Ducati’s Thai MotoGP disaster was better than it looked, but more pain to come
When MotoGP ended its pre-season this time last year, there were quite a few in the paddock declaring that Ducati was in trouble. It had abandoned its full 2025 engine concept after an uncertain testing phase on it, while the GP25 in general was proving to be a bit hit and miss with most of its riders.However, once racing got underway, Ducati eased into the new year. It swept both races in Thailand, which acted as a prelude to its second-most dominant campaign ever in the premier class.Ironically, the GP26 seemingly had a much more promising start to life in testing this winter, with new championship leader Pedro Acosta warning after the Buriram test that Ducati was looking “even more dominant” than it did last season.Yet, as the dust settles on a dramatic opening chapter to the new season, alarm bells are beginning to sound that Ducati may well actually be on the back foot.Aprilia has had a good pre-season, ending the Buriram test fastest outright. Marco Bezzecchi carried that form into the Thai Grand Prix weekend, cleaning up in practice, snatching pole and setting his intentions clearly at the start of the sprint. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTHe would crash out of the lead on lap two, a re-evaluation of the fall by the Italian revealing to him that he simply pushed too hard, which was a product of some nerves at that stage. The speed was there, but a question mark hung over his resolve. He was strong in the second half of last season, but his late-campaign surge came with Marc Marquez absent through injury.Sunday’s blisteringly hot 26-lap grand prix was poised to offer a bit of an answer of whether or not he could actually take command of a race and fend off Marquez, who started alongside him on the grid.Bezzecchi nailed his launch to seize the lead, instantly building up a gap of 0.737s on the first tour as the group behind him sorted itself out. By the end of lap two, he was 1.004 seconds ahead of the field. On lap four, that gap stood at 1.079s and would never dip under a second again as he ultimately eased to a victory margin of 5.543s.It picked up exactly where Aprilia left off at the end of 2025, with Bezzecchi the brand’s first rider to win three successive grands prix. Perhaps more impressively, he was around 16 seconds quicker than his race time from last year’s Thai Grand Prix, when he was sixth and almost 15s off the race-winning Ducati of Marc Marquez.LapsMB72 (S/M)PA37 (S/M)RF25 (S/M)21m30.703s1m31.235s1m30.97s330.65630.92330.627430.68430.89330.788530.48730.65730.689630.59730.91430.647731.08331.01630.914830.74430.98630.807930.53931.20430.9331030.76831.62231.0071131.11530.98231.0781231.00331.10831.0231330.98231.01231.3361431.19731.04131.4221531.16531.0831.6071631.17631.30231.3811731.19331.53931.4951831.35231.25631.5571931.34431.22831.8262031.74131.63332.2482131.77332.12132.3142232.03532.41532.4492332.1532.13633.1842432.59232.95633.5172533.43533.43134.1782634.23133.72335.27 Average pace1m31.390s1m31.537s1m31.731s Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTAprilia’s efforts over the winter have been impressive, given the relatively small box most manufacturers are working within ahead of the 2027 regulations overhaul. Maybe the most striking result of its work is its ‘f-duct’ aero update, which is 16-year-old Formula 1 technology designed to gain a little top speed in a straight line.Bezzecchi’s dominance at Buriram certainly wasn’t solely down to the impressive aero concept, which other manufacturers will have to burn through their one allowed update this season if they have designs on introducing their own; something not so easy to justify with a looming rule change on the horizon.The 2026 RS-GP continues to have immense cornering, with Bezzecchi particularly fast through Buriram’s right-handers. It was so good, in fact, that he joked on Saturday after his sprint crash that it turns just a little too well. The bike remains stable under braking, while the entire package seems to allow Aprilia riders to get more out of the unusually stiff rear tyre carcass Michelin brings to Buriram to cope with the heat.“Simulations said we had this kind of improvement; we didn’t believe this kind of simulation,” Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola said of Bezzecchi’s performance at the Thai Grand Prix. In fact, he felt that half of the 16-second race time gain that its programmes predicted would be a good result.It’s an impressive step for a brand whose bike previously used to literally burn its riders at Buriram, and had never been competitive enough to get onto the podium until last weekend’s 2026 season-opener. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Marco Bezzecchi, 2026 Thai MotoGP (Gold&Goose). © Gold and Goose Aprilia has taken more out of Ducati than expected at this stageMuch of the credit for Aprilia’s current position goes to Fabiano Sterlacchini, who took over as technical director last season. At this stage of the season, and it’s an admittedly early one, it is safe enough to say that Ducati has finally been caught.The pre-season pace it had vanished at Buriram. And, troublingly, Ducati doesn’t seem to have any idea as to why.