It wasn\u2019t a flawless weekend for Ducati, however, and some riders feel there are still details to iron out ahead of the Thailand opener. For Bagnaia, the main concern is inconsistent braking feel, while Alex Marquez admitted he has had to adjust his riding style on corner entry to fully exploit the GP26.<\/p>\n
![\"Ducati](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771875309_999_francesco-bagnaia-ducati-team.jpg\")
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Ducati is strong, but there are still concerns<\/p>\n
Photo by: Steve Wobser \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Aprilia, meanwhile, looks ready to challenge from round one, rather than joining the battle midway through the campaign. Alex Marquez feels Ducati should already be prepared to lose some races to Noale, and instead focus on making up ground elsewhere. Aprilia has managed to improve the RS-GP everywhere, but one area that has caught its rivals\u2019 attention is the bike\u2019s superior speed on corner entry.<\/p>\n
Aprilia will also derive encouragement from the fact that both Ai Ogura<\/a> and Jorge Martin<\/a> are now back in the game, and it can cut its reliance on Marco Bezzecchi<\/a>. Even Raul Fernandez, who was feeling uncomfortable with the new package in Sepang, seems to have got the hang of the RS-GP26.<\/p>\n Ogura was easily among the fastest riders over long runs, along with Bezzecchi, but it\u2019s hard to derive a direct comparison with the Ducatis; Marc Marquez\u2019s race simulation was thwarted due to a crash, while Bagnaia completed his long run on Saturday, when track conditions were presumably inferior.<\/p>\n Martin back to full fitness, but Marquez\u2019s situation more complicated<\/p>\n After two new surgeries over the winter break, you could have been forgiven for assuming that Martin was going to face a slow start to pre-season testing. But even after missing three days of running in Sepang, the Spaniard quickly dispelled all doubts about his physical fitness at Buriram.\u00a0<\/p>\n Marc Marquez\u2019s situation is more nuanced. The seven-time MotoGP champion is still figuring out his new ceiling after a crash in Indonesia cut short his 2025 campaign and sidelined him from a MotoGP bike for five months<\/p>\n The world champion was also able to quickly find his feet on the RS-GP – a bike he never fully mastered during his disrupted 2025 campaign. In fact, Martin sounded more assured than at any stage last year, and believes he can finally unlock his full potential as the season progresses.<\/p>\n That said, he is aware that he is not close to returning to winning ways just yet. But his early target of top-six finishes, against a strengthened Ducati line-up, puts him on the right trajectory.<\/p>\n Martin looks set to bounce back from his horror 2025<\/p>\n Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ LAT Images \/ via Getty Images<\/p>\n Marc Marquez\u2019s situation is more nuanced. The seven-time MotoGP champion is still figuring out his new ceiling after a crash in Indonesia cut short his 2025 campaign and sidelined him from a MotoGP bike for five months. A stomach bug during the Buriram weekend only added to his woes. The Spaniard suffered three crashes across the two days, all of which he pinned down to lapses in concentration. The last of his crashes interrupted his race simulation, which he had begun while already feeling tired.<\/p>\n Even so, Marquez\u2019s underlying pace was strong and his feedback on the 2026 Ducati mirrored that of his peers. He remains the outright favourite for both victory in Thailand and the 2026 title.\u00a0<\/p>\n KTM improving but it\u2019s in no man\u2019s land<\/p>\n KTM has made clear steps forward with the RC16, but it now finds itself even further behind Ducati and Aprilia this season. Pedro Acosta<\/a> described the 2026 KTM as \u201cpromising\u201d, reporting the bike was feeling faster and easier to ride. More importantly, he felt KTM had finally made progress in fixing its tyre wear issues.<\/p>\n If other KTM riders felt the same, the Austrian manufacturer could have been encouraged. However, Acosta\u2019s feedback was something of an outlier, with the rest of the squad reporting different issues.<\/p>\n Maverick Vinales will definitely be one of KTM\u2019s strongest riders this year, but he felt he wasted a lot of time re-evaluating the same components he initially tried at Sepang. This left him with little time to complete his own preparations for the new season – including getting the hang of the electronics package. He also struggled to use the rear tyre to stop the bike, leading to severe tyre wear issues. While his sprint simulation was respectable, his tyre was \u201ccooked\u201d when he tried to replicate a full grand prix distance.