Bezzecchi and Aprilia make early statement
With the MotoGP World Championship currently in the midst of a four-week break, the whole field will no doubt be looking to come out fighting at Jerez in Spain on April 24-26 as they look to halt the charge of Aprilia and, in particular, current championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
On a roll
Bezzecchi ended 2025 as the form man, taking the Grand Prix wins in Portugal and Valencia, with the Aprilia equally finishing the season as the best package on the grid. Both elements have improved further this season and, at present, they’re proving to be a tough nut to crack.
The current championship table shows Bezzecchi’s lead over team-mate Jorge Martin is just four points but that doesn’t tell the whole story as the Italian has made unforced errors in the Sprint races in both Thailand and America, crashing out early in both. Had it not been for those mistakes, both his win tally and points advantage would be significantly higher.
He’ll be kicking himself for that but despite of those crashes, Bezzecchi’s confidence is sky high at the moment and whatever the situation, he’s dealing it in a calm and measured manner. He knows he’s on the best bike, particularly over a full race distance, and he knows he can put it where he wants to and when he wants to.
The run of success on Sunday race days has seen him comfortably break Jorge Lorenzo’s record for the most consecutive laps led, which stood at 103. Bezzecchi’s new record now stands at 121 laps, and he’ll be confident of extending that record next time out.
Comeback trail
It’s not just Bezzecchi who’s making the most of Aprilia’s advantage at present with 2024 champion Martin back to his best after a torrid 12 months. The switch to Aprilia for the 2025 season couldn’t have gone any worse but the Spaniard’s comeback now looks complete.
The start to this year looked to be following a similar pattern to last though as injuries sustained in training meant he missed most of pre-season once again. Nevertheless, and despite not being 100% fit, he opened his season with solid finishes of fourth and fifth in Thailand.
Second and third was then the outcome in Brazil and the third round in America saw him back to the levels that saw him win the title two years ago, a shrewd move to go with the medium compound tyre in the Sprint race seeing him claim victory as he overhauled Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia in the closing stages.
That briefly gave him the championship lead and although he relinquished it the following day, another second place sees him occupy second place in the table. If you’d have offered him that at the start of the season, he’d have grabbed it so it’s clear the combination of Bezzecchi, Martin and Aprilia are the one to beat at present.
Despite of the strong start to the season, and the strength of the Aprilia, it seems Martin has already made his mind up of his destination in 2027 with strong rumours suggesting he’s already signed for the factory Yamaha team. At this moment in time, that looks to be a strange decision.
Acosta continues to save KTM blushes
It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was raving about the KTM with the general paddock consensus being that it was a manufacturer on the up and the bike to be on. It’s fair to say not many people will be saying that now.
Prio to Pedro Acosta’s Sprint race win at round one in Thailand, you had to go back to 30 April 2023 to find their last victory, Brad Binder winning the Sprint race in Spain. There’s been the odd flashes from the Tech3 pairing of Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini, but Binder has long been a shadow of his former self. Indeed, he’s only taken one top ten finish so far this season.
Vinales continues to be plagued by niggling injuries and whilst Bastianini had one of his best meetings in orange in America, where he claimed third in the Sprint race, if it wasn’t for Acosta, the picture would look very sorry for the Austrian manufacturer so far in 2026.
The young Spaniard sits in third in the standings at present with more points than Bastianini, Binder and Vinales combined which only serves to highlight the issues and the problems they’re currently facing. It’s long been obvious that Acosta is a special talent but it’s also clear he’s putting the KTM in places it shouldn’t really be.
His frustrations have been clear to see on more than one occasion and whilst he continues to be exciting to watch, the further the wait for a feature Grand Prix win goes on, the greater those frustrations will become. And although the season is only three of its 22 rounds old, it already looks clear that Acosta will be team-mate to Marc Marquez at Ducati next year.
Ups and downs continue at Ducati
Speaking of Marquez and Ducati, their rollercoaster season continues. The advantage Ducati have had for a long time has clearly gone but having spent more than four months on the sidelines after injuries sustained in Thailand last October, what’s also clear at present is that Marquez is still far from fit.
The strength in his arm is clearly not where it needs to be and although he’s had two Sprint podiums, including a win in Brazil, he’s yet to finish in the top three of a Grand Prix. True, fifth in America was a good effort given he had a long lap penalty to serve, and he was nursing injuries from a 190kph crash in practice, but the Austin track has one he’s previously dominated at.
He was a long way off that kind of form, and he’ll be grateful for Bezzecchi’s two crashes so far this season otherwise the 36-point deficit to the Italian would be significantly greater. The fact it’s only 36 points though will be of comfort to Marquez, and he’ll be making the most of the four-week break in the calendar.
That will give him a bit more time to heal and riders will often say the championship starts in earnest when the European section of the season gets underway, so he’ll be hoping that prophecy comes true. As his fitness improves, he’ll be hoping the Ducati does likewise with the Italian manufacturer no doubt using the break to refine and improve their package.
Marquez’ team-mate Bagnaia continues to bemuse onlookers, near the front one minute, nowhere near the next. Nowhere was this highlighted more than in America when he finished in a fine second in the Sprint race but was languishing back in tenth the following day. He’s already twenty points behind Marquez and will no doubt be already thinking of 2027 with Aprilia his expected destination.
DiGiannantonio impresses
With Marquez and Bagnaia battling their individual issues at present, and Alex Marquez not adapting to the 2026 Ducati in the same fashion that he did with the 2024 model (which took him to six podiums in the first three rounds last year and second in the championship), Ducati’s main threat at the moment is Fabio di Giannantonio.
The VR46 Racing rider is the fourth rider to be using the 2026 version of the Ducati, just rewards for his efforts in 2025, and he’s been the most consistent thus far. Two pole positions show he has blistering pace over one lap, so he’ll no doubt be disappointed to only have two podiums to his name so far this season.
He was left fuming in America when Marc Marquez took him out on the opening lap of the Sprint race (the reason for his long lap penalty) and the lack of laps and data hurt him in the feature race when he finished fourth. But if he can maintain the form, and pace, shown thus far when racing resumes in Spain, his first victory since Qatar in 2023 won’t be too far away.
Problems at Honda and Yamaha remain
One the dominant forces in MotoGP, and the 500cc Championship before that, Honda and Yamaha again find themselves at the wrong end of the pecking order in 2026, particularly Yamaha.
Reigning World Superbike Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu couldn’t have picked a worse time for making his MotoGP debut with the brand (not that he had any choice!) but a first point at Austin at least gave him a glimmer of hope. He was Yamaha’s best performer on the day but the fact no Yamaha rider has finished higher than 14th in a feature race highlights their struggles.
Honda have fared a bit better as seen in the manufacturer standings where they’ve scored 28 points to Yamaha’s nine, although this is still miles away from the tally of 101 racked up by Aprilia so far.
Luca Marini continues to score consistently with error-free performances, taking a best finish of fifth in a Sprint race, but team-mate Joan Mir only has one finish to his name from the first six races.
He’s clearly the quickest Honda rider, round on round, but the number of crashes only serves to highlight how hard he’s having to ride. Caution over valour will need to be exercised sooner rather than later otherwise the 2020 World Champion’s confidence won’t recover.