P1racenews AI automatic summary:
A monstrous lap from Marco Bezzecchi on the Aprilia put him top of the pile the first Friday of the 2026 MotoGP season, as Pecco Bagnaia found himself in Q1 for the Thailand GP for the second year running
At the first Friday of the 2026 MotoGP season, Marco Bezzecchi set the new best MotoGP lap of the Buriram circuit on his Aprilia, outperforming his future team-mate Pecco Bagnaia who had to compete in Q1 for the Thailand Grand Prix for the second year in a row. Fabio Di Giannantonio surprised everyone by leading the session initially but was ultimately overtaken by Bezzecchi’s incredible 1m58.526s lap time.
Despite rain affecting the track’s grip, reigning champion Marc Marquez struggled to secure a top-10 spot but eventually finished second, 0.421s behind Bezzecchi. Other notable riders in the top 10 included Di Giannantonio, KTM’s Pedro Acosta, and Jorge Martin.
Alex Marquez faced obstruction from his team-mate Michele Pirro but still comfortably made it to the top 10, securing sixth place. Honda’s Joan Mir and Johann Zarco also made the cut, along with Brad Binder and Ai Ogura, despite Ogura’s crash.
Those advancing to Q2 included Bezzecchi, M Marquez, Di Giannantonio, Acosta, Martin, A Marquez, Mir, Binder, Ogura, and Zarco. Riders who will contest Q1 included Marini, Vinales, Morbidelli, Fernandez, Bagnaia, Quartararo, Bastianini, Moreira, Miller, Rins, Razgatlioglu, and Pirro.
Bagnaia, considered to be in better form during pre-season, surprisingly struggled and finished 15th, missing out on a Q2 spot by a significant margin. Meanwhile, debutants Diogo Moreira and Toprak Razgatlioglu showed respectable performances, finishing 18th and just half a second behind Quartararo, respectively.
