04:41
Quartararo smokes the Yamaha
Fabio Quartararo, who admitted to battling frustration with the new Yamaha V4 in testing, just torched his rear tyre all along the home straight, sending up huge clouds of tyre smoke during his practice start.
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
05:25
Report: Aprilia fires warning shot during FP1 at the Thai MotoGP
Aprilia riders fill three of the top four places during Free Practice 1 for the Thai MotoGP season opener...
Full story: Aprilia fires warning shot during FP1 at the Thai MotoGP
04:39
Practice starts
Marc Marquez gets his Ducati sideways during a practice start.
The reigning champion also seemed to be nursing his healing shoulder when in the pits.
04:38
FP1 results: 2026 Thai MotoGP
2026 Thai MotoGP, Buriram - Friday Practice Results
Marco Bezzecchi, 2026 Thai MotoGP.
© Gold & Goose
04:33
Marco Bezzecchi leads FP1 at Buriram
MotoGP FP1 ends with Marco Bezzecchi on top for most of the opening 45-minute session of the season.
VR46's Fabio di Giannantonio is the leading Ducati in second, but Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura make it three Aprilias in the top four.
04:31
Aprilia, Ducati, Aprilia, Aprilia
Ai Ogura climbs to 4th place, meaning there's now three RS-GPs in the top four.
04:30
Mir wide
Joan Mir runs wide at the final corner after his rear wheel is seen bouncing in the air under braking. The HRC rider thumps the handlebar with frustration but rejoins without problem. Honda, like Yamaha, are seeking rear grip.
04:27
Moreira behind Marquez
Rookie Diogo Moreira is following reigning champion Marc Marquez for the closing minutes of FP1, the Honda LCR rider is currently 15th, 1.029s behind Marco Bezzecchi.
04:22
Ten minutes to go
The top 10 with ten minutes of FP1 to go: Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio di Giannantonio, Jorge Martin, Pedro Acosta, Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Ai Ogura, Franco Morbidelli, Alex Marquez, Raul Fernandez.
04:21
Razgatlioglu with a rear wing
Over in the Pramac garage, reigning WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu is using a rear wing on his M1, after riding without rear aero to stay within the bike height dimension limits for much of testing.
Razgatlioglu is 21st at the moment, ahead of only Gresini Ducati stand-in Michele Pirro.
04:14
Quartararo gets the shakes
Fabio Quartararo's feet are thrown off the footpegs by aggressive shaking on corner exit from his Yamaha V4. Rear grip is one of the big issues with the new machine.
The cameras cut to a tense Massimo Meregalli in the Monster Yamaha pits.
04:10
Elbows at Aprilia
All eyes are on the arms of the Aprilia riders, following a report on The Race that they have an 'F-Duct' style system which can be blocked by a rider's elbows to aid aero performance of the RS-GP on the straights.
The use of soft rubber on the exit of the vents, as highlighted below, certainly seems to suggest they are designed to be sealed.
Aprilia duct.
© Gold & Goose
Aprilia duct (pic: Gold & Goose).
04:06
The Yamaha front wing
As indicated by Jack Miller on Thursday, Yamaha has homologated its new front wing for the start of the season, despite running the older 'tri-plane' version frequently in testing. Miller explained that the older aero was being used to ensure there were enough of the new wings.
04:02
All riders have been using the medium rear tyre so far this morning, with a mix of soft and medium fronts.
04:01
The order so far
The current order after 15 of 45 minutes:
- Marco Bezzecchi - top Aprilia.
- Fabio di Giannantonio - top Ducati.
- Jorge Martin
- Pedro Acosta - top KTM.
- Marc Marquez
- Francesco Bagnaia
- Ai Ogura
- Franco Morbidelli
- Alex Marquez
- Raul Fernandez
- Joan Mir - top Honda.
- Luca Marini
- Johann Zarco
- Diogo Moreira
- Brad Binder
- Fabio Quartararo - top Yamaha.
- Maverick Vinales
- Alex Rins
- Enea Bastianini
- Jack Miller
- Toprak Razgatlioglu
- Michele Pirro
03:56
Jorge Martin is the first faller of 2026
Jorge Martin is the first faller of the 2026 season, a lowside at the apex of Turn 12 (the final corner).
Fortunately for the former world champion, he grabs the clutch and keeps the engine alive, avoiding the new rule of having to restart on the service road.
Martin was close behind the KTM of Brad Binder at the time of his fall.
03:55
Marco Bezzecchi is now down to a 1m 29.3s, with VR46 Ducati's Fabio di Giannantonio 0.188s behind and the other factory Aprilia of Jorge Martin in third.
03:51
MotoGP pit lane reporter Jack Appleyard confirms that, as suggested by testing, Maverick Vinales has chosen the older aero while the other three are on the new version.
03:49
Aprilia rest leader Marco Bezzecchi sets the early pace from KTM's Pedro Acosta and Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia.
03:45
Green lights
The green lights are on, and riders stream out of the pits as the 2026 MotoGP season begins.
03:45
Only two front and two rear tyre options are available at Buriram this weekend, called soft or medium.
However, all four options are the same as used at last year's event, when Marc Marquez won both races with the soft front tyre, which he paired with the 'soft' rear for the Sprint and 'hard' for the grand prix.
The hard rears are of the stiffer construction due to the heat and stress at Buriram.
03:37
Moto2 FP1 ends with Manuel Gonzalez on top from Izan Guevara. MotoGP next!
03:31
Testing is testing, but...
The 2025 Buriram test results provided a perfect prediction for the final MotoGP World Championship top five of Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Pedro Acosta and Francesco Bagnaia.
Aprilia will be hoping history repeats itself, with the top five order at the 2026 Buriram test: Marco Bezzecchi, Ai Ogura, Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez.
03:24
Lap times to watch out for in the upcoming MotoGP session...
Fastest 2026 Buriram Test lap time:
Day 2: Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia, 1m 28.668s.
Official Buriram MotoGP Records:
Best lap: Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati, 1m 28.700s (2024).
Fastest race lap: Marc Marquez, Ducati, 1m 30.637s (2025).
03:19
The Moto2 class are in the closing stages of their opening practice session, after which MotoGP will take to the track at 10:45 local time.