2016 MotoGP season will get underway on Sunday, 20th March 2016 in Qatar but the teams will be testing as usual before the season gets underway. MotoGP however announced a few changes in the Pre-Season testing dates ahead of 2016 season. Unlike the previous seasons Malaysian Sepang circuit will only retain one leg of the first test in February while the second leg will take place in Australia. After that teams will move to Qatar where third testing session will take place in the first week of march 2016.
MotoGP Pre-Season Testing Schedule: The first test of course took place immediately after the Valencia grand prix where Lorenzo won the world title. Now Sepang will host only 1 test in 2016 and the second pre-season test is moved to Australia. Moto2 and Moto3 tests will continue to take place in Valencia and Jerez on 10-11 February, 17-19 February 2016. Below is the schedule for upcoming pre-season testing.
| CATEGORY | DATES | VENUES |
| MotoGP Winter Test | 10-11 November 2015 | Valencia, Spain |
| MotoGP First Pre-Season Test | 01-03 February 2016 | Sepang, Malaysia |
| MotoGP Second Pre-Season Test | 17-19 February 2016 | Phillip Island, Australia |
| MotoGP Third Pre-Season Test | 02-04 March 2016 | Losail, Qatar |
Changes In MotoGP 2016: Dates/Venues are the not the only changes ahead of the 2016 season. Michelin will become the new official tyre suppliers for MotoGP from 2016 taking over from “Bridgestone”. But the biggest changes is ofcourse all bikes on the grid will have same software in 2016 making even playing field to some extent. The new rules regarding “ECU software” will close the performance gap between factory and non factory bikes increasing the competitiveness in 2016 season.
After hugely successful 2015 season where Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo created so much excitement throughout the season we just hope next season turn out to be another belter.