Marco Bezzecchi Takes Pole Position at the 2026 Thailand MotoGP

Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi locked pole position at the 2026 Thailand MotoGP. (Photo. INSTAGRAM @marcobez72)

JAKARTA - Marco Bezzecchi is confirmed to start the 2026 Thailand MotoGP Grand Prix race from the front row (pole position) after he managed to set the fastest time to beat defending champion Marc Marquez in the qualifying session. The Aprilia Racing rider continued his dominance with a record of one minute 28.652 seconds at the Chang International Circuit, Thailand, on Saturday, February 28, 2026. He was a thin +0.035 seconds ahead of Marquez who followed him in second place. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) managed to fill the third position to complete the front row. Raul's emergence as a surprise in qualifying also confirmed Aprilia's dominance for the top three positions in the front row. The second qualifying (Q2) became the stage of the Noale manufacturer's dominance. Since the beginning of the minute, the Aprilia RS-GP26 riders immediately appeared to be pressing. On his first flying lap, Bezzecchi even without difficulty broke through the one-minute 28-second mark. He was also followed by his teammate Jorge Martin and Fernandez so that Aprilia managed to dominate the top three. Unfortunately, Martin then fell to fifth place and the second position was occupied by Marquez. The young rider Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had been following Marquez, then haunted Bezzecchi. However, the Spanish rider's record was broken so that he was satisfied with starting from sixth place.

Entering the last five minutes, the MotoGP riders are getting more hungry to improve their time records. Bezzecchi even lost grip when entering Turn 12 so he fell. However, his time record could not be shifted to another name. This qualifying result continued Bezzecchi's good record in Thailand. The Italian racer previously managed to dominate the first free practice or free practice 1 (FP1), practice, and the second free practice or free practice 2 (FP2). Unfortunately, the performance of two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia is still difficult. The rider, who is familiarly called Pecco, will start the race from position 13, both in the sprint race which takes place this evening and also the peak of the race on Sunday tomorrow.