A crash at 192km/h through COTA’s fast Turn 10 downhill left-hander 10 years ago would have been a heart-in-mouth moment for onlookers in the Marc Marquez camp. But the worry would have quickly dissipated given his ability back then to bounce back instantly from big falls, as if his genes were in large part consistent of rubber.
In the wake of his serious arm injury in 2020, and now the complex shoulder injury he suffered last October, the level of concern when Marquez crashes is now considerably higher.
That was very much the case on Friday morning at COTA, when he lost the front of his unsettled Ducati at the Turn 10 downhill crest and slid all the way to the barrier. The crash briefly brought out the red flag, and Marquez was lucky to walk away with just bruising to his right hand and arm.
The crash only ratcheted up the pressure on the reigning world champion, whose start to the new season has been well below standards. Still not at 100% fitness in his shoulder, Marquez has struggled to find a consistent feeling on the GP26.
He was second in the sprint in Thailand and won the Saturday race in Brazil. But was a distant third in the Thai Grand Prix before a wheel failure took him out, while in Brazil he didn’t have the pace to match the rapid Aprilias, as he finished fourth behind VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio.
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The shortened race distance in Brazil due to the track breaking apart didn’t help his cause. He lost third place when he had a moment over the damaged asphalt. But the shorter distance also meant he couldn’t reap his usual strong race-ending pace.
The GP26, at this stage of the year, doesn’t seem to fire up its tyres in the same way the Aprilia can in the early laps. As such, the RS-GP is able to quickly pull away while the Ducati needs time to warm into it.
Given his record at COTA – seven straight wins between 2013 and 2018 – there is considerable pressure on Marquez to properly kickstart his 2026 season this weekend. Michelin’s stiffer rear tyre carcasses have been put away now until Red Bull Ring in September, while the anticlockwise nature of COTA should play into his riding strengths and keep the strain off his still-recovering right shoulder.
Marc Marquez played down this expectation on Thursday. The crash could have done much to dent his confidence. But he put in a 2m00.927s in the closing stages on a new soft rear tyre to take top spot in a chaotic Practice, in which nine riders (Marquez not among them) crashed in sweltering temperatures.
2026 US MotoGP Practice: Outright best times per manufacturerBikeRiderTimePositionDifferenceDucati GP26Marc Marquez2m00.927s1st-ApriliaAi Ogura2m00.980s2nd0.053sKTMPedro Acosta2m01.250s6th0.323sHondaLuca Marini2m01.494s9th0.567sYamahaFabio Quartararo2m02.037s15th1.110s
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But speed hasn’t actually been an issue for Marquez, who challenged for pole in Thailand and was on the front row in Brazil, despite the layout of the Goiania circuit not suiting him. On softer rubber, his pace is strong, as his sprint results can attest. Consistent grand prix pace, however, has not been easy for Marquez to come by.
Marc Marquez, 2026 US MotoGP.
© Gold and Goose
Marquez facing toughest COTA battle yet
Marquez said he “believes too much in the track” in FP1, which led to his crash. The bumps at COTA are never where you left them a year earlier. At Turn 10, the Ducati star rides “in an automatic way”.
He later admitted to the media that he didn’t want to go back out on track again after that crash. But, he regained his “normal feeling” as Practice wore on. While his one-lap speed caught the eye, his usual used tyre pace was there too, with Marquez producing a 2m02.066s on a well-loved medium rear tyre.
That time put him top of the standings at the point he set it, over others who had fitted fresh rubber to their bikes.
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Such was the interrupted nature of Practice that long running was consigned to a maximum of about four laps for the top 10 on the timesheets. Marquez was one of those who completed a representative stint of four laps, with his rear tyre having 14 laps on it by the time he parked it.
2026 US MotoGP: Practice pace analysis top 10RiderBikePaceTyreStintTotal laps on tyreFabio Di GiannantonioDucati GP262m02.237sSoft2 laps9 lapsAi OguraAprilia2m02.303sMedium3 laps9 lapsMarc MarquezDucati GP262m02.404sMedium4 laps14 lapsEnea BastianiniKTM2m02.469sSoft2 laps10 lapsMarco BezzecchiAprilia2m02.484sSoft5 laps12 lapsPecco BagnaiaDucati GP262m02.499sMedium4 laps12 lapsPedro AcostaKTM2m02.550sSoft4 laps8 lapsLuca MariniHonda2m02.591sSoft3 laps10 lapsAlex MarquezDucati GP262m02.666sMedium3 laps10 lapsJorge MartinAprilia2m02.800sSoft2 laps11 laps
Marquez’s average pace on medium rubber worked out at 2m02.404s. That was a shade slower than Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura, who managed a 2m02.303s average across a three-lap representative stint on a medium tyre that finished with nine laps on it.
VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, aiming for his second successive pole, was fastest on a 2m02.237s. However, that was on the soft rear tyre and over just two representative laps in his stint.
Generally, long running pace was pretty tight, which led to Marquez stating: “I’m feeling better and better, but this won’t be an Austin like the old ones, when I used to escape. This time it’ll be much tighter.”
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Much of that will depend on what feeling he can get out of the Ducati, particularly the front-end, in the opening stages of Sunday’s 20-lap grand prix. That has been the key weakness that Aprilia has been able to exploit thus far.
Marco Bezzecchi, 2026 US MotoGP.
© Gold and Goose
Aprilia’s Ducati-like Saturday-to-Sunday pace jump can’t be overlooked
The factory Aprilia riders may not have been standouts in terms of their finishing position on the timesheets at the end of Practice. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi managed an average pace of 2m02.484s on the soft rear tyre, and admits he is not feeling “completely right with the bike”.
It was a better Friday than he endured in Brazil. But soft tyre pace has been something that the Aprilia hasn’t been as strong as Ducati with this year so far. Though over one lap the bike is quick, Aprilia was resoundingly beaten by Ducati in the Brazil sprint.
It was in the podium hunt in Thailand, and Bezzecchi’s crash masks what might have been possible, but Marquez and KTM’s Pedro Acosta still had an edge. Even in sprints for the most part last year, Aprilia was half a step behind the Ducati.
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But the switch to harder rubber for the main races seems to unlock the Aprilia more. That was the case in Brazil, and again in Thailand. It’s an eerily similar trend that Ducati showed last year, albeit one which generally allowed it to achieve double wins across a weekend.
Bezzecchi is under no illusions after Friday practice where the order lies: “Marc has been super strong. Despite the crash, he showed that he can be very quick in a very short amount of time.”
But Ai Ogura’s strong pace is a reference for him to follow. Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola credited the brand’s four-rider stable as being key in its strong start to the season, given the amount of data it can work with on race weekends. Again, similar to how Ducati has been able to be so dominant this decade.
Jorge Martin may not factor into Aprilia’s podium plans much this weekend, as he deals with pain from his pre-existing injuries after a tough Brazil weekend on his way to a brace of rostrums.
After Friday’s running, COTA looks like it is running to form. Marquez and Ducati will almost certainly be the main players for pole, while a repeat of the Di Giannantonio/Marquez sprint battle from Brazil is being set up nicely.
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Certainly, Marquez looks stronger than he did over race pace than he has done. And will almost certainly be a bigger threat in the grand prix if he can find better early pace. There is also the crash factor to consider: how much is he holding back for when it matters after his FP1 spill?
However, while perhaps not as dominant as it has been, Aprilia’s threat remains considerable looking to Sunday’s grand prix…
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