MotoGP could crown its 2026 World Champion this weekend as it travels east this week to Qatar for the 20th round of the season.
Marc Marquez will be keen to repeat his feats of a year ago and win the Qatar Grand Prix, but is likely to face stiff opposition from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi and KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who is on a high from a brilliant weekend in Malaysia.
Marc Marquez’s MotoGP Match Point
Marc Marquez could have this season’s MotoGP World Championship wrapped up with two rounds to spare if this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix goes to plan.
The nine-time World Champion currently holds a 44-point lead over Jorge Martin after he delivered a crushing victory on Malaysian soil at the Sepang International Circuit just five days ago.
Should Marquez outscore Martin by 30 points this weekend, and Marco Bezzecchi by eight, he will head back to Europe as this year’s World Champion. MotoGP Expert Tom Lüthi believes his current form means there is a “good chance” that will happen.
“Marc Márquez is on the verge of clinching the title,” said Lüthi. “He really did ride with his head in the Sprint in Malaysia. Marc is in great form at the moment; he’s got tremendous speed, but he also rides incredibly cleverly.
“If he carries on like this in Qatar, then there’s obviously a very good chance he’ll clinch the title there.”
Jorge Martin to make second heroic MotoGP Return
Jorge Martin was one of the big stories at the Malaysian Grand Prix as he heroically returned to track just six days on from breaking a bone in his right wrist in Australia.
“Martin got injured in Australia,” said Lüthi, “and he tried to ride in Malaysia. But then had to throw in the towel on the second day of practice.
“It wasn’t possible, er, to ride like that. With the MotoGP bikes, the speeds are extremely high, and then you have to brake brutally, and the whole weight is bearing down on your arms. So even with painkillers, an injection, tape and so on, it wasn’t really possible for Jorge Martín to push himself to the limit.”
One week on, Martin is returning to the seat of his MotoGP Aprilia machine once again. If he can be in some way competitive it will be nothing short of incredible.
Acosta aiming to continue podium run
Pedro Acosta is eying a podium return after a sensational weekend at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The 22-year old won the MotoGP Sprint and finished a comfortable second in the Sunday Grand Prix.
He still has hopes of securing third in the MotoGP World Championship, and currently sits fourth overall, 37 points back of Bezzecchi.
The Lusail International Circuit has been a good track for Acosta in the past. He stunned the watching world by winning just his second Grand Prix here in Moto3 in 2021 and finished in the top ten in his MotoGP debut in 2024.
‘Overtaking manoeuvres are tricky’
The Lusail International Circuit in Qatar is famous for running races at night. The fast, flowing layout has also produced some of the great MotoGP races of the modern era.
Lüthi is a big fan. “The track itself in Qatar is cool,” he said. “What’s special about it is that it’s run under floodlights and the races take place at night. I’ve always really, really liked that, because the whole daily rhythm is different
“The track itself is very smooth, a wide, lovely track; it just has two bends that are tighter and slower. The rest can be ridden smoothly. But because there isn’t that much traffic on the track throughout the year, there’s always a lot of sand on it.
“That means, of course, that the grip isn’t ideal. Off the ideal line, it’s always a bit of a mixed bag – it stays dirty in places and not in others – and the grip simply isn’t there. That means even in the MotoGP class when it comes to overtaking manoeuvres, it’s tricky.”
