Lights on the hill, pressure in the paddock – MotoGP reacts to a pivotal Jerez

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Round Four – Jerez

Alex Marquez – P1

“If there was a track where I could rediscover my feeling, it was Jerez. Magic happens here, and that’s exactly how it went. I felt good right from Friday, but I didn’t expect to be this fast. We did an amazing job together with the team—we worked hard, and getting two consecutive wins is absolutely incredible. I attacked right from the start, both Marco and Marc, and then I found a strong rhythm. These 25 points give us a lot of confidence and at least put us back among the top 7 in the overall standings. Now we’ll try to build race by race.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P2

“I gave it my all this weekend, but unfortunately, it was not enough to battle for the win. During the race, I managed to improve and maintain a competitive pace. In any case, I’m satisfied. The team did an outstanding job, as always, and I thank them. Now we’ll be looking ahead to the test.”

Marco Bezzecchi smiles with his podium trophy after finishing second in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P3

“I am really happy with the level we’re showing. I’m just a bit upset because I made a mistake at the start: the team did a great job during all the weekend and in these months, but this little mistake didn’t allow us to really fight. For sure, it’s a great podium and we must be very happy. We are also in the Top3 of the World Standing and it’s great. But we think we could have done more without that mistake. Of course, when you start to collect such great results, a third place is not enough, but it’s an amazing result, anyway. We’re doing a great job; we just must keep the focus on and the feet on the ground. The season is still very long, but let’s keep working like this.”

Alex Marquez stands on the top step of the Jerez MotoGP podium with Marco Bezzecchi second and Fabio Di Giannantonio third.

Jorge Martin – P4

“The start was extremely good. I tried to manage the tyre, but from the early laps, the feeling with the rear wasn’t the best: I was lacking grip both under braking and under acceleration. In any case, I tried to give one hundred percent in this race. I can’t wait for the test on Monday in order to continue taking steps forward.”

Ai Ogura – P5

“We can be super, super, happy about the late race pace. From the start until the mid-part of the race, we struggled quite a lot. I lost so much time on Bastianini but, after the feeling was there, I started to catch the riders in front of me, but we have to improve the first part. It seems when everybody has good tire performance they can use this extra advantage but I’m struggling with that. I need to understand why but, at the same time, it’s good in the second part of the race, when everybody struggles and I’m not struggling so much. We keep these positive things and tomorrow we have to work on the first part of the race.”

Raul Fernandez – P6

“I’m happy with the GP. It’s a great place to race, you can feel the support of all the fans and I’m always very delighted to ride in Jerez. I think we did a very solid weekend, although it’s not the track where I can use my riding style as I want. Overall, it was a positive weekend, but I still have something to improve with the bike and I think we need to find something in the time attack. This weekend, we definitely made one step forward compared to the last race, yet there is room for improvements. It will be important to be further in front on the grid because if not, you lose a lot of time overtaking other riders, so this is the next point we have to work on.”

Johann Zarco – P7

“I gave my best to secure the best possible result, and today it was 7th. The start was tough, but I managed to defend my position and fight with my rivals. Our pace was better than I expected, honestly, it was very decent, and I’m happy about that. Of course, I was aiming for the podium, but with five laps to go I felt a big drop in the rear tyre. In the end, I crossed the line in 7th, which is still a positive result. Tomorrow’s test will help us improve in some areas and be better prepared for the next races.”

The full MotoGP field bunches up under braking into Turn 1 at Jerez at the race start.

Enea Bastianini – P8

“It’s been a solid weekend from my side. I can be happy, because we were competitive in every session – whether it was cold or hot and also with the wind in today’s race. To be honest, my expectation for the Grand Prix was a bit higher. I was thinking about the top five, but after a few laps, I felt a lot of drop-off from the front tyre so it was impossible to push it from then on. Still, we remained consistent to the end and since Austin, we have taken a good step forward; my main problem during the first two rounds of the season was a lack of all-round grip, but now, it feels much better. Let’s continue in this way!”

