MotoGP’s 2026 season is set to start with a bang, as competitive track action kicks off this Friday in Thailand at the Buriram International Circuit.
The MotoGP Paddock will kick off the weekend on thursday, with the classic group photo on track before the hard work starts, and all the hopes, dreams and hard work over pre season manifests into reality for the upcoming season of Grand Prix Motorcycle racing, in the final season of the current regulations.
With the sport ever increasing in popularity already, and Liberty well known for the exponential growth seen in Formula 1, plenty of new fans could find themselves confused, so this preview will cover fundamental need to know information for all experiencing their first taste of some of the fastest 2 wheeled action on earth, starting off with the format of most MotoGP weekends.
The Format
Friday
The format for on track action has not changed from 2025, despite the takeover of Dorna by Liberty Media leading to concerns that the Moto2 and Moto3 Championships could be adversely impacted, becoming more ‘Feeder Series’ as seen with the F2 and F3 championships in the Formula 1 Paddock, also owned by media giant Liberty.
Each category has two free practice sessions, one timed practice, two qualifying sessions and a race. MotoGP, as the premier class, also features sprint races on a Saturday and a warm up practice on a Sunday. Each session normally begins with Moto3, followed by Moto2, and finally MotoGP.
Friday sees bikes take to the track in Moto3 initially, with Free Practice 1. This session allows riders to become accustomed to the track, tweak settings, adapt to weather and prepare for competitive action before the lap times officially count. For Moto3 this session lasts 35 minutes, 40 minutes for Moto2 however MotoGP get the longest time on track, at 45 minutes.
Once Free Practice 1 finishes, Friday track action finishes with a timed practice. 35 minutes and 40 minutes for Moto3 and Moto2 respectively, the MotoGP timed practice session, known as ‘Practice’ lasts an hour. Across all 3 classes, this is arguably the most important session other than the actual racing as where you finish in practice, decides what qualifying group you get into.
The session still allows for race simulation runs, or adjustment to the track like Free Practice 1, however the fastest riders in each class qualify straight for Q2, the second qualifying group. In Moto3 and Moto2, these are the riders with the top 14 lap times, whereas with MotoGP, the top 10 fastest riders gain a place directly in Q2.
Saturday
Saturday kicks off similar to Friday, with Free Practice 2. This session, unlike Fridays’ Free Practice 1 lasts for half an hour in each class, with Moto3 first, before Moto2, ending in MotoGP. This session allows for more practice before competitive action starts, which is especially crucial on a Saturday as Free Practice 2 in MotoGP is followed directly by MotoGP’s qualifying session. Qualifying begins 10 minutes after MotoGP’s FP2 session and is broken down into two sessions, Q1, and Q2.
This is where it gets slightly complicated as For Q1, only riders who were not in the top 10 fastest lap times in MotoGP’s timed practice on the Friday compete, with a 15 minute timed session where the target is lap times. The faster the lap time, the higher the place on the grid. Crucially, the fastest 2 riders in Q1 progress through to Q2, where they have a chance to save their weekend. The riders who were 3rd fastest or slower start from P13 and behind on the grid for both Saturday’s Sprint race, and Sunday’s Main Race.
Q2 follows straight after Q1 with the top 10 fastest riders from Practice, and the 2 fastest riders from Q1 compete in another 15 minute timed session, determining the front 12 grid slots, with the fastest rider of the session starting from pole position. The 3 fastest riders head to parc ferme, and make up the front row of the grid for both the Sprint Race and the main race.
Moto3 Q1 and Q2 are next on the schedule, swiftly followed by Moto2. The main difference in these classes is that the 4 fastest riders of Q1 qualify through to Q2, with the 5th fastest and below making up the grid slots, starting from P19. This is the last session before the race for Moto3 and Moto2, as they do not participate in a Warm Up Practice on the Sunday.
Saturday’s main event is a Sprint Race for MotoGP, a race which lasts approximately 50% of the full race distance, taking around 20 minutes to complete. as well as being half race distance, half points, rounded to the nearest full point are on offer and count towards the championship standings in the race. Points awarded are; 1st – 12, 2nd – 9, 3rd – 7, 4th – 6, 5th – 5, 6th – 4, 7th – 3, 8th – 2, 9th – 1. The races are designed as such to allow for more action, as strategy is less important with decreased responsibility on tyre and race management. Sprint races have been on the calendar since 2023, at every race weekend unlike Formula 1.
Sunday
The weekend finishes with a Moto3 race, a Moto2 race, and finally, a MotoGP race. Points scored in each category range from 1st Place receiving 25 Points, down to 15th Place receiving 1 Point. The Moto3 race is roughly between 30 and 35 minutes long, Moto2 roughly between 35 and 40 minutes long and MotoGP the longest, at an average between 40 and 45 minutes long. The number of laps completed depends on how long the circuit is.
Categories
Moto3
Moto 2
MotoGP
The Premier class of World Championship Grand Prix Motorcycle racing, is MotoGP. The class is essentially the two wheel equivalent to Formula 1, and the pinnacle of Motorcycle racing. Bikes in the class are complete prototypes, with 1000cc four cylinder engines, around 250hp and a top speed of around 365km/h. Racing one of these bikes requires extreme talent, with each rider in the class currently having won a race in at least one of the 3 world championships, with over half of the grid having a world championship title themselves.
Manufacturers in the class are Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM, and Yamaha. There are 6 satellite, teams also known as independent teams alongside the official manufacturers. Each team fields 2 riders on the grid, for a total of 22. Riders can be replaced when injured, and wildcards are permitted for certain teams for specific races in the year alongside this, allowing test riders to get in the racing action and learn where the bike can be developed for the future. The current Championship winning Manufacturer is Ducati, having won the last 6 Constructors Championships, with the Factory Team having won 4 of the last 5 Team World Championships.
