Winners and Losers: MotoGP 2026 Thailand Grand Prix
- Silvia Cojocaru
- 3h
- 4 min read
Written by Silvia Cojocaru, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
MotoGP returned to the track with a thrilling race in Thailand! Here are the winners and losers from the opening race weekend of 2026:
Winner: Pedro Acosta
Leader in the standings after the first round of the season, Pedro Acosta claimed his first win in a sprint race and finished second in the Grand Prix.
Acosta’s weekend was marked by multiple encounters with the reigning world champion, with the two Spaniards changing position seven times in the sprint race. His result on Saturday came amid controversy after Marc Márquez was penalised on the last lap of the sprint following their on-track dispute.
Acosta redeemed himself on Sunday, winning out in multiple thrilling battles with the likes of Marc Márquez, Jorge Martín and Raúl Fernández to finish as the only non-Aprilia rider in the top five.
A promising weekend for the young rider who will be looking to claim his first Grand Prix win this season, as he now claimed 11 podium finishes without a win.
Winner: Aprilia Racing
Aprilia seemed to have established themselves as the team to beat after the first race of the season, with both riders proving extremely competitive. Marco Bezzecchi set the track record in qualifying and looked the favourite to win the sprint, but an unfortunate crash took him out of the race.
The Italian rider returned with a dominant win on Sunday, finishing almost five seconds clear of the rest of the grid and becoming the first Aprilia rider to claim three consecutive Grand Prix wins.
Meanwhile, Martín had a consistent weekend, finishing fifth in the sprint and fourth in the main race. These results are especially impressive considering that the Spaniard was out for most of last season and was also unable to take part in the Buriram test. The 2024 world champion seemed to have returned to form, ready to fight for wins.
Winner: Trackhouse Team
The Trackhouse team had one of their best weekends so far, with Fernández claiming a double podium and Ai Ogura matching his best result from last year by finishing fifth in the Grand Prix.
The Japanese rider also impressed on Saturday, finishing fourth in the sprint and battling the likes of Martín, Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Trackhouse now stand third in the Teams’ Championship, just three points off Aprilia Racing and 20 points clear of Pertamina Enduro VR46. A more than promising start for the team, as they would be looking to repeat Fernández’s impressive Grand Prix victory from last season.
Losers: Ducati
While it was clear Aprilia would become a threat to the 2025 team champions, Ducati experienced an unfortunate start to their season, with KTM also entering the title fight early on.
Saturday was promising for the reigning world champion who brought his team to the second step of the podium in the sprint after a controversial penalty. The Spaniard showed great pace and seemed ready to challenge Bezzecchi and Acosta for the win on Sunday.
However, Marc Márquez struggled in the main race, being overtaken by Acosta, Martín and Fernández while Bezzecchi distanced himself from the rest of the group. Later on, on Lap 20, the Spaniard suffered a seemingly inexplicable rear tyre puncture that took him out of the race entirely.
Bagnaia wasn’t any luckier, being unable to qualify into Q2 and finishing ninth in both the feature race and the sprint.
These results also ended Ducati’s four-year streak of podium appearances in MotoGP, a remarkable run stretching all the way back to the 2021 British Grand Prix, 88 races ago.
Losers: Yamaha
With KTM joining Ducati and Aprilia in their race for performance, Yamaha look to be out of contention.
On Saturday, the best classified Yamaha rider was Jack Miller, all the way back in 15th place, while on Sunday Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins helped their team leave Thailand with three points by finishing in 14th and 15th respectively.
What is certain after this first weekend is that Yamaha will need to make some changes if they are to take the fight to the manufacturers in front.
Loser: Álex Márquez
After finishing as a runner up in the 2025 season, expectations were high for Álex Márquez’s performance in the opening race. However, the Spaniard disappointed in Thailand, finishing 11th in the sprint and crashing out of the race on Lap 21.
Álex Márquez leaves the first round of the season with zero points, seemingly out of the form that brought him his first Grand Prix win last season, the Spaniard will be looking to improve in the following races.
Bonus winner: MotoGP fans!
Racing in MotoGP is back with a full exciting season of racing ahead. Tune in to the Brazilian Grand Prix on the 22nd of March at 14.00 GMT for even more action!
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