Fermin Aldeguer – P9

“Many positive things from this race. Starting from 12th, I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and after a disastrous start the situation got even worse. But I still managed to put together a good race—the top 10 is definitely important, though we still need to find a solid base with this new bike. We’re definitely lacking something physically; after Austin I was completely drained, but we were coming off a double-header. I feel better now, but we’ll see tomorrow morning how I feel for the tests.”

Pedro Acosta – P10

“We knew we didn’t have the speed this weekend. Without the contact it might have been easy to be in the top eight like Enea. It was difficult to understand how to control the front and when I would have wheelie. We have some work to do and we’ll think ahead to the test tomorrow now. I’m quite happy to finish the weekend.”

Brad Binder – P11

“It was a long race. I got a decent enough start but then missed some speed and the front pushed when I leant in [to corners]. To control it I had to brake earlier. When the tire performance dropped then I could get in easier but it was really tricky and very hard to be clean. A more difficult race than I anticipated and we need this test tomorrow to figure out some changes to hit the point.”

Franco Morbidelli – P12

“Today’s race was tougher, but I expected that. Yesterday we secured a podium, but for today’s race we kept working on some changes that didn’t work as we wanted, although they were useful for understanding how to solve the issue of lack of rear grip. I perform better in the final laps of the race because the tyres are so used and the bike becomes more manageable and smoother. We made some steps, but we still need to work on improving the first part of the race. We’re working very well and we proved it yesterday with the podium in the Sprint, but in dry conditions we’re still struggling a bit. Ducati and the team are working to solve this problem; in that sense, tomorrow’s test day will be very full and crucial.”

Alex Marquez leads Marco Bezzecchi with a gap opening between them during the MotoGP race at Jerez.

Luca Marini – P13

“Unfortunately, at the start of the race, I had contact with some other riders and our bike’s aerodynamics were damaged. Without the left side of the aero, everything was compromised – from wheelie in under acceleration to getting the bike stopped. We did what we could in this situation. Zarco showed how important Qualifying is, from second on the grid he could fight for sixth or seventh, so we need to keep working on our Friday and Saturday to improve Sunday. We keep improving and see what we can learn from the post-race test.”

Fabio Quartararo – P14

“I tried to ride in a different way to see if that would help, but it didn’t really. Tomorrow we will continue the work from the weekend.”

Joan Mir – P15

“Considering the Double Long Lap Penalty, the result is about as good as we could have hoped for. Our main objective was to finish the race because the conditions, the grip and everything were very critical today and with the weather we didn’t have the perfect package. Not the weekend or the result we aimed for, but some good information and at least we made some good overtakes during the comeback at the end. Now a day of testing with a few things to work on.”

Alex Rins – P16

“It was a tough weekend. From my side, I’m kind of happy because our pace was better than I expected. Overall, I was trying to fight until the rear tyre dropped, but when also the front tyre dropped, it became difficult for me to ride and lean like I wanted to. Let’s see what we have available to try at tomorrow’s test and if we can improve the bike a little.”

Diogo Moreira – P17

“We know it’s difficult to overtake in MotoGP, and even more so at this track. The race wasn’t bad, I was there, following the factory Hondas. With 10 laps to go, I started to struggle with the tyre wear. Tomorrow it will be important to try some different setup options and see where we can improve.”

