Qatar Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP rider rankings

The reduced-grid Qatar Grand Prix weekend in MotoGP was also an unusual one in terms of rider performances - as so much of the field were either limited or looked like they were leaving a lot on the table.

But there were a handful of exceptions, and they lead the line in the ranking below.

What do you think of Val's choices? Leave your thoughts and questions about his Qatar rankings in the comments on this post in The Race Members' Club and he'll reply in his Q&A recording

Qualifying: 2nd Sprint: 1st Grand Prix: 2nd

Marquez has certainly had better weekends this season, and he's at least a little fortunate in not being taken down in the Marco Bezzecchi clash at the start of the sprint - and at least partially culpable for the contact.

But he came out on the right side there, likely helped by his last-second reaction to mitigate the collision. And outside of that moment he was relentless, maintaining his sky-high level of performance from the last few months that will end up winning him the 2026 title.

Qualifying: 17th Sprint: 16th Grand Prix: 14th

Honda's decision to draft in Dixon at late notice was fully vindicated here, and he did more for his reputation than 1000 starts with the unfancied Honda Fireblade in World Superbikes ever could.

Though tow-assisted, he was already just 1.1s off the best Honda on Friday, closing the gap in qualifying and closing it further in the grand prix.

Though he made a Turn 1 error on Sunday that detached him from the group, Dixon was rightly elated about his late-race pace - going from just under 10s behind Johann Zarco at the halfway point to 12.5s at the finish.

Certified good stuff.

Qualifying: 15th Sprint: 9th Grand Prix: 10th

This was a lovely little palate cleanser for Lecuona after a relatively underwhelming Sepang weekend.

He was totally spent by the end of that one, but was back to his energetic, adaptable self in Lusail, making easy work of the transition from Fermin Aldeguer's Ducati GP25 to Alex Marquez's Ducati GP26.

He was particularly buoyed by a "crazy" performance on Sunday, in which he was very competitive against any of the non-Marc Marquez Ducatis.

Qualifying: 7th Sprint: 5th Grand Prix: 9th

Zarco was Honda's only real hope of getting anything at all out of the weekend. In the end, that 'anything' was 12 points - Zarco's best points return of the season, and an above-average haul for Honda's 2026 constructors' efforts.

His qualifying and sprint were particularly good, as in both he placed best of the rest behind the Ducati-Aprilia group out front.

He had less fortune on Sunday, however, in getting to the optimal track position and fighting off rival challenges, left "a bit pissed off" by the feeling that his RC213V was outmatched in wheel-to-wheel battle.

Qualifying: 1st Sprint: DNF Grand Prix: 1st

Bezzecchi had a tangible pace margin to lean on this weekend, which is to his credit, but he clearly did not maximise it on Saturday.

I am loath to blame him too much for the crash - a genuine 50/50 for me - nor do I think it means much at all in the context of his long-doomed title bid. But for the weapons he had, that was not the moment to force the issue.

This was underlined by his supremacy on Sunday.

Qualifying: 11th Sprint: 3rd Grand Prix: 7th

My perhaps too-cynical read on Martin's weekend is that it was impressive but inconsequential. He was convinced that it was worth it - but, hearing him say that he was "destroyed" in the closing laps and remembering how that went his previous time in Qatar, I am not so sure.

The pace, however, was clearly there when allowed for by the energy and pain. But Q2 was a "disaster" from a physical standpoint - and while the sprint was excellent, aided by a change in rear tyre compound at the red flag, he was plainly just hanging on on Sunday.

Qualifying: 4th Sprint: 4th Grand Prix: 3rd

Genuinely really strong here - which Marc Marquez must have recognised, given he latched on to Fernandez through several of his own single-lap attempts.

With his index finger now recovered enough to enable him to brake in his conventional style again, Fernandez was an obvious contender for the podium - and maybe more - in both races.

He was "super frustrated" to miss out on Saturday, feeling too limited in top speed relative to both other manufacturers and his Aprilia peers (the available data does vaguely support this), then ran into a bit of fuel trouble on Sunday so couldn't preserve second place.

Qualifying: 3rd Sprint: 2nd Grand Prix: 8th

By and large Di Giannantonio lived up to his reputation as a Lusail specialist again - you only need to look at six of his seven sessions this weekend to see it.

Unfortunately, session seven was the main race. Having worked to troubleshoot some apparent technical issues, which include reduced top speed, through the weekend, he was completely hamstrung by the "really bad surprise" of "massive, massive vibrations" on his Ducati.

This can be rider- and team-induced, or a consequence of being caught out by track evolution, particularly in Qatar - though Di Giannantonio sounded very convinced it was "out of our control".

It is, in any case, a clear outlier in terms of his weekend performance. Yet, with or without this issue, had he already done too much damage to his hopes on Sunday by putting himself in harm's way on the outside of a Trackhouse Aprilia squabble at Turn 1 and getting shoved down to ninth?

Qualifying: 10th Sprint: 8th Grand Prix: 5th

The flyaways have been kind to Bastianini this year, putting a bit of last-second shine on what has been an often-grumpy KTM tenure.

He was vibration-limited on the medium rear in the two races, so was in truth probably half a step behind Pedro Acosta - but was there to capitalise on his stablemate's various difficulties.

Qualifying: 8th Sprint: 6th Grand Prix: 6th

The biggest positive from Acosta's weekend is easily the preservation of his qualifying streak against MotoGP team-mates, now at 62-0, despite looking after a really dodgy Friday like it was finally going to end here.

Beyond that - and a reported technical issue in Q2 - it was a generally under-par weekend, with his and crew chief Paul Trevathan's increasingly trademark gamble of taking a risk on tyre pressures making for an annoying Sunday.

Acosta, it should be noted, said that the tyre pressures would've worked out if not for another issue, which presumably compromised his capability to force the front and generate temperature.

In the end, he could have still done a fair bit worse than sixth and sixth.

Qualifying: 6th Sprint: 7th Grand Prix: 4th

Ogura was clearly bedding himself in far, far too gently at each of the starts. This is a trait of his, yes, but here it seemed to hurt more than elsewhere - as he was consistently losing positions in the early phase.

There were a couple of encounters with team-mate Fernandez, too, that didn't help, but Ogura was more disappointed by the battle with Zarco on Sunday - the Frenchman a lot more keen to get a move on and effectively cutting off Ogura's route back into the podium battle.

Qualifying: 5th Sprint: DNF Grand Prix: DNS

The questions that remain about Bagnaia's weekend are: was he merely improved, or a real-deal podium contender here? And was him going second-to-fifth in the early phase of the sprint, before Fermin Aldeguer's error removed him from the weekend, just circumstance or competitive gravity?

It's difficult to proffer a guess one way or another. But Bagnaia was clearly more lively than in recent rounds across the first two days, having expected the Qatar surface - despite the dust - to offset his GP26 rear-grip troubles.

He was still the third-best Ducati at best - though almost certainly also at worst - when the crash broke his foot and ensured he will have to undergo surgery back in Italy.

Qualifying: 14th Sprint: 13th Grand Prix: DNS

Any detailed comparisons to other Honda riders, whether regulars or stand-ins, would be doing Marini a disservice here given it was an obviously compromised weekend.

Even premium track position behind Bezzecchi on Friday did little to offset his low energy level - a lingering consequence of a viral infection - and after a combative but rather slow sprint he would end up withdrawing before the main event.

Qualifying: 18th Sprint: 15th Grand Prix: 13th

Unfit and unhappy. As Vinales himself put it, for him there's "no meaning to ride motorcycles at 50%, I don't feel good inside".

It's a big shame, because Vinales' track record in Qatar is a great one and he found the RC16 a "pleasure to ride" - but just couldn't do anything competitive with it, especially at the end of a triple-header.

Again, being relatively 'fresh' on Friday was as good as it got, with his subsequent Q1 pace a three-tenth regression and both races turned into box-ticking exercises.

Qualifying: 16th Sprint: 10th Grand Prix: DNF

In hindsight it looks like Moreira probably should have sat this one out, though maybe he will have picked up things for future encounters with Lusail.

He was badly off over a single lap, much closer to Dixon than Zarco, and - following an average sprint - finally threw in the towel on Sunday.

This just looked wrong, and Moreira's admission afterwards that he was suffering badly with his elbow - as a consequence of a mid-2025 Moto2 injury - was a welcome explanation to such a freakishly bad weekend in such a neat rookie season.

Qualifying: 12th Sprint: 12th Grand Prix: DNF

A total nothing weekend, ended early by a gearbox failure on Sunday - though Binder admitted the race "wasn't going too great already".

You will have guessed already that the big issue was qualifying, though on this occasion it was specifically crashing instantly at Turn 1 in Q2 - when faced with the prime opportunity to do a fast lap in the wheeltracks of a pushing Marquez.

Qualifying: 13th Sprint: 14th Grand Prix: 11th

The start lights continue to be the bane of Morbidelli's existence in his final MotoGP season.

He lost places on all three starts this time and had a particularly poor opening lap in the main event, guaranteeing himself another long afternoon of fighting the injured and the stand-ins.

Whether the actual pace was there to do any better...well, the evidence is a little scant. He was not within a second of the pace in any of the timed sessions, and what he felt was an "almost perfect lap" in Q1, in Marini's tow, still wasn't enough for a Q2 ticket.

Qualifying: 9th Sprint: 11th Grand Prix: 12th

The big takeaway from this weekend for Aldeguer is that he's averaging one rival injured over the past three seasons: Tony Arbolino in Moto2 in 2024, Miguel Oliveira last year, Bagnaia now.

If it feels unfair to bring up, well, it doesn't feel unfair to me. Aldeguer's lunge on Acosta that launched Bagnaia into the air wasn't an outrageous move but required much more situational awareness, and it really feels like he too often comes out on the wrong end of this aggression-versus-poise balancing act.

The performance itself was largely fine considering Aldeguer is nursing a "bad leg, bad hand, bad back", though Sunday's showing was also tyre-limited, ensuring a write-off weekend.