Marc Márquez finished second in the 2026 Qatar Grand Prix with the Ducati Lenovo Team, securing a new match point in the riders’ title fight at the next round in Portugal. The podium at Lusail followed a race in which Márquez had to recover the position rather than simply defend it from the start.

Márquez held second away from the line, but Raúl Fernández passed him a few corners later and Pedro Acosta moved ahead on lap three. Márquez responded by overtaking Acosta on lap six. His pace improved from the halfway point onward, and he made his decisive move on Fernández at the beginning of the third-to-last lap. The Ducati rider then kept second place to the chequered flag.

With the 20th Grand Prix of the season concluding, Márquez leads the riders’ standings on 431 points, 60 ahead of Jorge Martín. Francesco Bagnaia is ninth on 173 points and is travelling back to Italy for surgery after the Sprint crash caused fractures to the fourth and fifth metatarsals of his right foot. The procedure was expected to take place between the following day and Tuesday.

The Ducati Lenovo Team is second in the teams’ standings with 504 points, while Ducati leads the constructors’ championship on 569. Márquez called the weekend crucial and said Ducati had scored the most points in Qatar. The team’s next Grand Prix is scheduled for the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, from November 20 to 22.