Marco Bezzecchi dominates Thai MotoGP, Marc Marquez suffers scary puncture
Marco Bezzecchi eased to a first win of the 2026 MotoGP season in Thailand
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi dominated the 2026 MotoGP Thai Grand Prix from pole, as Marc Marquez suffered a terrifying puncture late on.
Having threatened all weekend to kick off the 2026 season with a victory, Marco Bezzecchi was dealt a blow on Saturday when he fell from the lead of the sprint.
But he corrected this on Sunday, grabbing the holeshot from pole and easing away to the first win of the new campaign by over five seconds.
Bezzecchi was never challenged in the 26-lap grand prix, with Pedro Acosta seizing the lead in the standings after finishing second for KTM.
Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez completed the podium despite his pace dropping off a cliff in the latter stages, with Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura making it four RS-GPs in the top five.
Ducati, by contrast, suffered a shocker, as its 88-race podium streak ended dismally.
Having been off the pace from the start, Marc Marquez still looked like third was possible when his rear tyre suffered an apparent failure going through Turn 4 on lap 21.
Nearly thrown from his Ducati GP26, Marquez came away unscathed, though Michelin appeared to have more tyre woes a few laps later when Honda’s Joan Mir retired with a suspected puncture.
Ducati’s top rider was VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, 16.8s off the lead in sixth.
After just two laps of the race, Bezzecchi had built up a lead of a second over Fernandez, who scythed past Marc Marquez at Turn 7 on the opening lap.
Martin made it an Aprilia 1-2-3 with a move on Marquez at the end of lap one, before Acosta worked his way past the Ducati at Turn 12 on lap four.
Acosta engaged Martin at the end of lap eight, but ran wide at Turn 12 trying to execute a pass, and did the same thing moments later at Turn 3.
A carbon copy of his failed Turn 12 overtake repeated at the end of lap nine, before he made a move stick at Turn 3 on the 10th tour.
Marquez briefly slipstreamed his way by both Martin and Acosta on the run into Turn 4, though Acosta quickly struck back at Turn 8 to take third again.
At the front, Bezzecchi’s lead was quickly heading towards two seconds, while Martin began to drop away from the podium scrap.
Acosta and Marquez began to reel Fernandez in as he hit grip troubles in the latter stages, though the reigning champion dropped out of the contest on lap 21.
Fernandez finally succumbed to Acosta’s pressure on lap 23, with Bezzecchi easing to the chequered flag to become the first Aprilia rider to win three races in a row by 5.543s.
Acosta leads the standings by seven points leaving Thailand.
Martin held onto fourth on the sister factory team Aprilia, as Ogura marched through to fifth by the end of the race.
Di Giannantonio fended off KTM’s Brad Binder to take top Ducati honours in sixth, while Franco Morbidelli on the second VR46 Ducati took eighth from Pecco Bagnaia at the final corner.
Luca Marini was the top Honda in 10th, with LCR’s Johann Zarco close behind, while Tech3’s Enea Bastianini, LCR rookie Diogo Moreira, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and his team-mate Alex Rins took the final points.
Toprak Razgatlioglu ended his first MotoGP grand prix 17th ahead of Pramac team-mate Jack Miller, while Gresini’s Alex Marquez was a late crasher.
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