{"id":702908,"date":"2026-05-29T20:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702908\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:33:11","slug":"what-mugello-motogp-practice-pace-predicts-for-marc-marquezs-italian-gp-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702908\/","title":{"rendered":"What Mugello MotoGP practice pace predicts for Marc Marquez\u2019s Italian GP return"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Italian Grand Prix can be viewed as very much the real start to Marc Marquez\u2019s MotoGP season. Fresh from surgery on to remove damaged metalwork that had been scraping his radial nerve since last October\u2019s crash at the Indonesian Grand Prix, the Ducati rider will begin to point himself in the right direction at Mugello.<\/p>\n

But, as is typical when the seven-time world champion is involved, his outlook is at total odds with the expectations of those looking on. On Thursday at Mugello, many of his rivals sounded out caution about removing him from the title picture.<\/p>\n

Indeed, despite missing Sunday at the French Grand Prix and all of the Catalan Grand Prix, he is only 85 points down on Aprilia\u2019s Marco Bezzecchi<\/a>. Given the form the Italian has been in for most of this season, that gap could well have been north of 100 had the Barcelona weekend fallen in a different direction.<\/p>\n

Now, 85 points is a big gap still. But with only six rounds of 22 in the books and 37 points on offer per weekend, that is not a deficit that rules you out of the picture anymore\u2026 well, not if you\u2019re Marc Marquez<\/a>, anyway.<\/p>\n

Understandably, many will point towards Pecco Bagnaia<\/a>\u2019s 91-point overhaul to win the title in 2022 after the midway point of that campaign. It\u2019s a pertinent example, but one that\u2019s not quite equatable to the position Marquez finds himself in now, largely because the Aprilia is not a motorcycle falling down the competitive order.<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Far from it, in fact, though the Barcelona weekend proved that it\u2019s not indestructible, nor is it impervious to the challenges of intra-manufacturer rivalry.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2026 Mugello MotoGP: Best laps per manufacturerBikeRiderTimePositionDifferenceDucati GP26Fabio Di Giannantonio1m44.808s1st-KTMEnea Bastianini1m44.911s3rd0.103sApriliaMarco Bezzecchi1m45.024s7th0.216sYamahaAlex Rins1m45.149s9th0.341sHondaDiogo Moreira1m45.162s10th0.354s<\/p>\n

The current Ducati package, too, isn\u2019t the brand\u2019s strongest. But it does come to its home territory off of the back of a victory for Fabio Di Giannantonio at Barcelona. And after Friday\u2019s practice sessions at Mugello, Di Giannantonio led Pecco Bagnaia for a Ducati 1-2<\/a>. At least for now, Ducati looks in a good place at the Italian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

So, where does that leave Marquez?<\/p>\n

\"Marc <\/p>\n

Marc Marquez, 2026 Italian MotoGP.<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Marquez is well off the pace\u2026 but that doesn\u2019t matter to him<\/p>\n

Coming into the Mugello weekend, Marquez was open about where his mind was at. Aprilia\u2019s collapse at Barcelona has very much kept him in play in the championship, even with such a deficit to climb.<\/p>\n

By being at Mugello, he is in a position to potentially reduce that or, at the very least, stop it from swelling massively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d he said, when asked on Friday if the sprint would be harder or easier for him than the grand prix. \u201cIf it\u2019s more intense, I will reduce my speed. So, I don\u2019t care, and I\u2019m very honest, because I would like to say, \u2018Yeah, I want to take maximum points to try to be there in the championship\u2019. But, at the moment, I\u2019m here to try to rebuild my right arm to continue my future. I don\u2019t have another target.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is probably a good degree of truth in what he says. By all accounts, he has penned a two-year extension with Ducati, after all. But it\u2019s hard to consider Marquez returning so soon from shoulder surgery, to a track that will brutalise his right arm more than most, if he doesn\u2019t at least harbour some belief that he is capable of still fighting for the 2026 title.<\/p>\n

