Pedro Acosta and KTM lead the MotoGP World Championship for the very first time after the opening round in Thailand at the weekend, but it was Marco Bezzechi and Aprilia who won the feature race, the Italian manufacturer firing a clear shot to the rest of the field as their riders filled four of the top five places in both the Sprint and feature races.
Acosta takes early lead
This time last year Acosta was exasperated with the performance of his KTM, and it wasn’t until mid-season that he got into his stride, the second half of 2026 seeing him stand on the podium on 12 occasions.
The KTM is far from the best bike on the grid, as seen by the performances of the three other riders riding for the Austrian manufacturer, but Acosta is getting the best out of it and first and second in the two races saw him leave Thailand with a seven-point lead over Bezzechi in the championship standings.
The Sprint race was one of the best seen as Acosta and Marc Marquez battled throughout, the duo swapping places on several occasions. Acosta’s favourite overtaking point was the final corner, but when Marquez did the same on the penultimate lap, the duo ran wide and Marquez was hit with a penalty, being ordered to drop one place which he did on the final lap.
Both riders were magnanimous after the race and just as Marquez congratulated Acosta on the win, there was no doubt the latter wouldn’t have complained if he’d have finished second. That’s one of the things why Acosta is so popular as he simply likes to go racing.
He also says what he thinks so you can be sure he won’t be happy until he finally wins a feature GP race. 11 feature race podiums is just one shy of Colin Edwards’ unwanted record of having the most MotoGP podiums without having taken a victory.
Bezzechi bounces back after sprint mistake
After ending 2025 as the man to beat, Bezzechi has brought that form with him into the new year and after a strong pre-season, he was in dominant form in Thailand. Many predicted he’d come away from round one with at least one win.
The Italian, in his second season with Aprilia, had a slow start to 2025 but that’s not been the case this year and he topped the timesheets during the first two sessions of 2025. He also claimed pole position in qualifying at round one although he did suffer two falls.
That was a pre-cursor to the Sprint race where he grabbed the lead from Marc Marquez only to make a mistake immediately afterwards and crash out on just the second of 13 laps. His weekend was in danger of unravelling, but he bounced back in the feature race in superb style.
Grabbing the lead from the off, he was never headed and cleared off into the distance, eventually winning by the commanding margin of 5.543s. Counting the last two races of 2025, that made it three successive wins for the 27-year old and all the signs are there to suggest he’s going to take full advantage of Aprilia’s current advantage over the rest of the MotoGP field.
Joy all round for Aprilia
It wasn’t just Bezzechi who gave Aprilia plenty to smile about as the three other riders finished in the top five in each race, Raul Fernandez the pick of the bunch as he claimed third on each occasion.
The Spaniard’s MotoGP career had meandered its way through its first three and a half seasons, and he was in danger of losing his seat last year. But he was one of the star performers in the final third of the season, claiming a breakthrough win in Australia.
Another podium came at the final round so that, along with two Sprint rostrums, secured his future at the Trackhouse team and he’s taken full advantage of the Aprilia being the best bike on the grid. A fine third was taken in the Sprint race at Thailand with the same result coming in the feature race, no mean feat given he’d fallen in morning warm-up, injuring his shoulder in the process.
Team-mate Ai Ogura also shone, just as he had done twelve months ago, with a brace of fifths. His form tailed off last year, but the experience of his maiden campaign should stand him in good stead in his sophomore season.
And what about the forgotten man of MotoGP, Jorge Martin? After a torrid, injury hit 2025, he’s started the new season on a much better footing and although not on the same levels as Bezzechi, fourth in each race in Thailand will give him plenty of optimism.
Steady start for Marquez
On the one hand, a solitary second place finish in the Sprint race looks like it wasn’t a great weekend for reigning champion Marc Marquez. But given he hadn’t competed in a Grand Prix weekend since Indonesia at the beginning of last October, and given his arm is still far from 100%, it was a strong showing for the Ducati rider.