Jack Miller – P18

“It was one of those weekends for us. The race itself didn‘t feel too bad — I got a decent start, but I made a mistake in the last corner on the first lap where I carried too much closing speed. After that, I was starting to find a rhythm and make my way forward. I had just passed Diogo and put in a couple of strong laps, but then I lost the rear brake. That obviously made things difficult, especially in the heavy braking zones, and Diogo was able to come back past me. In the faster, flowing corners I actually felt quite good, but overall it limited what I could do. Tomorrow we resume work and will be trying different new things that hopefully can be a new step in the right direction.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu – P19

“It was a really difficult race. I struggled at the beginning to find my rhythm, especially with the new tyre and had the same issue with engine braking that I have had in the past — the bike wasn‘t stopping the way I wanted. But towards the end of the race, my feeling improved and I was able to do better lap times over the last few laps. Now we need to analyse the difference between the start and the end of the race to understand what changed. At the moment, the main issue for me is still the engine braking. It‘s something I‘ve been feeling consistently, and we need to solve it. Once we fix that, we can then focus on improving the turning and rear grip. We will keep working together as a team to find solutions, starting from the test tomorrow.”

Augusto Fernandez – P20

“The race was tough. The rear brake broke on the second lap after I touched Jack. It’s almost impossible to complete a race without that, but I just tried to do all 25 laps, even if we were not going that fast. I also had to train myself to be ready for the next wild-card opportunity. Because of the rear brake issue, today’s feeling on the bike and the data are not so easy to compare. Let’s see what the other guys say after they get to test the same things tomorrow.”

Francesco Bagnaia – DNF

“We were lucky yesterday, not so much today. I didn’t get a great start but tried to recover positions, and I was lapping at a solid pace — not enough for the podium, but a top-seven finish was within reach. I tried to follow the lines of Enea (Bastianini) and Ogura, who were ahead of me, and our pace was similar. Unfortunately, I had an issue with a detail of the bike from the start, and it worsened lap after lap. In the end, I had to return to the pits because I couldn’t get the bike to stop properly. I believe this issue won’t happen again going forward. Tomorrow we’ll work to get closer to Alex’s pace and evaluate the solutions available to us.”

Lorenzo Savadori – DNF

“The impact during the sprint race was rather violent, but fortunately, I didn’t suffer any fractures. However, I was unable to ride during the race. I couldn’t manage to lean off the bike to do the turn angles and to pick the bike up. Consequently, I was unfortunately forced to retire.”

Marc Márquez – DNF

“I’m fine physically. We enjoyed this Grand Prix of Spain from Thursday to Sunday, so it’s a pity that the race ended so early. I did something different at turn eleven, which caused the crash. I was trying to manage the situation, as I knew Alex (Márquez) was quicker, and the goal was to finish in third or fourth place. We struggled in terms of feeling and pace in the first three races, while this has been our strongest weekend so far this season. We were competitive in the wet, but there’s still work to do in dry conditions, and we’ll start addressing that already tomorrow.”

Team Managers

Massimo Rivola – Aprilia Racing

“It was a Sunday where we demonstrated great consistency, with four Aprilias in the top six spots. The most positive aspect is seeing that we were not discouraged after a poor Saturday where everything possible happened. This gives us even more strength to tackle the upcoming races with the awareness that if we work every day seeking to give our maximum, we will achieve the maximum; so now we’re already focused on having a good test on Monday.”

Marco Bezzecchi and the Aprilia Racing team pose together in pit lane after finishing second at Jerez.

Pablo Nieto – VR46 Team Manager

“The Spanish GP was a crucial weekend, the first European race is always very difficult, and you can understand your value. We proved to be very strong with Di Giannantonio during all the weekend and in every condition, even on wet where we used to struggle. This second podium is a great result to end the race weekend. Yesterday, we claimed a great third place with Franco in a Sprint where we had to be smart. We must still improve, but I am very happy with the steps we made with him. I think we must be very satisfied with the job we’ve done. Now, let’s focus on Monday’s test, another crucial day to keep working on the bike.”

Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Aprilia Team Principal

“We enjoyed today! It was a very exciting, a very fun race. We saw our riders fighting first against the others and then actually each other in the last lap. It was a great recovery – let’s not forget yesterday we had to qualify in the wet, where we didn’t use all our potential. We could have started much further in front today but, anyway, we started P8 and P11 and then both, Ai and Raul, were able to recover and to finish in P5 and P6. Great recovery, great fighting. This is a track, where it’s normally not very easy to overtake, so coming back in such a condition is great. I want to say thank you very much to both, Ai and Raul, for what they showed in the race, fighting, pushing until the end and actually this brings us back into P2 as a team, so great team job! What also makes us happy is that this is the fourth circuit this year and basically everywhere Aprilia has been very competitive, so hopefully we continue this trend, go to the next race and try again, always fighting for good positions.”

Nicolas Goyon – Red Bull KTM Tech3 Team Manager

“Enea produced a really strong performance at Jerez. We were looking forward to seeing what he could do after his excellent results in Austin, and it has been another very positive weekend. He had his best qualifying of the season so far – which is so important around this track – and then ran very well in sixth place in the Sprint race until the rain came. We thought maybe we could challenge for the top five in the Grand Prix given how well he manages tyre degradation, but the top guys were just slightly out of reach so eighth and top KTM rider was still a good result. Enea is feeling happier on the bike after a tough start to the year, and climbing into the top ten in the championship will give him even more confidence. Now, it will be really important to maintain this level of performance. The test tomorrow offers us the perfect opportunity to confirm the improvements we have made and set ourselves up well for the rest of the season.”

Aki Ajo – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager

“A really challenging weekend here in Jerez. Normally we always hope for stable conditions at a GP and today we finally had it…but the results were not what we were expecting and not where we should be. The weather probably helped us on Saturday but the reality is that we struggled to keep the good pace today. To have 8-10-11 positions for the riders means we can say we survived but we have to analyze why our performance is not at the level of the last races. A positive point is that we have some time to look at our data for tomorrow and we have to use our testing hours wisely here in Jerez.”

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Energy Yamaha Team Director

“All in all, it’s been a tough race weekend, but today we did what we could in the Race. We knew that the feeling wasn’t great in the dry, so we expected it to be a long race today. Fabio and Álex made good starts and capitalised on the pack being close together at the time. While our riders still couldn’t battle to their full potential, especially Fabio showed some expert defensive riding in the final laps, and overall the riders got the maximum result within our capabilities. We will be back at the Jerez track tomorrow for the one-day IRTA test. Thankfully, it looks like we will have good riding weather again, so we should be able to complete our full testing programme.”

Gino Borsoi – Prima Pramac Yamaha Team Director

“It was definitely not an easy weekend. To be honest, I was convinced we could have done better at this circuit, especially considering some of the positive signs we had seen in the previous race with a few improvements to the bike. However, the whole weekend turned out to be quite complicated. The changing weather certainly didn‘t help, but overall we weren‘t able to find the right set-up for both riders. We struggled yesterday and again today in the race. In particular, Saturday presented a good opportunity that we weren‘t able to take advantage of. It‘s been a difficult weekend, and now we need to use it as a moment to reflect, understand where we can improve, and make sure we don‘t miss opportunities when they arise. It will require a collective effort from the whole team, and hopefully this will help us move forward in the future.”

Jerez MotoGP Race Results


Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	A. Marquez	Duc	40m48.861
2	M. Bezzecchi	Apr	+1.903
3	F. Di Giannantonio	Duc	+5.796
4	J. Martin	Apr	+9.229
5	A. Ogura	Apr	+9.891
6	R. Fernandez	Apr	+10.614
7	J. Zarco	Hon	+13.039
8	E. Bastianini	KTM	+14.411
9	F. Aldeguer	Duc	+19.778
10	P. Acosta	KTM	+22.431
11	B. Binder	KTM	+22.799
12	F. Morbidelli	Duc	+24.867
13	L. Marini	Hon	+26.871
14	F. Quartararo	Yam	+29.532
15	J. Mir	Hon	+29.899
16	A. Rins	Yam	+32.921
17	D. Moreira	Hon	+36.656
18	J. Miller	Yam	+37.577
19	T. Razgatlioglu	Yam	+44.557
20	A. Fernandez	Yam	+1:05.023
Not Classified
NC	F. Bagnaia	Duc	13 Laps
NC	L. Savadori	Apr	19 Laps
NC	M. Marquez	Duc	24 Laps

