Winners and losers from MotoGP’s season-opening Thailand Grand Prix

Following a long winter break, MotoGP returned to action for the opening round of the 2026 MotoGP season.

The sprint race produced an instant classic, featuring an epic duel between MotoGP’s elder statesman and the relatively newer kid on the block. The Sunday race, in contrast, was completely one-sided, but the battle for the final two podium spots kept the tension high.

Three manufacturers now appear to be at the front, but another that dominated MotoGP for so long faces a long road to recovery.

Here are the winners and losers from the MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix.

Winners: Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Marco Bezzecchi’s brilliant victory in the Thailand Grand Prix was a statement of intent. Fastest in Friday practice, fastest in qualifying and fastest in the race; Bezzecchi was nearly untouchable all weekend. Outside of the sprint, where he let go of a likely victory with a crash, there was never any point where he didn’t seem to be in control at Buriram.

Bezzecchi had already emerged as the reference rider on the grid in the final part of the 2025 season, but with Marc Marquez absent for much of that period, it was difficult to measure his level against the grid’s ultimate benchmark. Although the Ducati rider was not yet back to full fitness last weekend, the Thai round offered the clearest indication yet that Bezzecchi has the pace to outgun the seven-time champion. If there is a weakness, it is his aggression and the mistakes he makes under pressure.

Thailand also marked the first time that all four Aprilias finished near the front of the pack. After a 2025 season in which Noale’s riders squandered so many opportunities, the quartet finally repaid the engineering team led by Fabiano Steralacchini. Jorge Martin returned to podium contention, Raul Fernandez continued to build on his form from last year and Ai Ogura has upped his expectations so much that he feels disappointed with fifth. Aprilia now has both the riders and the machinery for a sustained title challenge.

Losers: Marc Marquez and Ducati

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

This weekend may not provide the most accurate reading of the pecking order in MotoGP, but it certainly showed that Ducati would face its toughest fight since its dominant era began in the early 2020s. Just two years ago, the Borgo Panigale marque was so far ahead of the competition that it won all but one grand prix. Even when Aprilia emerged as a stronger challenge last year, one of the Ducati riders somehow found a way to finish on the podium. At Buriram, however, sixth-place was all it could muster after being on the back foot all weekend.

Ducati’s biggest star Marc Marquez might have nicked the third spot on the podium but for the sudden wheel rim failure that sent him out of the race. Still not fully recovered from last year’s Mandalika injury, Marquez pulled together an incredible lap to qualify just 0.035s behind polesitter Bezzecchi, but was fuming when he left the track on Saturday after being asked to give back the lead to Pedro Acosta in the sprint. On Sunday, he was no match for Bezzecchi or Acosta, but could have pounced on a struggling Raul Fernandez in the closing stages of the race.

More concerning was the broader picture, with Francesco Bagnaia enduring another subdued weekend and Alex Marquez scoring zero points. Even Fabio di Giannantonio could not convert his speed into a headline result.

Winners: Pedro Acosta and factory KTM

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Pedro Acosta has come of age. Having already taken the fight to Marc Marquez in his rookie season, the KTM rider proved more than a match to the veteran in Buriram as he began his third year in MotoGP in style. Despite his previous tendency to make mistakes, Acosta didn’t suffer a crash during testing or the opening grand prix weekend. A first win for him had been long overdue, and what was incredible was the way he achieved it.

The KTM RC16 has certainly improved over the winter, but Acosta had to dig deep to secure the sprint win against Marquez. Even on Sunday when other riders struggled with tyre wear issues, the Spaniard managed to bring the bike home in second to complete his best weekend in MotoGP. Buriram showed exactly why he is hailed as a generational talent and Marquez should certainly be worried about his likely 2027 team-mate.

KTM will also take encouragement from Brad Binder’s performance, as the South African is slowly rediscovering his mojo after a tough 2025 season. While still a step behind his younger team-mate, the South African got it right in practice to earn a direct passage into Q2 and used his usual racecraft to bring home a solid haul of points on both days.

Losers: Maverick Vinales and Tech3

Maverick Vinales, Red Bull KTM Tech 3

While KTM celebrated its first MotoGP victory of any kind since Brad Binder’s triumph at the Jerez sprint in 2023, the atmosphere couldn’t be any different in the Tech3 garage. Both Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales were outgunned by the factory Yamahas in the sprint, while the grand prix offered little respite to the French team.

Bastianini did come away with a 12th-place finish after retirements for the Marquez brothers and Mir, which wasn’t exactly a disaster after an underwhelming showing in pre-season testing. However, Vinales was completely baffled as his Thai GP weekend failed to live up to his pre-season promise.

The Spaniard struggled from a lack of front grip all weekend, despite throwing everything at solving the problem. In fact, according to Vinales, his situation became worse every day, as the grip improved every time MotoGP bikes took to the track. This problem cost him too much time in the middle of the corners, and after dropping positions at the start, he could never recover to finish inside the points.

Whether the issue was caused by Michelin’s special tyre carcass for Thailand, his riding style or his own seating position, Vinales doesn’t think he will have an answer until the next round in Brazil.

Winner: Joan Mir

Joan Mir, Honda HRC

Joan Mir carried the Honda factory at Buriram, even though his performances largely went under the radar. The 2020 world champion has steadily rebuilt his confidence ever since Honda brought a major update in the middle of last season. He carried the same form into the Buriram opener, earning a straight entry into Q2 and lapping only a tenth and a half behind Alex Marquez. In the sprint, he maximised the bike’s potential to grab seventh, just three tenths slower than the KTM of Brad Binder.

But the main-distance race, however, was where he really stood out. At a circuit that has traditionally exposed Honda’s weaknesses, Mir dispatched Alex Marquez early on and conserved his tyres enough to clear another GP26, that of Fabio di Giannantonio. After Marc Marquez’s retirement, he was on course for fifth until tyre issues made it too “dangerous” to continue.

With Luca Marini finishing only 10th on the best of the remaining Hondas, Mir once again underlined his value to the Japanese manufacturer. With only one HRC rider expected to keep his seat next year, performances of this calibre will strengthen his hand in his contract negotiations with the team.

Loser: Yamaha

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Yamaha was braced for a tough start to the 2026 MotoGP season, but the Thailand opener laid bare the challenge it faces this year. Yamaha didn’t even allow any of its four riders to take part in their post-race interviews, with team boss Paolo Pavesio instead facing the media – showing how seriously the manufacturer viewed the situation.

Star rider Fabio Quartararo had already warned that the V4-powered M1 was slower than its predecessor in testing, but the Buriram weekend provided a clearer indication of the gap to the front. In qualifying, Yamaha was about a second off the pace, but that deficit grew further in race trim.

In Saturday’s half-distance race, the top Yamaha finished 13.5s behind the winner, while the gap ballooned to nearly 31 seconds in the grand prix. Worse still, the riders felt that the manufacturer had made little progress between testing and the sprint race.

If the engine were the only limiting factor, Yamaha could have been optimistic about its prospects for the start of the European leg in the summer. But with the rest of the bike no match to the competition either, it faces a long road back to competitiveness.

Yamaha was almost lucky that it accrued three points at Buriram. Without the tyre issues leading to two retirements, 16th was the best it could have achieved in Thailand.