Marco Bezzecchi
Nobuatsu Aoki expects Marc Marquez to fight for the MotoGP title again in 2026, but the Ducati ace’s attitude at the Sepang test was more “impressive” than his lap times.
Marquez enters the 2026 MotoGP season as the reigning champion, after he won last term’s title with one of his most dominant campaigns to date. The 32-year-old scored 11 Grand Prix wins and 14 Sprint Race wins from the 18 rounds he contested from the potential 22 events.
Ducati were without Marquez for the final four rounds of last year, after he required surgery on his right shoulder following an incident with Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia in the Indonesian Grand Prix. He suffered a coracoid fracture and ligament damage from the rough gravel trap.
The 2026 Sepang test marked Marquez’s first time back on a MotoGP since his 2025 season came to an early end due to his injury. Marquez set the fourth-fastest single lap in Malaysia with a 1:56.789, as well as recording the third-best Sprint Race average lap time at 1:58.289.
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Nobuatsu Aoki impressed by how Marc Marquez handled his first 2026 pre-season test in Sepang
Ducati experimented with a new start lever at the 2026 Sepang test, but only Marquez and teammate Francesco Bagnaia got to try it. Jorge Lorenzo was stunned by Ducati’s cornering stability in Sepang, as well, as the GP26 regularly looked like an upgrade on last year’s GP25.
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But beyond Marquez’s speed in Sepang, former Suzuki 500cc rider Aoki was “impressed” by how “calm” the Ducati racer seemed as he got through his programme. Marquez was never evidently phased by the threat that his brother, Gresini’s Alex Marquez, seemed to present.
“Marc Marquez looks strong again this year,” Aoki told Young Machine. “He finished fourth overall over the three days but the way he quietly and calmly went through the programme was incredibly calm and collected, which was quite impressive.”
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Alex Marquez tops the final day of the Sepang test! Are you expecting any changes to this order in Buriram? 🤔
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Marquez’s mentality at the 2026 Sepang test was different from the attitude that he arrived in Malaysia with after joining Ducati at the start of 2025. Now that he has won a title for the Italian factory, Marquez admits he feels “less responsibility” to win another title with Ducati.
Aoki expects Marquez will be in the 2026 MotoGP title fight, though, and he also expects it will be a family affair, after also watching Gresini ace Alex Marquez in Sepang. Alex finished the test with the fastest outright lap (1:56.402) and the best Sprint sim average (1:58.028).
“Marc was calm and collected. Alex was relaxed,” Aoki added. “In my opinion, Marc still has the advantage, but it looks like this year will be a battle for the championship between the Marquez brothers.”
Alex Marquez was Marc Marquez’s nearest rival in 2025, as he came second in the standings aboard a Ducati GP24 at Gresini. Ducati have rewarded Alex Marquez with a factory GP26 in 2026, making him the fourth rider on a works-spec bike with VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio.
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