Pol Espargaro thinks Ducati’s Marc Marquez made too many mistakes in practice at the 2026 Thai Grand Prix, particularly when he struggled during Friday’s braking phase.
Marquez He begins his latest title defense at Buriram this weekend, but has not had an easy time aboard the Desmosedici GP26 at the Chang International Circuit. The 33-year-old struggled to find pace for most of the practice session before pulling the rabbit out of the hat late on.
Ducati Both of their factory drivers will be looking to make a run in Q1 this Saturday. But Marquez overcame the challenging session in the closing minutes to set a 1:28.947 lap to put the Spaniard second behind Aprilia’s Marco Bezecchi.
Francesco Bagnaia The Italian finished the session in 15th place and was unable to match Marquez’s efforts. The 29-year-old beat Marquez by 0.421s on the timesheets, even 1.298s slower than Bezeci. Thailand GP.
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Pol Espargaro spotted Marc Marquez ‘sliding a lot’ during Thai Grand Prix practice.
During Buriram practice, Marquez did not feel comfortable on the Ducati On Friday, the seven-time champion had to adjust his riding style. While still recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered in October, Marquez is using the Ducati 2024 front aero package..
Read more: Every MotoGP record Marc Marquez can break in the 2026 season.
Espargaro He paid close attention to Marquez’s practice lap on Friday and noticed “a lot of mistakes”, underscoring the struggle the Ducati riders had at Buriram’s race pace. Marquez was especially struggling to stop the bike, because it was slipping “a lot”.
Espargaro said on DAZN, via quotes Motosan: “He was fast if we looked at the fastest lap, but he was also making a lot of mistakes at race pace and we saw that in Mark’s lap where he made a lot of mistakes, especially when he stopped the bike and he skidded a lot.”
Francesco Bagnaia blames set-up decisions for missing out on automatic Q2 place at Buriram
Marquez ran off the circuit several times in Friday’s practice session to claim an automatic Q2 place to qualify for the 2026 Thai GP. Bagnaia also struggled to stop his GP26, and feels Ducati’s set-up decisions played a part.
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Two-time MotoGP champion Bagnaia will have to start his 2026 campaign in Q1, unable to put the issues Ducati had in practice and set a fast lap in good conditions. Sporadic rain during the 60-minute session added another hurdle.
Bagnaya told MotoGP. website“When braking and entering[corners]the bike was worse. And even in the conditions we had, with the wind pushing directly from the back, it was very difficult to stop the bike. So, I think we made the wrong choice.
But it’s part of the process. If the conditions were normal, we definitely had time to come back and improve. But it is what it is, and we have to accept it and do better.
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