Marc Marquez: “Not bad… but 3 seconds slower than Alex!”
Marc Marquez acknowledged a clear Sprint gap to younger brother Alex at the Sepang MotoGP test.
Having missed last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix through injury, reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez returned to Sepang for the first time in a year during this week’s official test.
It also marked Marquez’s first outing on a MotoGP bike for four months, but the factory Ducati rider picked up where he had left off by topping the timesheets on day one.
He went on to finish the three-day test fourth overall, 0.387s off the fastest time by younger brother and reigning title runner-up Alex.
While testing comparisons are always difficult due to variations in tyres and fuel, Thursday also saw most leading riders deliver a Sprint race simulation.
Marc Marquez came out third best over the ten-lap run, behind 2025 Malaysian MotoGP winner Alex and the fellow GP26 of team-mate Francesco Bagnaia.
Totalling the lap times of each rider saw Alex, who insisted his Sprint sim was far from perfect, complete the ten-lap distance 1.385s quicker than Bagnaia and 2.613 clear of Marc.
“It was not bad - but three seconds slower than Alex, so…!” Marc said of his Sprint simulation.
“It was a good Sprint race simulation and, as we already predicted, it was not extremely fast. But we finished in a good way. I was riding in a good way.
“So we can say it was a busy day, but we did all the things that was in the plan.”
After trying the latest Ducati developments over the opening days, Marquez had put together the best combination for the Sprint.
“The ones I felt better with during the three days, are the ones that I did the Sprint with. But still I ned to understand more in the Thailand, especially on the aerodynamic side.
“Here was the first ‘filter’, then in the Thai test we have only two days and we will have the things that we have some doubts but perform in a good way.”
Marquez was the only rider to consistently perform on last year’s GP25, and many believe Ducati will steer development back towards the more user-friendly GP24 for its final machine of the 1000cc era.
“I feel very similar, honestly speaking,” Marquez said of the latest GP26. “We improved in some areas but… It's true that the grip we have at this track is unreal, so we need to understand a bit more during the races.
“For me, the most important thing was that on the first day I was feeling good.”
While engine design has been frozen since the start of 2025, Marquez and the other Ducati riders will soon need to decide on their start-of-season fairing homologation.
“The fact is that when you put a new aero package, then you need to change a bit the bike balance,” Marquez explained.
“During the morning, I tried a different aero package and I crashed in Turn 1 because the bike balance changed a lot.
“When you know something, and you are competitive and fast, then it is difficult to adapt to another part. But you need to be open-minded and always try other things.”
The final pre-season test will be held at Buriram on the weekend of February 21-22.
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.