Marco Bezzecchi makes history for Aprilia with a fourth MotoGP victory in a row during a shortened 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix at Goiania.
On the back foot for much of the weekend, including fourth in the Sprint, Bezzecchi fired a warning shot by topping warm-up, then led every lap of the grand prix.
The Italian surged to a near-two-second lead when pole qualifier Fabio di Giannantonio, beaten to victory by Marc Marquez in the Sprint, squeezed inside the reigning champion for second on lap 6.
But the move held them both up, allowing Jorge Martin to take advantage and form an Aprilia one-two that held to the chequered flag.
The di Giannantonio-Marquez duel for top Ducati then went in the VR46 rider’s favour after a further exchange of position.
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Bezzecchi’s Sunday victory run started at Portimao and Valencia last season, then continued at Buriram and Goiania in 2026.
Team-mate Martin claimed a personal RS-GP high, going one better after a Sprint rostrum on Saturday.
Race Distance slashed
The Brazilian race distance was slashed from 31 laps to 23 laps just minutes before the start due to unspecified “track degradation”.
Title leader Pedro Acosta, plus Joan Mir, Luca Marini and Maverick Vinales reacted swiftly, jumping from the planned medium rear tyre to a soft, which only Yamaha riders Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins and Toprak Razgatlioglu were set to use.
Pramac’s Jack Miller stuck with the medium rear, despite his Sprint woes, but the Australian’s 200th MotoGP race ended with a crash on lap 2.
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Francesco Bagnaia then fell from the lower end of the top ten, swiftly followed by a double weekend DNF for Mir.
Brad Binder also crashed, while KTM team-mate Acosta lost the MotoGP title lead after a seventh-place.
Brazil: New 2026 MotoGP World Championship standings
Home hero Diogo Moreira scored more points in 13th for LCR Honda
Quartararo, who starred in the early Sprint laps on his way to the V4’s best yet finish of sixth, was soon shuffled outside of the points with team-mate Alex Rins the top M1 in 14th.
Fermin Aldeguer was making his 2026 debut this weekend after missing all of pre-season testing and the Thai season opener due to a femur fracture in winter training.
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Aldeguer and team-mate Alex Marquez rode in a special Brazilian livery on Sunday, as a tribute to Gresini’s 1997 debut season with Alex Barros.
MotoGP was returning to Brazil for the first time since 2004 and to Goiania for the first time since 1989.
No testing took place ahead of this weekend, with Michelin offering an enlarged allocation of three front and three (reinforced) rear tyre options.
Round 3, the US Grand Prix at COTA, starts on Friday.
2026 Brazilian MotoGP, Goiania – Race ResultsPosRiderNatTeamTime/Diff1Marco BezzecchiITAAprilia Racing (RS-GP26)30m 19.76s2Jorge MartinSPAAprilia Racing (RS-GP26)+3.231s3Fabio Di GiannantonioITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP26)+3.780s4Marc MarquezSPADucati Lenovo (GP26)+4.089s5Ai OguraJPNTrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26)+8.403s6Alex MarquezSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP26)+8.918s7Pedro AcostaSPARed Bull KTM (RC16)+10.687s8Fermin AldeguerSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP25)+11.359s9Johann ZarcoFRACastrol Honda LCR (RC213V)+12.907s10Raul FernandezSPATrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26)+16.370s11Luca MariniITAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+18.529s12Franco MorbidelliITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25)+19.980s13Diogo MoreiraBRAPro Honda LCR (RC213V)*+21.322s14Alex RinsSPAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+22.699s15Enea BastianiniITARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+23.840s16Fabio QuartararoFRAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+26.403s17Toprak RazgatliogluTURPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)*+30.287s18Maverick ViñalesSPARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+36.397s Joan MirSPAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)DNF Francesco BagnaiaITADucati Lenovo (GP26)DNF Brad BinderRSARed Bull KTM (RC16)DNF Jack MillerAUSPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)DNF
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
* Rookie.
Warm-up:
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi leads a dry Sunday morning warm-up at the 2026 Brazilian MotoGP ahead of Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez.
Pole qualifier Fabio di Giannantoio, VR46 team-mate Franco Morbidelli and KTM title leader Pedro Acosta all crashed during the ten-minute session.
After hard front and soft rear tyres were used by most riders in the Sprint, the medium rear – picked by just four riders on Saturday – was the popular choice for warm-up.
The exception was Yamaha, who ran the soft rear following the woes for Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller on the medium in the Sprint.
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Michelin confirmed both the soft and medium options can do the 31-lap distance, with the medium likely to be the favoured choice.
Bezzecchi began on new hard front and medium rear tyres. Marc and Alex Marquez also started on a new medium rear, but a slightly used hard front.
Francesco Bagnaia, Fermin Aldeguer and di Giannantonio made it five Ducatis n a row, followed by Bezzecchi’s team-mate and Sprint podium finisher Jorge Martin, then Yamaha’s row two qualifier Fabio Quartararo.
Aldeguer is making his 2026 debut this weekend after missing all of pre-season testing and the Thai season opener due to a femur fracture in winter training.
MotoGP is returning to Brazil for the first time since 2004 and to Goiania for the first time since 1989.
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
No testing has taken place ahead of this weekend, with Michelin offering an enlarged allocation of three front and three (reinforced) rear tyre options.
2026 Brazilian MotoGP, Goiania – Warm-up ResultsPosRiderNatTeamTime/DiffLapMax1Marco BezzecchiITAAprilia Racing (RS-GP26)1’17.824s6/8346k2Marc MarquezSPADucati Lenovo (GP26)+0.293s4/8346k3Alex MarquezSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP26)+0.337s4/8344k4Francesco BagnaiaITADucati Lenovo (GP26)+0.343s6/8343k5Fermin AldeguerSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP25)+0.434s4/8341k6Fabio Di GiannantonioITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP26)+0.477s6/6342k7Jorge MartinSPAAprilia Racing (RS-GP26)+0.503s5/8339k8Fabio QuartararoFRAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.601s5/7339k9Diogo MoreiraBRAPro Honda LCR (RC213V)*+0.640s3/8343k10Joan MirSPAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+0.657s4/8342k11Franco MorbidelliITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25)+0.665s5/5338k12Johann ZarcoFRACastrol Honda LCR (RC213V)+0.748s5/8342k13Maverick ViñalesSPARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+0.755s5/8341k14Ai OguraJPNTrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26)+0.758s8/8341k15Toprak RazgatliogluTURPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)*+0.846s8/8339k16Pedro AcostaSPARed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.909s6/6343k17Alex RinsSPAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.910s3/8341k18Jack MillerAUSPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.952s3/8341k19Enea BastianiniITARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+0.989s4/8339k20Raul FernandezSPATrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26)+1.082s5/7334k21Luca MariniITAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+1.215s6/8339k22Brad BinderRSARed Bull KTM (RC16)+1.222s6/8341k
* Rookie.
Official Goiania MotoGP Records:
Best lap: Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia, 1m 17.408s (2026)
Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter