Johann Zarco after the Thai GP: “the bike is performing well”

This weekend, MotoGP made its big return. For the first race of the 2026 season, Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo were in Thailand with fairly mixed results.

More than four months after the last Grand Prix, MotoGP drivers are competing again on tracks around the world. The program for this new season includes 22 race weekends, the first of which is this weekend in Thailand. A track where stifling heat reigns. But it’s not just on the track that it’s hot; in the garages, tension is at its peak as some drivers already have or are about to sign new contracts for the seasons to come. In this game, Fabio Quartararo is in the front line. The world champion from Nice is fueling rumors in the paddock but doesn’t want to let anything slip in the ambient humidity. While everything suggests that his future is set with Honda, it’s with an increasingly ailing Yamaha that he’ll compete this season.

Qualified in a disappointing 16th place, still ahead of his teammate Alex Rins, ‘El Diablo’ wasn’t expecting to set the world on fire this weekend: “I think I was a bit too optimistic about the bike’s potential. I don’t want to go crazy, make mistakes. Especially for my image, that’s what’s most important. I’m trying to take everything more easily,” he explained after the first practice sessions of the season.

On Johann Zarco‘s side, it’s a bit better. Still with Team LCR Honda, the rider from Cannes will aim to do as well as last year by trying to capitalize on opportunities: “first day at the office, job done (…) I need to stay calm, work on what we can, and not compare myself too much with the guys up front, otherwise we’ll lose our way.” Twelfth after qualifying, the objective was to stay clean and learn from this year’s first sprint race.

Johann Zarco showed some good things, very comfortable in the first part of the race, attacking his teammate among others. Despite losing a position at the end of the race, he finished this first sprint in 12th place with good hopes for Sunday’s race: “With the rear medium tire, it’s a different management. We’ll all go slower with this medium but the consistency to find could suit me. It would be a good thing to score points in the top ten.“

On Fabio Quartararo’s side, after a mediocre start, the rider from Nice couldn’t find the rhythm at the beginning of the race. After losing three places at the start, the Nice native didn’t ease up to pick up positions in the final laps and regain his 16th place at the finish. “We struggle when we’re behind other riders. Nothing to report. I don’t know how to do better in the Grand Prix,” the Yamaha driver explained at the end of the sprint, somewhat defeatist.

No miracle for Fabio Quartararo, Johann Zarco knocking on the top 10 door

The Nice rider’s intuition was right. Barred from presenting himself to the press following an anonymous Yamaha race, Fabio Quartararo could do nothing except finish as the leading Yamaha driver once again. A sad 14th position that doesn’t bode well for this season…

On the other hand, the race was more interesting for Johann Zarco (11th). In rhythm on the opening laps, the Cannes native managed to latch onto the wheels of the official Honda drivers ahead of him. “I’m happy to have finished the race and scored points, it’s a good way to start the championship,” he explained at the finish. If the second half of the race was more complicated, the areas for improvement on his machine seem to be identified: “there are still many races ahead, but starting the season with this level of control is positive. I tried to manage the situation from the start and did my best given the severe tire degradation. I managed to finish the race because if I had attacked more, I probably wouldn’t have made it. I believe in the work we’re doing, the bike is performing, we have a good foundation and we just need to fine-tune a few small details.”

Now MotoGP drivers have a date in Brazil in three weeks. Time to fine-tune the settings for some or begin a revolution for others…