That said, the Mugello weekend, at least based on Friday practice pace analysis, isn\u2019t shaping up to be one where he can fight for the podium.<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2026 Mugello MotoGP: Top 10 pace analysisRiderBikePaceTyreStintLaps on tyreMarco BezzecchiAprilia1m46.191sMedium6 laps9 lapsFermin AldeguerDucati GP251m46.281sMedium4 laps7 lapsFabio Di GiannantonioDucati GP261m46.426sSoft4 laps12 laps on tyreJorge MartinAprilia1m46.442sSoft6 laps12 laps on tyreEnea BastianiniKTM1m46.492sSoft6 laps15 laps on tyrePecco BagnaiaDucati GP261m46.546sSoft7 laps14 laps on tyreAlex RinsYamaha1m46.720sSoft5 laps11 laps on tyreFranco MorbidelliDucati GP251m46.818sSoft9 laps16 laps on tyreDiogo MoreiraHonda1m46.934sSoft4 laps11 laps on tyreMarc MarquezDucati GP261m46.988sSoft6 laps15 laps on tyre<\/p>\n

Based on a six-lap run on the soft rear tyre, Marquez was almost 0.9s per lap slower than Aprilia\u2019s Marco Bezzecchi, and about half a second away from the leading Ducati (Di Giannantonio) in terms of race pace.<\/p>\n

Marquez noted after Friday\u2019s running that he is expecting to be \u201cworse, worse and worse\u201d physically as the weekend goes on. Today was about finding out how his nerve would react on the bike. Thankfully, there was no issue, though now that it is back to normal, he is using muscles that haven\u2019t been activated in a while.<\/p>\n

One thing that wasn\u2019t gone from his arsenal when he was struggling in the early rounds was his one-lap speed. And that also remains. He was sixth in the twice-red-flagged Practice at Mugello, 0.202s from pacesetter Fabio Di Giannantonio. He was still fifth out of the six Ducatis on the grid, but it\u2019s hard to imagine there isn\u2019t just a little bit more in the tank when crunch time comes in Q2 on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Writing Marquez off is always a risky business. A podium would be a dream outcome, but at present, holding onto the top eight will be a considerable result.<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

\"Marco <\/p>\n

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, 2026 Italian MotoGP<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n

Aprilia versus Ducati on home soil<\/p>\n

Ducati\u2019s Davide Tardozzi remarked to Speedweek on the build-up to the Italian Grand Prix that MotoGP\u2019s popularity in Italy has taken a knock in the wake of Valentino Rossi\u2019s retirement. It\u2019s a sad comment to digest when you consider the job Ducati has done this decade, while Aprilia has now stepped up to the plate. Italian engineering is very much at the forefront in MotoGP now.<\/p>\n

Based on practice pace, a real dogfight between the brands is on the cards, though it looks like one Aprilia has the advantage in.<\/p>\n

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi emerges as the fastest on race pace on medium rubber, albeit on a fresh tyre across a six-lap representative stint. On an eight-lap-old soft rear, Bezzecchi registered a 1m46.2s. Pecco Bagnaia, by contrast, did a 1m46.861s, while Di Giannantonio managed a 1m46.824s.<\/p>\n

Bagnaia had a low-speed fall in the Turn 1 gravel in FP1, but was overall much happier with his feeling on the GP26 compared to last year. He can \u201clet the bike turn more\u201d on the front-end this time around, though admits the bike was a little bit more unstable.<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Di Giannantonio was unwell on Friday, and is also still suffering from a finger injury he picked up in the Alex Marquez\/Pedro Acosta crash at Barcelona. But he was \u201creally happy\u201d with his feeling on the Ducati today.<\/p>\n

For Di Giannantonio, he feels he is just missing laps to really understand the potential of his package at Mugello.<\/p>\n

Where Aprilia needs to sharpen up relative to Ducati is in qualifying. Bezzecchi was the best of the Aprilias on the timesheet in seventh, 0.216s off Di Giannantonio\u2019s session-topping lap. Jorge Martin shadowed him in eighth.<\/p>\n

The RS-GPs top speed isn\u2019t an issue, but Mugello\u2019s hard braking zones are a big problem for tyre temperatures. So, starting anywhere beyond the front two rows is going to cause headaches, and that\u2019s something Aprilia needs to avoid after its messy Barcelona weekend.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Italian Grand Prix can be viewed as very much the real start to Marc Marquez\u2019s MotoGP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,8456,4280,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-702908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ducati-lenovo-team","tag-marc-marquez","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}