Ducati relaxed about Marc Marquez’s crash-hit Buriram MotoGP test

Ducati MotoGP team boss Davide Tardozzi doesn’t believe Marc Marquez’s three crashes at the Buriram test will “influence his performance” ahead of the Thai Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion has had a mixed pre-season, as he returned from a lengthy injury spell, before battling illness last weekend at the Buriram test.

Marc Marquez also suffered three crashes across the two days of testing in Thailand, which he pinned on a lack of concentration due to his physical condition.

It meant Marquez didn’t complete a true race simulation, though Tardozzi has no doubts about where he will fold into the pecking order this week in the 2026 season-opener.

“I think that doesn’t affect Marc a lot if he crashes,” he told MotoGP’s After the Flag.

“It doesn’t have an influence on his performance.

“We know that Marc will be one of the contenders for the championship from the first race.

“But anyway, no one who will win the race here will be world champion for certain.

“So, it’s a very long championship, we have to collect points first of all.”

Despite Marquez’s crashes, he said he ended testing happy with where the GP26 was at heading into the new season.

Read more: The one big unknown that remains after MotoGP testing as 2026 season looms

Ducati is also pleased with the work it has done, in direct contrast to the difficult winter it endured this time last year.

“We are pretty happy because we confirmed a lot of things, a lot of parts, that the riders chose in Sepang,” he said.

“So, here we have the confirmation about the growth of the bike with those parts.

“We are happy about that.

“Aero and some other stuff on the chassis [were the main points], and we have the rear device too.

“So, everything is confirmed, and we are happy about that.”

Marquez was third overall at the end of the Buriram test, while team-mate Pecco Bagnaia continued to look more confident in fourth.

Neither Marc Marquez, Bagnaia, nor Alex Marquez completed a full race simulation on the final day of testing.

The Marquez brothers both suffered falls during their runs, while Bagnaia had to abandon his due to a technical issue.