MotoGP, Sportrik Media - Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia Racing carried their pre-season momentum into FP1 of the 2026 Thai Grand Prix at Buriram, reinforcing the Noale manufacturer’s strong technical baseline from last weekend’s test.
After locking out a one-two in the official test, Aprilia placed three riders inside the top four in the opening session of the season. Bezzecchi controlled the timesheets for nearly the entire outing, setting a best lap of 1m29.346s on the medium rear tyre. The benchmark was approximately seven tenths slower than his soft-rear best from testing, reflecting the shift in tyre strategy toward race-oriented data gathering under high track temperatures.
VR46 Racing Team rider Fabio Di Giannantonio emerged as the fastest Ducati representative with a 1m29.456s lap, edging ahead of Bezzecchi’s team-mate Jorge Martin. Martin was the only rider to crash during the session but avoided the implications of MotoGP’s new service-road restart regulation by keeping the engine alive after a final-corner lowside, allowing him to rejoin immediately without additional penalty.
“I felt comfortable with the bike from the beginning of the session. We focused on balance with the medium tyre and the feeling was positive,” Bezzecchi stated in an official team release.
Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura secured fourth after fitting fresh medium tyres front and rear late in the session. Meanwhile, Pedro Acosta placed his KTM Factory Racing machine fifth, ten positions ahead of the next RC16. Reigning world champion Marc Marquez finished sixth while continuing to recover physically, just ahead of Ducati Lenovo Team team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, the final rider within half a second of the session leader.
Luca Marini led the way for Honda HRC in tenth, followed by Joan Mir. Alex Rins was the leading Yamaha Factory Racing rider in 13th, with the new V4 package 0.9s off the pace, while team-mate Fabio Quartararo struggled for rear grip and ended the session 18th. Rookie Diogo Moreira was 16th, as WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu placed 21st aboard the Prima Pramac Racing machine, 1.763s from the top. The afternoon Practice session, decisive for direct Q2 qualification, is scheduled for 15:00 local time and will further define the early competitive order in Buriram.
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