Racing for Ducati’s Factory team is current World Champion, Marc Marquez who sealed has 7th MotoGP title in 2025, alongside 1 Moto2 and one 125cc (now Moto3) title. He remains the current favourite for the 2026 title, and is commonly referred to as the best motorcycle racer of all time, compared to greats of the past such as rival Valentino Rossi, and others including Giacomo Agostini.
Rules and Regulations
The Rulebook for MotoGP is long and in depth, with many, many pages, so the most basic will be covered here. Starting with Flags seen the most; Green Flag – The session is good to go ahead, no issues for riders on track. Yellow Flag – Dangerous situation, slow down, do not pass other riders. White Flag – Raining. This is crucial in MotoGP as Flag to Flag races can occur if conditions change and rain either makes the track wet, or sun dries it.
A flag to flag means riders can come into the pits and swap to a second bike with different tyres. This is only in the MotoGP category as there are 2 available bikes. If this happens in Moto2 or Moto3, another flag is brought into play, the Red Flag. The Red flag means that the session has been stopped and riders must return to pit lane, done for safety reasons. This can bring an end to a race providing 2/3rds race distance has been reached.
Penalties
Sometimes, lines are crossed where punishment is needed. There is a variety of penalties regarding multiple types of incident depending on severity and multiple offences. Commonly issued penalties are warnings and fines, however these do not impact racing action. Penalties that do include; Drop position – Commonly issued when a rider unfairly gains an advantage via exceeding track limits or attempting an aggressive move. Long Lap Penalty – A long lap loop can be found at each circuit, adding roughly 3 seconds or more onto a riders lap time. This can be issued in case of reckless riding or if track limits has been exceeded 5 times (3 in a Sprint Race).
Rarer penalties in a race include the Ride through penalty – rarer, however issued by stewards. This penalty means riders must ride through the pits before rejoining the race. Time penalties can be issued for exceeding track limits when a long lap penalty has not been completed, adding the total time onto the riders race completion time, resulting in potential loss of position. Disqualification – Results of the session are disqualified due to severe breaches such as that of safety and technical regulations. This can be issued instantly via one of the two previously mentioned flags, or retrospectively after a session.
Timed sessions can also result in penalties. This include cancelling lap times if a rider impedes another rider on a fast lap, or if a rider exceeds track limits on the lap, or just prior to the lap where they would gain an advantage on the lap. The final penalty is a grid place penalty. This is where a rider is demoted on the grid from their starting spot. This can either by via dropping positions a certain, or starting the race from pit lane.
Finally, the three most severe penalties are removal of points, suspension from competition, and permanent exclusion. These penalties, however are only given in the most extreme cases, and almost exclusively to those who have committed intentionally malicious actions.
Thai Grand Prix – Need to Know
Moto2 and Moto3 – Previous Results
In the previous year, the Moto3 podium at the circuit consisted of a win by Jose Antonio Rueda, with Alvaro Carpe and Adrian Fernandez taking 2nd and 3rd respectively. Young title contender Maximo Quiles did not compete at the round in 2025, as he did not meet the age restriction to compete in the class, meaning he’s one to watch.
The Moto2 race was won by the runner up of the 2025 World Championship, Manuel Gonzalez, with the podium rounded out by class veteran Aron Canet and Australian Senna Agius. With Gonzalez remaining in Moto2, could he be the winner once more and seal the title for himself?
What can we expect in MotoGP?
Finishing off with a look at MotoGP, the class tested here in the past weekend, with impressive showings from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi topping the timesheet, followed by Ai Ogura, who had a standout race at the track as a rookie last year. Could he repeat the same feats or go a step further this year?
The 3 Ducati’s of Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez rounded out the top 5 in the test, all strong performances, however only Alex Marquez had a successful end to 2025 as older brother Marc suffered injury, which may still play a role in his fitness ahead of the season opener, whilst Pecco Bagnaia suffered a major drop in form in the 2nd half of the 2025 season, however is sounding confident ahead of this weekend.
We’ll also be getting a first look at rookies Diogo Moreira and Toprak Razgatlioglu in race trim at Buriram, with Moreira 19th in the test, 1.252 seconds off the pace and not too far from the rest of the pack. WorldSBK star Toprak however, has faced issues on the new Yamaha and was 2.104 seconds off the pace and the slowest permanent rider on the grid by over 6 tenths from fellow Yamaha rider Alex Rins.
Last Year’s race was dominated by Marc Marquez, with the Spaniard taking pole, setting the fastest lap and dominating the race from younger brother Alex Marquez. Pecco Bagnaia rounded out the podium whereas test topper this year Marco Bezzecchi could only finish 6th, however it was his first race on the Aprilia. Yamaha woes have continued at this track, and we’re not anticipating anything special considering that the Japanese factory are essentially starting from scratch with a brand new bike either.
Conclusion
Our winner is Marco Bezzecchi. With a year of experience on the Aprilia, and now the teams number 1 rider over 2024 World Champion Jorge Martin, we think that the test is a good omen for the race weekend. We’re also going to be keeping our eyes on both Marquez brothers, Ogura, and a reinvigorated Maverick Vinales, now coached by Jorge Lorenzo for a good result this weekend. How Yamaha will fare is another interesting point, and just how much Honda have improved gives viewers something else to pay attention to.
Unless something drastic happens, this weekend could be a washout for the Japanese factories… Despite this, weather at the track has been wild before, and if there’s a downpour, Pramac Yamaha rider Jack Miller could always spring a surprise. Most importantly to sign off, it’s official. MotoGP is BACK!