<\/p>\n The situation was worse for Vinales\u2019 Tech3 team-mate Enea Bastianini<\/a>, who had to revert to his base set-up after \u201cnothing worked\u201d for him at Buriram. Binder was having a tough outing too, until a late set-up change transformed his test and allowed him to go \u201cso much quicker than he has been in a long time”. Still, he has a lot of work to do to close the gap to his team-mate Acosta and Vinales.<\/p>\n KTM is firmly in the midfield<\/p>\n Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ LAT Images \/ via Getty Images<\/p>\n Buriram has never been KTM\u2019s best track, and with ambient temperature expected to peak at 34C at Buriram, the RC16s won\u2019t be troubling the frontrunners this weekend.<\/p>\n Honda still can\u2019t fix an underlying issue<\/p>\n While Honda seemed upbeat after its performance in Sepang, a track where it carries out many of its private tests, Buriram provided a sterner reality check.<\/p>\n Make no mistake: Honda made noticeable gains over the winter. The engine now delivers more torque, the aero package is more aggressive, and the improved top speed should aid overtaking under braking. Yet, with KTM and other rivals improving, Honda\u2019s overall position has little changed from last year.<\/p>\n The scale of challenge Yamaha faces this year is daunting, as the Buriram test exposed just how far behind the Japanese marque is with the development of its 2026 MotoGP bike<\/p>\n Joan Mir<\/a> explained how the RC213V was getting bogged down by the exact same grip issues as last year, which are going to be exacerbated when Moto2 and Moto3 leave marbles on track during the race weekend.<\/p>\n This, chiefly, is the bike\u2019s biggest weakness now, and it also affects riders in the early acceleration phase. Mir suggested that only a \u201crevolution\u201d in the area could address the problem – but a solution of this scale is unlikely to arrive before 2027.<\/p>\n Compared to the factory riders, Johann Zarco<\/a> remained more optimistic in the outright potential of the RC213V. However, the Frenchman struggled to extract the maximum out of his bike in Buriram, even if he drew encouragement from the fact that he and LCR know what direction they need to take.<\/p>\n Honda is still expected to be the fourth-best manufacturer<\/p>\n Photo by: Lillian Suwanrumpha \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n Yamaha\u2019s struggles are worse than previously thought<\/p>\n The scale of challenge Yamaha faces this year is daunting, as the Buriram test exposed just how far behind the Japanese marque is with the development of its 2026 MotoGP bike.<\/p>\n Riders were unanimous in their claim that the new V4-powered M1 is not ready – and won\u2019t be for several months. Turning the package competitive could take much longer, and the first half of the season would certainly be an extended testing programme for Yamaha.<\/p>\n The frustration was most evident in Fabio Quartararo<\/a>\u2019s body language, with the 2021 world champion caught showing the middle finger to his bike on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yamaha had to redesign the entire bike around the V4 motor and that has fundamentally altered the bike. Some of the strong points of the M1 haven\u2019t carried over to the new version, and it struggles in virtually every area. While the bike is still faster than its predecessor over a single lap, riders are particularly concerned that Yamaha has actually gone backwards over long runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The V4 engine will remain underpowered until an upgrade arrives at an unspecified point in the season, while other areas of the bike also require significant refinement.<\/p>\n Much of the development workload now rests on Jack Miller<\/a>, but Yamaha\u2019s 2026 woes have compounded the struggles of his new team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu<\/a>, who has already been finding it hard to adapt to his new environment in MotoGP.<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n Yamaha is firmly rooted to the back<\/p>\n Photo by: Steve Wobser \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n We want to hear from you!<\/p>\n Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.<\/p>\n![\"Martin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771875309_267_jorge-martin-aprilia-racing-te.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Honda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771875312_269_joan-mir-honda-hrc.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Yamaha](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771875313_194_fabio-quartararo-yamaha-factor.jpg\")
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