Pecco Bagnaia’s hopes of a fresh start to the new MotoGP season ended with a sobering ninth place in Sunday’s Thai Grand Prix.
Encouraging winter testing form, including fourth place at the same Buriram circuit a week earlier, meant the former double champion expected to at least repeat last year’s podium.
Instead, Bagnaia’s weekend peaked with seventh place in FP1.
The factory Ducati rider failed to reach Q2, then rode from 13th to ninth in the Sprint. The double grand prix distance should have offered more recovery time, but instead, Bagnaia was battling wheelspin throughout.
Despite three riders retiring ahead of him, Bagnaia again took the chequered flag in ninth, 18 seconds from race winner Marco Bezzecchi and the last of the full-time Ducati riders.
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“I never pushed”
“I was the last [full-time] Ducati, so I was definitely the one who performed the worst,” SkySports.it quotes Bagnaia as saying.
“I was managing a lot the tyres. I never pushed, because I cannot push, just to control the rear tyre. But eight laps to go I started to spin until fifth gear on the straight.
“In the final laps, unfortunately, when I was closing in on the group in front, I started to really feel the wear.”
With team-mate and reigning champion Marc Marquez forced out of fourth by wheel rim damage, the top Ducati rider was the other factory-spec GP26 of Fabio di Giannantonio in sixth place.
The result ended a streak of 88 successive premier-class grands prix with at least one Ducati rider on the podium.
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Aprilia put four riders in the top five, led by race winner Marco Bezzecchi, while KTM finished second with Sprint winner Pedro Acosta.
2026 Thai MotoGP: Race lap times, Top 3 plus Ducati Lenovo
© Peter McLaren
“Marc would have finished on the podium,” Bagnaia highlighted. “What happened, happened, but he was going really fast.
“In my case, during the tests, if you had asked me what our goal would be, I would have said top three. We had potential that we were never able to unleash during the weekend.
“However, from the beginning of the weekend, we weren’t able to stop well, we struggled to get the bike turning, to manage the traction.
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“FP1 was the best session I had. From FP2 until the race, I started to struggle quite a lot. And completely opposite compared to the test.
“Because in the test I was feeling fantastic, I was able to push well, I was able to control the tyres a lot. And then, for some reason, I started to struggle a lot during the race weekend.
“The only thing that was different is the Pirelli tyres on track [from Moto2 and Moto3], but that can’t be an excuse, so we’ll roll up our sleeves and work to get back to the front.
“It’s hard to think that Ducati’s level, given the tests we’ve done, can be this high.”
Thai MotoGP comparison, 2025 vs 2025: Marc Marquez, Bagnaia, Bezzecchi (dashed line = 2025)
© Peter McLaren
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“A very good track for us”
Buriram, where a harder construction rear tyre is used due to the heat and stress on the rubber, has also traditionally been a good track for Ducati.
“This is a very good track for us. We always win,” Bagnaia said. “In Austria [with a harder rear construction], we always win. So it’s a very good track and also a tyre for us.
“But for some reason, this time was more difficult. And Aprilia did an amazing job, and KTM, because they improved a lot…
“The others made an improvement and we did a step back. So we need to understand why.”
Nonetheless, Bagnaia expects Ducati to be “back where it belongs” when MotoGP makes its return to Brazil for round two later this month.
“I believe it. The next race in Brazil is a new circuit, but I’m convinced that Ducati will be back where it belongs,” Bagnaia said.
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The Italian leaves Buriram holding tenth in the world championship, with eight points.
Fabio Di Giannantonio is currently the top Ducati rider, in seventh, 20 points behind early title leader Acosta.
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