What you need to know ahead of 2026 MotoGP season

Ducati still arrives at round one as the benchmark, but Buriram suggests the margin has tightened. The GP26 looks like a more consistent package and while Aprilia grabbed plenty of attention on the timesheets, Ducati GP26 riders still had numbers everywhere, with Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia, Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio all showing speed across the test. Pecco’s race-sim average of 1m30.276s over 13 laps was second only to Ai Ogura’s Aprilia-backed number, which backs up the visual impression that he is in much better shape than this time last year.

Bagnaia’s jovial demeanour and positive comments about improved front-end feeling mean Ducati appears to have found a solution to his 2025 struggles. Marc, meanwhile, had a messy test on paper with three crashes, all while trail braking, including a fall during his race simulation. Even so, he said the feeling, time attack and race pace were good. Add in a stomach bug and a shoulder issue and his Buriram results are more circumstantial than worrying.

And with Pecco tipped to be Aprilia-bound in 2027, it’ll be interesting to see what a competitive teammate with plenty to prove will do to Marc’s approach. Marc himself named Marco Bezzecchi, Pecco and Alex as his main threats.

Aprilia leaves Buriram with the strongest timesheet case of any manufacturer, notable because neither Sepang nor Buriram has traditionally flattered the RS-GP. Marco Bezzecchi getting under the Buriram lap-record benchmark in testing was a statement, but the bigger story is the spread of speed across the marque.

The race-simulation top 10 is the clearest example. Ai Ogura topped the list at 1m30.101s over 12 laps, Bezzecchi backed it up with a 1m30.454s average over 20 laps, Jorge Martin posted 1m30.497s over 12 and Raul Fernandez added 1m30.573s over 11. Four Aprilias in the top 10 race simulations point to a genuinely competitive package rather than a single-rider outlier.

Martin says he’s finally able to brake the way he wants, meaning his qualifying pace should be there and his race craft already is. Bezzecchi looks every bit a title threat on this evidence and Ogura’s pace suggests podiums are not a stretch call if race weekends unfold cleanly. Aprilia may not yet be the default favourite, but it is no longer playing catch-up.

The only non-Ducati or -Aprilia rider in the top nine, Pedro Acosta was the standout KTM in both outright pace and race-simulation form, backing up his single-lap speed with a 1m30.516s average. The catch is the lap count: that run was only seven laps, so it is a strong signal for sprint-style pace but not enough to fully map full-distance tyre behaviour.

What is encouraging is Acosta said the factory has managed to improve rear tyre life, something it struggled with in 2025, thanks to updates around rear aero, a reshaped seat unit and rear swingarm, which aligns with the long-running KTM challenge of turning speed into race pace.

“I will be happy if we are in the top 5 for the first race of the year,” Acosta said.

While Acosta looks capable of being a regular top-five rider and a podium threat on the right weekends, there’s uncertainty in the rest of the KTM camp. Maverick Viñales is leaning towards using last year’s technical package, and with Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini finishing 12th and 18th, it raises questions about how complete the 2026 bike really is.

Honda may not have topped the test, but Buriram offered one of the most encouraging signs the project has produced in a while. Compared with late 2025, when Joan Mir was forced to ride over the limit, resulting in a crash-strewn season, he now says the improvements have given him some usable margin. For a rider who has spent too much time asking for stability and confidence, that is a major step.

While Mir finished the Buriram test in 10th, three places ahead of factory teammate Luca Marini, Marini’s 1m30.582s over 14 laps and Johann Zarco’s 1m30.795s over 18 laps put both Hondas in the race-sim top 10 and on meaningful lap counts, suggesting the RC213V can now circulate at race pace for longer runs, at least at Buriram.

Technically, Honda is noticeably the shortest bike on the grid, presumably looking for agility, and while team boss Alberto Puig confirmed Honda has made a big step, he conceded Ducati and Aprilia have too. Losing concessions for 2026 adds pressure because the recovery window narrows from here. Still, this test looked like progress with evidence behind it.

Yamaha’s Buriram picture is the hardest to dress up and the honest read is that the V4 project is still early. It is the only manufacturer still with D-rank concessions and the maximum development freedom, which tells you where the programme sits. Sepang was difficult and Thailand did not provide a turnaround.

The race-run deficit is around 1.5–2 seconds versus race-winner expectations and all four riders finished between 16th and 21st in combined times. Fabio Quartararo flipping the bird to his new YZR-M1 speaks volumes.

“We can see we are seven, eight tenths slower than last year’s race simulation … but I think it’s a long process and we need a few more months to be ready … of course, the power is not there, but for me the weakest point is that I’m not able to turn, I’m not able to really make lap times smoothly.”

That leaves Yamaha with a difficult short-term balance. Quartararo is in his prime and wants results now, but the project needs patience. For rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu, it is an even steeper start: new tyres, a new bike and a machine still in development.