Never underestimate Marc Marquez: the champion prepares a counterattack

Bezzecchi flies at Buriram, but Marquez is the “best of the rest”: someone like him should never be counted out from the start.

Right now he isn’t the favorite to win the 2026 Thai Grand Prix, but Marc Marquez and the Ducati Lenovo team will do everything they can to close the gap to Marco Bezzecchi, who with the Aprilia RS-GP26 looked superior in today’s MotoGP sessions. The nine-time world champion ended the day with the second fastest time on the timesheets, though conceding over four tenths to the Italian, who knows full well he can never be underestimated.

At the end of the day Marquez summed things up, confirming that once again in 2026 at Buriram he feels better on used tires: “I feel much better on old tires than on new ones. It happened last year too,” he told Motosan, “but even more so now, because with these tires the bike seems to require less physical effort and… I like it, I prefer it this way. But it’s true that in the time attack we need to be precise and aggressive because qualifying is important.”

At the end of the day Marquez summed things up, confirming that once again in 2026 at Buriram he feels better on used tires: “I feel much better on old tires than on new ones. It happened last year too,” he told Motosan, “but even more so now, because with these tires the bike seems to require less physical effort and… I like it, I prefer it this way. But it’s true that in the time attack we need to be precise and aggressive because qualifying is important.”

The Spanish rider knows what he’s missing to be more competitive with the Ducati Desmosedici GP26 and will work with the team to improve in FP2: “This morning in the first stint,” he recounts, “I was quite consistent for seven or eight laps. And this afternoon, in the first stint on the medium tires, I was consistent again. So we need to find the best setup. In the sprint race we will see that consistency will be crucial. For now, the goal is to start on the front row and try to take the podium in the sprint.”

Speaking about Bezzecchi, Marc can only acknowledge that he is the rider to beat at this first 2026 GP in Thailand: “We need to understand well, because he was already super fast at Mandalika. It seems that for some reason he manages to be super consistent and very fast on a single lap; he simply has more speed. It’s true that for now I haven’t been able to follow him, but we’ll see if I can stick with him for a few laps tomorrow in the sprint, because for now he’s the favorite.”