“In the end, there is something strange that this weekend we found the bike [to be] completely different from the previous one when we were here for the test; that’s something we still haven’t understood,” said Davide Tardozzi.Pecco Bagnaia, who was on the podium at Buriram last year, failed to make it out of Q1 in qualifying, and could do no better than eighth in the grand prix - 18.340s off the lead. The double world champion, who spent the entire pre-season with a permanent smile on his face, believed the podium was the minimum target coming into the race weekend. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTBut the GP26 just didn’t work as expected. It didn’t stop as well, it didn’t turn as well and just didn’t have the same performance as it had in the tests. Bagnaia took on a lot of the blame for his own struggles, noting that he didn’t adapt well to the conditions. He still feels there is potential in the bike, but was pretty blunt in his assessment: “They [Aprilia] managed to figure something out and took a step forward, while we took a step back.”Gresini’s Alex Marquez, who crashed while fighting nowhere near the podium he expected, felt similar to Bagnaia. But Marc Marquez proved there is form in the bike, even in less-than-ideal circumstances.He narrowly missed out on pole, was on course for a win in the sprint but for a penalty for an overly aggressive overtake on Pedro Acosta, and should have been on the podium in the grand prix but for a terrifyingly unlucky wheel failure due to a kerb strike at Turn 4 in the closing stages while running fourth.Marquez made a steady start to the race, but did so while trying to protect the physical condition of his right shoulder. At present, he’s not yet clear on what 100% fitness in it looks like. And Tardozzi conceded earlier in the weekend that Marquez was at a physical disadvantage through right-handers.Beating Bezzecchi was never on the cards; his pace was too good. But Marquez’s pace did eventually pick up and was right on par with the runaway leader, as well as KTM’s Acosta, who would finish second. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTAfter 20 laps - one before Marquez retired - his average pace worked out at 1m31.210s, relative to 1m31.138s for Acosta and 1m30.975s. With Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez fading late on with tyre wear, third was a very realistic target for the factory Ducati rider, who - along with most of his stablemates - believes the brand’s form was dictated by the stiffer rear tyre carcass.“We need to work well, we need to work hard, but no panic,” he said. “Here it’s a different [tyre] casing, it’s a different tyre. Let’s see the next races. Of course, we need to work, we cannot sleep.” Marco Bezzecchi, Marc Marquez, 2026 Thai MotoGP © Gold & Goose Why Ducati’s Buriram woes may persist in BrazilDucati couldn’t really have seen its 88-race podium streak snapped in a more humbling way. But, as Marquez’s weekend proved, it’s not the disaster it first looked. Had it not been for a technical issue, too, VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio may well have helped prove that point.The Italian had Aprilia-matching race pace during Friday practice and is about the only Ducati rider who leaves Buriram genuinely buzzing about his weekend. But he couldn’t do much more than sixth, 16.845s off the win, as Ducati’s leading runner in the grand prix, as he battled an unwell bike. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTThe upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix on 20-22 March comes with it the chance for Ducati to reset, given everyone’s lack of experience at the circuit. The last time we visited a new venue - Hungary’s Balaton Park last summer - Ducati cleaned up with Marquez.That said, Michelin has now confirmed it will stick with the same stiffer rear tyre carcass as used in Buriram due to the lap being fast and featuring over 50 seconds of running on the right side of the tyre.Right-dominated circuits are Marquez’s weakest in the wake of his serious arm injury in 2020, with his shoulder injury from last year not helping this.For Ducati, another weekend on the stiff rear carcass threatens a repeat of Buriram. It’s a tyre the GP25s struggled hugely on at the Indonesian Grand Prix, though Fermin Aldeguer dominated on the Gresini-run GP24. And in Austria, where that tyre is also used, Marquez won from Aldeguer in the grand prix.It has worked for Ducati in the past, but clearly Aprilia is able to make better use of it. Perhaps the lack of data compared to the Thai Grand Prix will limit Aprilia’s advantage and bring Ducati closer to the fore. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTEqually, however, if it’s unable to figure out why its form dipped the way it did at the same circuit, on the same tyres, from the test to the race, it faces a repeat of the same set-up struggles it experienced in Indonesia last season.Already, then, Ducati is facing a start to the season where it simply has to survive before it can get back to circuits and conventional tyre casings that should suit it more.However, with the pace that Aprilia has shown from the outset, Ducati is likely going to have to dig deeper than it had planned to develop the GP26 into something that can deliver it another world championship in the final year of the 1000cc regulations…Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter
