Fabio Di Giannantonio set the fastest time in warm-up for the 2026 Qatar MotoGP at Lusail, maintaining the speed that carried him to second in the Sprint. Tyre selection shaped the session: Di Giannantonio used the soft rear, while most of the field chose the medium rear ahead of the evening’s 22-lap Grand Prix. Marco Bezzecchi, running the medium, was around half a second slower. Marc Marquez finished fifth and Jorge Martin tenth.

The two leading title contenders were late onto the circuit, repeating what happened at Sepang. Martin, racing for Aprilia while injured, had a scare in the final minute but stayed upright. Marquez had already won the Sprint on the soft rear and now has his first mathematical chance to secure the 2026 MotoGP crown. He must win the Grand Prix while Martin scores no points. The same result would also end Bezzecchi’s title hopes. The Aprilia rider needs to outscore Marquez by five points to remain in contention, with Portimao and Valencia still on the calendar.

Absences reshape the Qatar grid

The Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 7pm local time, or 4pm in the UK. Yamaha is not taking part in Qatar because of existing company-wide travel restrictions, leaving Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins, Jack Miller and Augusto Fernandez out of the event. Sunday’s grid is therefore reduced to 17 riders. Francesco Bagnaia’s foot fractures are another reason for the smaller field, after Fermin Aldeguer took him out on the opening lap of the Sprint.

Honda is also fielding a revised line-up. Alex Marquez is absent after recent surgery and is replaced by Iker Lecuona, while Joan Mir remains sidelined by fatigue-related vision problems and gives way to Jake Dixon. Dixon, who made two MotoGP starts for Petronas Yamaha SRT in 2021 during his Moto2 career, could not set a warm-up time because of a technical issue. Diogo Moreira also pulled off the circuit with smoke coming from his Honda RC213V.