Michel Pirro thinks Marc Marquez’s performance at the Thai Grand Prix has confirmed any claims that the 2026 season is over for Ducati.
MotoGP kicked off its new campaign last weekend at Buriram. Ducati They are widely expected to continue their dominance soon. But Aprilia They were the team that qualified for the tournament in Thailand GPMarco Bezecchi won the RS-GP as one of four riders in the top five.
VR46 star Fabio Di Giannantonio finished the Thai GP in P6 on top Ducati. But Pyro He believes. Marquez Desmosedici showed that the GP26 could compete with the Aprilia RS-GP, as he was still in the battle for a podium finish until his rear tire went off the rim after hitting a curb.
Marquez retired from the Thailand GP while running in P4. At 21 of 26 on Sunday, Angle cracked a wheel rim and dislodged the tire when he hit the curb in Turn 4. He opted to run wide after dropping deep in pursuit of Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez and KTM’s Pedro Acosta.
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Michel Pirro sees no ‘risk’ for Ducati as Marc Marquez was strong before his puncture at Buriram.
as well as, Acosta won the Buriram Sprint after Marquez’s penalty. On Saturday, the Ducati star waved off the KTM ace in the final corner after dropping a spot. Marquez Acosta was penalized for forcing a penalty.
Read more: Everything you need to know about the 2026 MotoGP season, from the calendar to the drivers
Add in the Aprilia RS-GPP, which is more suited to races in generally hotter conditions like the Thai GP, and Ducati challenger Piro believes it would be naïve to think the 2026 season is over for the Borgo Panigale team after just one round.
Pyro said GPONUnfortunately, the weekend was not one of the best weekends we have had.
“Marc Marquez, if it wasn’t for that bad luck, the tire problem – the podium, maybe second, maybe third, but the podium was within reach. That was the real bad luck.
“We don’t like to say that Ducati is ‘finished’ or ‘broken’. This will certainly be a complicated world championship, and we will probably fight for it until the last race. But to say that the season is over is absolutely an exaggeration. We have had one race.
“In the sprint, out of contact, Marquez was in front and was fighting for the podium in the long race. I don’t see it as a fault.
“When you put four Aprilias in the top five, you realize that the track layout, the characteristics and the temperatures are the best fit for the bike.”
Ducati’s reaction to the Brazilian Grand Prix will prove or disprove Michele Piron’s idea
If you were Marc Marquez, when would you retire?
How Ducati will respond to Aprilia’s promising start when MotoGP returns to Brazil for the first time on March 20-22, 1992 will either prove Piron’s point or mark Marquez’s entry into low-end bike racing in the RS-GPP.
Marquez was the only rider aboard a Ducati to compete with Aprilia riders and KTM rival Acosta at the Thailand GP last weekend. The VR46’s Di Giannantonio in his GP26 also left Buriram in P7 as the top Ducati due to Marquez’s retirement on Sunday.
KTM’s Acosta’s 2026 Sprint win at Buriram and P2 in the Thailand GP secures his first championship position. He is the only non-Aprilia rider in the top five, with both Aprilia pilots and Trackhouse racers joining the Spaniard in P6 ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder.
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