08:38
Marc Marquez not improving
Marc Marquez is still stuck in 12th! Many riders are fast in the first sector but then losing time in the others, presumably due to rain drops.
Marc Marquez, Buriram 2026
© Gold & Goose
2026 Thai MotoGP, Buriram - Friday practice as it happened
Live updates from Friday practice at the 2026 Thai MotoGP season-opener at Buriram.
KEY MOMENTS:
- Marco Bezzecchi leads MotoGP FP1 at Buriram.
- Jorge Martin becomes the first faller of the 2026 season.
- Three Aprilias in the top four.
- PICS: Frustrated Quartararo shreds tyre in practice start.
- Rain flags in afternoon Practice.
- Marco Bezzecchi defies the weather to break the lap record.
- Francesco Bagnaia in Qualifying 1.
- 2026 Thai MotoGP, Buriram: Friday Practice Results.
The 2026 MotoGP season begins with a pair of Friday practice sessions for the Thai Grand Prix at Buriram.
Last weekend’s pre-season test at the same circuit ended with Marco Bezzecchi on top of the timesheets from fellow Aprilia rider Ai Ogura.
Reigning champion Marc Marquez and factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia followed, with Gresini Ducati’s title runner-up Alex Marquez completing the top five.
The Aprilias will certainly be hoping history repeats itself, with last year’s Buriram test top five forming the final world championship top five, in the same order…
Marc Marquez took a perfect double victory from pole position on his factory Ducati debut a year ago, despite a tyre pressure scare early in the grand prix.
However, the nine-time world champion suffered three falls during this year’s test, when he was also battling sickness, and will be competing in his first grand prix event since sustaining shoulder injuries at Mandalika last October.
While Ducati and Aprilia looked closely matched at the sharp end of the testing timesheets, Pedro Acosta again led the KTM challenge in sixth.
Honda rounded out the top ten with Joan Mir while Yamaha was a best of 16th, with all four M1 riders - Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins, Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlioglu - predicting a tough weekend for the underpowered V4’s full-time debut.
Reigning World Superbike champion Razgatlioglu will battle reigning Moto2 champion Diogo Moreira for rookie of the year honours, with the Brazilian almost one-second faster than the Pramac rider at the end of testing.
Friday’s MotoGP action begins with a 45-minute free practice, followed by an hour-long after Practice, where the top then riders will receive the all-important direct access to Saturday morning’s Qualifying 2.
Friday schedule:
10:45am (local) / 03:45m (UK) - MotoGP FP1
3:00pm (local) / 8:00am (UK) - MotoGP Practice
Saturday schedule:
10:10am (local) / 03:10am (UK) - MotoGP FP2
10:50am (local) / 03:50am (UK) - MotoGP Qualifying
3:00pm (local) / 8:00am (UK) - MotoGP Sprint
Sunday schedule:
10:40am (local) / 03:40pm (UK) - MotoGP Warm-up
3:00pm (local) / 7:00am (UK) - Thai MotoGP
27 Feb 2026
08:38
Marc Marquez wide
Marc Marquez runs wide, probably caught out by the spots, the cameras cut to a tense Davide Tardozzi on the pit wall. Both his riders are currently out of Qualifying 2.
08:36
Rain flags
Some marshal posts are now waving rain flags.
08:35
Fernandez in, Zarco out
The track is still in a good condition with Raul Fernandez breaking into the top ten with seventh, pushing Johann Zarco to 11th.
08:33
Marc Marquez heads out
Marc Marquez leaves the pits on a new soft rear. But will the rain hold off for long enough?
08:32
Qualifying 2 riders as the dark clouds gather
- Fabio di Giannantonio
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Alex Marquez
- Ai Ogura
- Luca Marini
- Joan Mir
- Pedro Acosta
- Franco Morbidelli
- Jorge Martin
- Johann Zarco
Marc Marquez is currently 12th and Francesco Bagnaia just 18th. A huge thunderstorm look likely to erupt at any moment.
08:30
Joan Mir into 6th
Joan Mir is already on track with fresh rubber and puts his Honda into sixth.
08:29
Marc Marquez in the danger zone
With the sky getting darker, Marc Marquez has now been pushed outside the top ten. Ducati will surely send him out for a time attack ASAP to ensure a top ten place.
08:26
Razgatlioglu's rear aero
Pramac Yamaha's Gino Borsoi explains that Toprak Razgatlioglu has gone back to a 'normal' MotoGP set-up, which is also allowing him to use the rear aero without height-limit issues.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Thai MotoGP
© Gold & Goose
08:23
Rain spots
37mins to go and rain spots are reported to be falling again...
