines per cycle: Manufacturers in the top tiers will get less engines and it goes down step wise per each tier and the Manufacturers in D tier will get most engines

6. Number of aero upgrades: Number of aero upgrades a Manufacturer can get during the cycle is based on their tier. 1 if you're in higher tier and 2 if they're in lowest tier.

7. Circuits that can be used for testing: Manufacturers in higher tiers can only test in selected number of circuits only (3 for now). Where as those in tier D can test in any of the available circuits.

How the tiers are decided

Each manufacturer's rank is based on the percentage of total constructor points scored over a rolling window:

• Rank A (85%+ of points): Most restrictive. No wildcards, frozen engine spec, fewest test tyres, no private testing with full-time race riders.
• Rank B (60–85%): Still tight, but a step up — some extra test tyres and a handful of wildcards.
• Rank C (35–60%): Moderate freedom — more testing, some engine development room.
• Rank D (under 35%): Maximum freedom — unrestricted testing with race riders, ongoing engine development, more wildcards, aero flexibility.

Rankings get reassessed twice a year: once at the mid-season point and once at the end of the season, each time looking at the two most recent half-season windows (so it's a rolling evaluation, not just "this season alone").

Where things stand for 2026

First Half

Tier A: Ducati
Tier B: Aprilia
Tier C: KTM & Honda
Tier D: Yamaha

Second Half (Post summer break)

Tier A: None
Tier B: Aprilia & Ducati
Tier C: KTM
Tier D: Honda & Yamaha (If Honda wins both sprint & GP in Sachsenring they'll be in Tier C. I'm assuming they won't win both)

The wrinkle: 2027 is a hard reset

Because MotoGP is switching to 850cc engines and Pirelli tyres in 2027, the concessions system doesn't carry over normally:

• Every manufacturer that raced in 2026 starts 2027 in Rank B, regardless of where they finished up. Ducati loses its Rank A restrictions; Yamaha loses its Rank D freedom. Everyone starts flat.
• Any brand new to the grid in 2027 starts in Rank D.
• Rankings get reassessed mid-2027 based only on results from the first half of that season, ignoring 2026 entirely.
• Wildcards are being abolished from 2027 onward entirely — a separate rule change from the Grand Prix Commission, applying to every manufacturer regardless of concession rank. 2026 is genuinely the last hurrah for wildcard entries in the premier class (and wildcards this year are already banned from using 2027-spec 850cc bikes).

TL;DR

Concessions = a sliding scale of technical freedom tied to how many points you're scoring, reassessed twice a year, designed to stop dominant manufacturers from running away with things. Ducati is about to lose its "no help needed" status for the first time since the system existed, Aprilia is right there with them, and the whole system gets wiped clean for the 2027 850cc era anyway — which also happens to be the end of wildcards in MotoGP for good.

This is the updated list of concessions for the second part of the season (points updated after Dutch GP 2026)

Locked in:

1. Ducati: Current concession A: For the first time since the introduction of new concessions Ducati will drop to B after summer break of 2026 . They're at 620 and they maximum they could get is 657 points which is below the required 661 mark for A.
2. Aprilia: Current concession B: Aprillia will remain in B for the rest of 2026. They don't have enough points to go to A
3. KTM: Current concession C: They will remain in C after the summer break as well
4. Yamaha: Current concession D: They will remain in D after the summer break as well

To be decided:

1. Honda: Current concession C: They will most likely be dropped to D after the summer break. They're at 237 points. They need 272 points to stay in C. Which means their top riders have to score 35 points in Sachsenring. Which means unless Honda riders win both the sprint and GP in Sachsenring they'll drop to D.

Source: Excel table I've made for all the applicable sprints and races

Holeshot devices have been banned from Assen, grid layout to change from Germany....