If he hadn’t suffered a puncture in the feature race, when third place looked to be on the cards, it could have been even better. Those results, when competing with one arm more or less tied behind his back, would have seen him leave Thailand more than happy.
As it is, he’s 23 points adrift of Acosta and all too aware of the threat posed by Bezzechi and Aprilia. But crucially, he didn’t come to grief when the tyre came off the rim after he ran off track when the puncture struck and came away uninjured and with plenty of mileage under his belt.
He now has three weeks to rest his arm further and whilst his aim in these early rounds is to maximise his points haul while working his way to 100% fitness, he’s expecting to be back challenging for the wins when the series returns to Europe at the end of April.
Issues continue for Bagnaia
After what, it has to be said, was a disastrous campaign last year, 2026 was set to be a complete reset from former double champion Francesco Bagnaia. Pre-season testing suggested that was the case as the Italian more or less matched the pace of his Ducati team-mate Marquez.
Far happier with this year’s version of the Ducati compared to last, Bagnaia looked well placed to challenge at the sharp end again.
However, Thailand didn’t pan out that way and although he didn’t finish outside the points like he did on occasions in the second half of last year, a brace of ninths isn’t what’s expected especially when his team-mate finished on the podium with a weak arm.
Bagnaia had looked strong initially in Thailand but a weak practice session, when he openly admitted he’d failed to adapt to the changing track conditions, put him into Q1 where he was unable to progress. And if you’re not in Q2 in MotoGP, the two races are always going to be a struggle.
That’s exactly what happened as he battled on the edge of the top ten in each race, also struggling with wheelspin, and whilst there’s obviously plenty of time for him to get back towards the front, it wasn’t the start to the season he’d hoped for.
Honda and Mir maintain form
Since winning the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, it hasn’t been an easy journey for Joan Mir. Third overall a year after his title success, Mir and Suzuki was the perfect fit, but when they pulled out at the end of the 2022 season, the only seat available was with Honda, the manufacturer at the bottom of most people’s preferred choices.
To his credit, he’s diligently plugged away through the darkness, even when tasting the tarmac more times than he’d care to remember. Together with team-mate Luca Marini, and test riders Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami, the Honda has improved considerably, both Mir and Marini standing on the podium in the latter half of 2025.
Mir has started this year the stronger of the two riders and ran inside the top ten throughout the Thailand weekend. Sixth in the Sprint race, he was on course to match that result on Sunday which would have represented a strong start to the season, but he too fell victim to a puncture in the closing stages.
However, in a year when engine development is frozen, ahead of the 850cc engines being introduced in 2026, it was an encouraging weekend for Mir and Honda.
Yamaha woes
If Honda have turned their fortunes around somewhat, the opposite is true for Yamaha. Last season was a struggle for the brand that won the MotoGP world title as recently as 2021 with Fabio Quartararo.
The Frenchman’s brilliance gave them some enjoyable times last year, including podiums and pole positions when neither looked possible. But switching to the all-new V4 Yamaha has seen them go backwards considerably.
The decision to go with the V4 seems a strange decision given there’s only one year left of the 990cc machines. One can’t help but think they’d have been better off continuing with the inline four for one final year and plough all development into the 850cc model which will be used from 2027 onwards.
Results would still have been far from ideal, but they couldn’t have been worse than what we saw in Thailand, particularly in the Sprint race when the four riders – Quartararo, Alex Rins, Jack Miller and series rookie and three-time World Superbike Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu – circulated in close formation at the rear of the field.
Miller was the best placed rider in the Sprint, 15th, with Quartararo picking up two points for 14th the following day albeit some 30.8s adrift of race winner Bezzechi after 26 laps. Razgatlioglu crashed in the Sprint and then finished 17th, just over eight seconds behind Quartararo.
This year was always meant to be preparation ahead of the 850cc machines and Pirelli tyres, but the Turkish rider must already be wondering what he’s let himself in for.