The afternoon sprint in Thailand was the first sprint session of the 2026 season. There were high expectations, as many people wondered who would win.

Marc Márquez had a great start and took first place into Turn 1. Further down the grid, Álex Márquez went wide and pushed Fabio Di Giannantonio out with him. Toprak Razgatlioglu also had a strong start and climbed up to 15th place. Marco Bezzecchi fought back for first place, but Marc managed to take the position again at the last corner of the first lap.

After the first lap, the top 10 were: Márquez, Bezzecchi, Acosta, Fernández, Martín, Mir, Ogura, Binder, Bagnaia and Marini.

Bezzecchi later used his riding skills to overtake Márquez and take first place. However he crashed out of the lead and retired from the race. Pedro Acosta used the situation to surprise Márquez with an overtake, but Márquez took the position back at the next corner.

Diogo Moreira was the first rider to receive a track limits warning from the race stewards. Further down the grid, Álex Márquez was fighting to recover positions after his early mistake. Razgatlioglu continued to impress, holding 15th place behind his team-mate Jack Miller. Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo dropped to 19th place.

At the front, Márquez tried to create a gap to Acosta, but Acosta stayed close. Ogura was defending his position from Mir and Binder behind him. Di Giannantonio, after being pushed wide earlier, fought back and moved up to 10th place.

Raúl Fernández, in third place, built a gap of more than one second to Jorge Martín in fourth. Fernández hoped that Márquez and Acosta would slow each other down so he could catch them.

At the end of lap seven, Acosta overtook Márquez, but on the start/finish straight he did not have enough speed compared to the Ducati and lost the position again into Turn 1. Meanwhile, Martín was under pressure from Ai Ogura in the battle for fourth place. On lap nine, at the final corner, Acosta tried again to pass Márquez, but once more he lacked speed on the straight.

With three laps to go, the top 10 were: Márquez, Acosta, Fernández, Ogura, Martín, Mir, Binder, Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia and Marini.

Acosta did not give up and tried another overtake at the final corner. He made a good move, but again did not have the speed on the straight. With two laps to go, Razgatlioglu crashed out of his first ever MotoGP sprint race.

At the front, Pedro Acosta finally overtook Márquez and managed to stay ahead. When Márquez tried to pass back at the last corner, he pushed Acosta wide. For this incident, Márquez received a one-place penalty. On the final lap, he let Acosta through to serve the penalty.

Pedro Acosta won the first sprint race of the season. Márquez finished second, and Raúl Fernández completed the podium after getting very close to the leading two riders.