Alex Marquez leads crash-strewn, twice red-flagged Buriram MotoGP test day one
Alex Marquez was fastest on a dramatic opening day of the final MotoGP pre-season test
Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez topped day one of the 2026 Buriram MotoGP pre-season test amid multiple crashes, including two for Marc Marquez, and a brace of red flags.
The MotoGP pre-season ahead of the 2026 campaign nears its conclusion, with the final two days of running taking place at Buriram prior to next weekend’s Thai Grand Prix.
The first day of the Buriram test saw all but Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer present, with the latter still recovering from a femur injury.
His team-mate Alex Marquez set the pace on Saturday, firing in a 1m29.262s inside the final two hours of running.
Though there were some late fast laps that threatened this, Alex Marquez ultimately held sway in the standings through to the chequered flag.
Saturday at the Buriram test proved to be a dramatic one, with two red flags bringing the action to a halt alongside a flurry of crashes.
The most significant of those fallers was reigning world champion Marc Marquez, who crashed inside the first hour of running, before taking a tumble again later in the morning at Turn 12.
The factory Ducati rider was unharmed and was able to finish the day second overall, 0.129s off his younger brother, after evaluating 2024-spec and 2025-spec aero parts.
Running was halted with around an hour and a half remaining of the day due to unsafe track conditions.
MotoGP has yet to confirm the reason for this, but it came as Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez stopped on track on the exit of Turn 3.
The session was red-flagged for a second time inside the final hour, though no reason other than ‘track conditions’ was given.
VR46 Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli completed the top three with a late 1m29.451s on his 2025-spec bike, while Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi was fourth.
Bezzecchi had a small crash during the day at Turn 3, which he said was a result of him touching a dirty patch of the circuit while on a slow lap.
Johann Zarco was the leading Honda in fifth ahead of Fernandez, while Joan Mir made a late move to seventh on the factory team RC213V.
Maverick Vinales was the top KTM in eighth ahead of VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and factory Ducati counterpart Pecco Bagnaia.
Jorge Martin was 13th on his return to riding on the factory Aprilia, while Jack Miller led the Yamaha charge in 17th for Pramac.
Team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu appeared to continue running the seat unit without rear wings and was 21st behind fellow rookie Diogo Moreira of LCR Honda.
There were crashes on Saturday for Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura and Miller, while Tech3’s Vinales appeared to suffer a mechanical issue early on.
Testing concludes on Sunday from 3am GMT.
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