08:19
Bagnaia wide
Francesco Bagnaia, down in 17th on the soft tyres, runs wide at the final corner after struggling to stop his factory Ducati. The Italian is 1.190s behind di Giannantonio.
08:18
Fantastic images from Buriram this afternoon!
08:16
The top ten
The top ten after 15 of 60 mins:
- Fabio di Giannantonio
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Alex Marquez
- Ai Ogura
- Pedro Acosta
- Franco Morbidelli
- Jorge Martin
- Johann Zarco
- Luca Marini
- Marc Marquez
The top eight are using soft tyres, front and rear, with Marini and Marc Marquez on a soft front and medium rear tyre.
08:15
Ducati on top
Fabio di Giannantonio continues his fast run and puts his factory-spec GP26 on top of the timesheets by just 0.001s from Marco Bezzecchi.
08:12
Mir stoppie
Joan Mir, who ran off after getting out of shape under braking this morning, does a big stoppie behind Marc Marquez. Mir is pushing the RC213V to the limit in the braking zones.
Mir's team-mate Luca Marini is the only rider currently faster than Marc Marquez on the medium rear tyre.
08:11
Diggia top Ducati
Just as this morning, Fabio di Giannantonio is now the top Ducati rider, in second place behind Marco Bezzecchi.
Alex Marquez is up to third ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia's Ai Ogura.
Marc Marquez is only tenth at the moment, however, he is using the medium rear tyre.
08:08
Softs
After all riders used medium rear tyres this morning, half of the field - including the top for of Marco Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez, Pedro Acosta and Jorge Martin - are running the soft rear this afternoon.
The soft rear was the favoured choice for the Sprint last year, with some even using it in the grand prix, as well as for time attacks.
08:07
Rain in the air is forcing a pretty rapid start to this Practice session.
08:06
Bezzecchi on a charge
FP1 leader Marco Bezzecchi has already beaten his best time of this morning.
08:01
Practice begins
The green lights are on and the one-hour Practice session begins. The uncertain weather means riders will be keen to get a lap time in the bag just in case.
07:56
A reminder of the FP1 results.
However, FP1 counts for nothing as far as Practice, so riders will need to set a top ten time - whatever the weather - to secure a direct place in Saturday's Qualifying 2.
2026 Thai MotoGP, Buriram - Free Practice (1) Results | |||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team |
| 1 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Aprilia Factory (RS-GP26) |
| 2 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP26) |
| 3 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Aprilia Factory (RS-GP26) |
| 4 | Ai Ogura | JPN | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26) |
| 5 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) |
| 6 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Ducati Lenovo (GP26) |
| 7 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP26) |
| 8 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25) |
| 9 | Alex Marquez | SPA | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP26) |
| 10 | Luca Marini | ITA | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) |
| 11 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26) |
| 12 | Joan Mir | SPA | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) |
| 13 | Alex Rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) |
| 14 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Castrol Honda LCR (RC213V) |
| 15 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) |
| 16 | Diogo Moreira | BRA | Pro Honda LCR (RC213V)* |
| 17 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) |
| 18 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) |
| 19 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) |
| 20 | Jack Miller | AUS | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) |
| 21 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)* |
| 22 | Michele Pirro | ITA | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP26) |
07:53
All eyes on the skies
The rain looks to have cleared, but dark clouds are still hanging over the circuit with just a few minutes to go before the start of Practice.
07:41
Rain set to affect play?
The Moto2 session is coming to an end, but there are rain flags out.
This could have a huge effect on the upcoming Practice.
07:37
New yellow flag protocols
One thing to keep in mind this season is a new yellow flag protocol. The FIM stewards are going to be much stricter on riders adhering to yellow flags, particularly overtaking under yellows.
Previously, riders were only told to drop one position if they overtook under yellow flags.
However, from this year, riders now have to give a place back before the end of the next sector of a lap where they overtook under yellow flags; they will be given a long lap penalty if they fail to comply.
Some grace will be given (as is the case when a rider crashes under yellow flags) if they clearly haven't had time to react.
07:02
Watch: Fabio Quartararo's tyre-shredding practice start
Here is a picture sequence and video of Fabio Quartararo's massive burnout during the practice start period at the end of opening practice for the Thai MotoGP.
The Frenchman, who struggled to hide his disappointment with the performance of the new Yamaha V4 in testing, finished the session in 18th place - after several scares.
He then got wheelspin in both practice starts - the second time keeping the throttle open all the way to turn 1...
Fabio Quartararo, practice start, 2026 Thai MotoGP
© Gold & Goose
Fabio Quartararo, practice start, 2026 Thai MotoGP
© Gold & Goose
Fabio Quartararo, practice start, 2026 Thai MotoGP
© Gold & Goose
Fabio Quartararo, practice start, 2026 Thai MotoGP
© Gold & Goose