Jerez MotoGP Top Speeds


Pos	Rider	Bike	Average	Top
1	F. Di Giannantonio	Duc	298.0Km/h	300.8Km/h
2	P. Acosta	KTM	298.0Km/h	300.0Km/h
3	F. Bagnaia	Duc	298.9Km/h	300.0Km/h
4	M. Bezzecchi	Apr	298.2Km/h	300.0Km/h
5	L. Marini	Hon	298.0Km/h	299.1Km/h
6	D. Moreira	Hon	297.3Km/h	299.1Km/h
7	E. Bastianini	KTM	298.1Km/h	299.1Km/h
8	J. Zarco	Hon	297.3Km/h	298.3Km/h
9	F. Morbidelli	Duc	296.0Km/h	298.3Km/h
10	B. Binder	KTM	296.9Km/h	298.3Km/h
11	F. Quartararo	Yam	294.2Km/h	297.5Km/h
12	R. Fernandez	Apr	296.1Km/h	297.5Km/h
13	A. Rins	Yam	296.8Km/h	297.5Km/h
14	A. Ogura	Apr	296.7Km/h	297.5Km/h
15	L. Savadori	Apr	294.9Km/h	296.7Km/h
16	J. Mir	Hon	296.1Km/h	296.7Km/h
17	F. Aldeguer	Duc	296.1Km/h	296.7Km/h
18	J. Martin	Apr	296.1Km/h	296.7Km/h
19	J. Miller	Yam	293.9Km/h	295.8Km/h
20	A. Marquez	Duc	295.2Km/h	295.8Km/h
21	T. Razgatlioglu	Yam	291.7Km/h	293.4Km/h
22	A. Fernandez	Yam	292.2Km/h	292.6Km/h

2026 MotoGP Championship Standings


Pos	Rider	Points
1	M. Bezzecchi	101
2	J. Martin	90
3	F. Di Giannantonio	71
4	P. Acosta	66
5	M. Marquez	57
6	R. Fernandez	54
7	A. Marquez	53
8	A. Ogura	48
9	F. Bagnaia	34
10	E. Bastianini	30
11	B. Binder	28
12	L. Marini	27
13	F. Morbidelli	25
14	J. Zarco	24
15	F. Aldeguer	20
16	F. Quartararo	11
17	D. Moreira	9
18	J. Mir	4
19	A. Rins	3
20	T. Razgatlioglu	1
21	J. Miller
22	M. Viñales
23	M. Pirro
24	A. Fernandez

2026 MotoGP Calendar


Rnd	Date	Event	Circuit
1	01 Mar	Thai	Chang International Circuit
2	22 Mar	Brazil*	Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna
3	29 Mar	US	Circuit of the Americas
4	26 Apr	Spain**	Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto
5	10 May	France	Le Mans
6	17 May	Catalonia	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
7	31 May	Italy	Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
8	07 Jun	Hungary	Balaton Park Circuit
9	21 Jun	Czech	Automotodrom Brno
10	28 Jun	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen
11	12 Jul	Germany	Sachsenring
12	09 Aug	GB	Silverstone Circuit
13	30 Aug	Aragon	MotorLand Aragon
14	13 Sep	San Marino	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
15	20 Sep	Austria	Red Bull Ring-Spielberg
16	04 Oct	Japan	Mobility Resort Motegi
17	11 Oct	Indonesia	Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit
18	25 Oct	Australia	Phillip Island
19	01 Nov	Malaysia	Petronas Sepang International Circuit
20	08 Nov	Qatar	Lusail International Circuit
21	22 Nov	Portugal	Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
22	29 Nov	Valencia	Circuit Ricardo Tormo

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