"Interesting until the end" - How the MotoGP title fight has changed in 2026

MotoGP heads into its summer break with a world championship table very different from a year ago.

After eleven rounds last season, Marc Marquez had already scored a huge 344 points and held an 83-point advantage over younger brother and closest rival Alex.

This season, factory Aprilia rider Jorge Martin leads the standings with just 208 points, while the top five riders are separated by only 24 points (see full table below).

Martin’s tally is also 208 points more than he’d managed at this stage last year, when his only appearance came in Qatar, where he was re-injured in the grand prix.

Martin aside, the biggest points improver has been Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura.

The Assen winner has scored 145 points more than at this stage of his rookie campaign to emerge as Martin's closest challenger.

Team-mate Raul Fernandez is the only other rider with a triple-digit points improvement.

At the other end of the scale, Alex Marquez has suffered the biggest drop compared to last season - 174 points - after his Catalunya injuries forced him to miss three rounds.

Reigning champion Marc Marquez is 154 points behind his own tally from the same stage in 2025 after missing Mugello following surgery to relieve a compressed nerve in his right arm.

However, since returning, the factory Ducati rider has scored more points than anyone else.

"People are making more mistakes"

“Nobody was able to be really consistent,” Alex Marquez said of the title situation heading into the summer break.

“It looks like this year is a little bit more open because people are making more mistakes compared to last year and also '24 and '23.

“It’s quite interesting. Better for the fans. But I think that nobody is putting that consistent level.

“The only one that could do it at the beginning of the season was Marco [Bezzecchi]. Unfortunately, he was injured, and he didn't have a lot of luck in these last races.

“But it will be interesting to see after the summer break which rider is able to put that consistency, which will pay off.

“Ogura has a lot of possibilities to put that consistency. And Marc too. So, we'll see.

“But still, Martin is leading. He didn't make a lot of noise, but he's there. So it will be quite interesting until the end.”

Asked who he thinks is now the favourite, Alex - who has slipped to ninth after his injuries - quipped: “For sure not me!”

In the constructors’ battle, Aprilia’s 169-point increase has largely been at the expense of Ducati.

KTM is also 40 points up on a year ago, while Honda and Yamaha (with its new V4) have both lost ground.

The constructors' scores also mean three manufacturers are set to change concession ranking for the remainder of the final season of the 1000cc era.

Although the opening eleven rounds of both seasons concluded with the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, calendar changes mean last year’s summer break didn’t begin until after the twelfth round (Brno).