Marco Bezzecchi
Michele Pirro thinks Marc Marquez’s performance in the Thailand Grand Prix proved any claim that the 2026 season is already over for Ducati is “absolutely exaggerated”.
MotoGP kicked off the new campaign in Buriram last weekend, with Ducati widely expected to continue their recent dominance. But Aprilia were the team who rose to the challenge in the Thailand GP, as Marco Bezzecchi won as one of four riders on the RS-GP in the top five.
VR46 star Fabio Di Giannantonio finished the Thailand GP as the top Ducati down in P6. But Pirro believes Marquez showed the Desmosedici GP26 can rival the Aprilia RS-GP, as he was still in the battle for a podium finish until his rear tyre came off the rim after striking a kerb.
Marquez retired from the Thailand GP while running in P4 on Lap 21 of 26 on Sunday, as the angle he hit the kerb at Turn 4 dented his wheel rim and detached the tyre. He chose to run wide after going deep while chasing Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez and KTM’s Pedro Acosta.
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Michele Pirro sees no ‘disaster’ for Ducati as Marc Marquez was strong before his puncture in Buriram
Also, Acosta only won the Buriram Sprint Race after Marquez’s penalty on Saturday, with the Ducati star waving the KTM ace through at the final corner on the last lap after being told to drop one position. Marquez was penalised after forcing Acosta wide on the penultimate lap.
READ MORE: All you need to know about the 2026 MotoGP season from calendar to riders
Add in the Aprilia RS-GP generally suiting the harder rear tyre carcass that Michelin provides for races in hot conditions like the Thailand GP, and Ducati test rider Pirro believes it is naive to suggest the 2026 season is already over for the Borgo Panigale team after just one round.
Pirro told GPOne: “Unfortunately, it was not one of our best weekends. Obviously, we need to evaluate every aspect in detail.
“As for Marc Marquez, if it hadn’t been for that bad luck – the tyre problem – he would have made 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 are ‘finished’ or ‘doomed’. This will certainly be a complicated world championship, and maybe we’ll be fighting for it until the last race. But to say that the season is over is absolutely exaggerated. We’ve done one race.
“In the Sprint, apart from the contact, Marquez was in front and was also fighting for the podium in the long race. I don’t see it as a disaster.
“It’s clear that when you put four Aprilias in the top five, you understand that the track layout, characteristics and temperatures were better suited to the bike.”
Ducati’s response at the Brazilian Grand Prix will either prove or refute Michele Pirro’s point
If you were Marc Marquez, when would you retire?
How Ducati respond to Aprilia’s promising start to the 2026 season when MotoGP returns to Brazil for the first time since 1992 on March 20-22 will go a long way to either proving Pirro’s point, or showing that Marquez is making the difference racing an inferior bike to the RS-GP.
Marquez was the only rider aboard a Ducati able to compete with the Aprilia riders and KTM rival Acosta at the Thailand GP last weekend. Di Giannantonio of VR46 aboard his GP26 also left Buriram as the top Ducati in the standings in P7 due to Marquez’s retirement on Sunday.
KTM’s Acosta tops the first championship standings of 2026 after his Sprint win in Buriram and P2 in the Thailand GP. He is also the only non-Aprilia rider inside the top five, with both Aprilia pilots and Trackhouse racers joining the Spaniard ahead of Brad Binder of KTM in P6.
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