The Aragon Grand Prix added another twist to the MotoGP title fight, as Marc Marquez claimed an emphatic victory over his 2027 team-mate, Pedro Acosta.
But he wasn’t the only ‘winner’ from a fascinating weekend in Spain, where a wide gulf in performance separated some title contenders.
As the second half of the season truly begins, a competitive picture is beginning to emerge, with Marquez just one of the riders expected to play a big role in the final nine races of the 1000cc era.
Here are the winners and losers from MotoGP’s Aragon GP.
Winner: Marc Marquez
For the third time in six weekends, Marc Marquez achieved a perfect score of 37 points. But while he largely cruised to victory lane in both Hungary and Germany, he had to bring his A-game to Aragon to complete another double.
Outpaced by Marco Bezzecchi in both Friday Practice and qualifying, he took a big risk at the start in the sprint, but it ultimately paid off, handing him the lead in an instant.
But it was on Sunday where he was really tested, after being left on the back foot on the opening lap. To make up ground, he wasn’t afraid to get aggressive, making bold moves on both Jorge Martin and then Bezzecchi at Turn 15. The fact that he could dip into the 1m46s bracket in the middle of the race showed how much peak performance he was carrying.
Marquez’s strategy in 2026 is simple: pounce on tracks that work well for him and limit the damage elsewhere. So far, this game plan has worked well. What was once a 100+ point deficit has now been slashed to just 19.
Loser: Francesco Bagnaia
Humiliating. That was Francesco Bagnaia’s description of a wretched weekend at Aragon. Silverstone had already marked a new low point for him in 2026, after an encouraging first half of the season, but things only got worse for him in round 13.
When all other Ducati riders progressed directly into Q2 on Friday, Bagnaia struggled to break into the top 10, finishing over a second off the pace in 13th. He did eventually manage to progress into the second leg of qualifying and grab eighth place on the grid, but this was as good as his weekend got.
In the sprint, he struggled with a lack of rear grip and dropped to 11th, finishing behind a returning Johann Zarco and the Yamaha of Jack Miller, while his team-mate led a Ducati 1-2. Sunday’s race came to an abrupt end on lap 7, when he dumped the bike at Turn 12.
With two consecutive non-scores, Bagnaia is now facing a repeat of his 2025 nadir.
Winner: Pedro Acosta
The Aragon GP will go down as one of the most impressive performances in Pedro Acosta’s career. Propelling that KTM to fourth in the sprint was already a huge feat, but his Sunday ride was a masterclass in perfection.
Starting sixth, he quickly put himself in a podium position, repassing championship leader Martin for third. When Bezzecchi and Marquez became embroiled in a slipstream battle down the back straight, Acosta sensed an opportunity and grabbed second from the Aprilia rider with ease.
Over the next few laps, he hounded Marquez on his own turf, making the reigning world champion work hard for the win. He ultimately didn’t have the pace to keep up with the Ducati rider and claim a maiden win, but pressuring Marquez to that extent at Aragon was a victory in itself.
Loser: Fabio Quartararo
Even in the context of Yamaha’s perennial MotoGP struggles, it was shocking to see Fabio Quartararo finish dead last in a MotoGP race. Not only was he outgunned by all his Yamaha compatriots, he couldn’t even beat test riders Pol Espargaro (KTM) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) on Sunday.
Aragon has never been a friendly venue for Quartararo, and his weekend was made harder by Yamaha making him test a slew of updates, none of which impressed the Frenchman. An engine blowout in the sprint further compounded his weekend, leaving little to hope for on Sunday.
On the opening lap, the 2021 champion ran wide three times, dropping firmly to the back of the grid. He gradually made his way up to 16th, only to lose the ground that he had made on lap 15. It wasn’t a pretty look for Quartararo or his side of the Yamaha garage.
Winner: Marco Bezzecchi
In terms of physical challenge, Aragon was expected to be even tougher for Marco Bezzecchi than Silverstone, with its anti-clockwise layout putting additional strain on his battered knee. Yet the Italian managed to score another double podium while outperforming the entire Aprilia contingent.
One cannot overstate how impressive it was that he outqualified Marquez at Aragon. This was genuinely a major surprise, and it set him well for the two races. He definitely left way too much room at the start on Saturday, even if he felt his final position was representative of his true pace.
On Sunday, he did well to reclaim the lead from Marquez, who lost ground after failing to disengage his rear ride-height device, and then build a buffer up front. The slipstream battle that followed on lap 6 was one of the highlights of the season, even though he lost two places heading into the final corner.
Bezzecchi may have to wait a while before he has fully recovered, but he is maximising everything he has got until now, while eliminating the mistakes that plagued him in the first half of the campaign.
Loser: Jorge Martin
A pair of fifth places was all Jorge Martin could manage at Aragon, while watching his title rivals Marquez and Bezzecchi cut into his championship lead. It wasn’t like Martin had lost the ‘feeling’ that he regained at Silverstone just three weeks ago after reverting to an older set-up. The bike was still behaving to his liking. But he simply didn’t have the pace to go any faster around the 5.3km circuit.
The sprint should have yielded a better result. Despite being forced to sit up at the final corner on lap 1, he clawed back to fourth place, only to run wide at Turn 1 and let Acosta back through.
Sunday was more of the same. He nailed the opening sequence of corners to climb to second behind team-mate Bezzecchi, only to lose momentum after Marquez muscled past him, dropping to fifth. While a podium was out of reach at that point, he also had no answer to Alex Marquez on the Gresini Ducati.
Winners: Fermin Aldeguer and Johann Zarco
Fermin Aldeguer and Johann Zarco’s impressive comeback performances after their respective injury layoffs provided MotoGP with a feel-good story at Aragon.
Zarco defied expectations by getting up to speed straight away in practice, before qualifying as the top Honda on the grid in ninth. He then remained competitive in MotoGP’s tight midfield, bagging the final points-paying position in the sprint.
Sunday’s race was always going to be tough with a double long-lap penalty, and dropping to 12th at the start– while battling with Aldeguer and Miller– didn’t help. But he held his composure and was challenging Toprak Razgatlioglu for 15th place in the closing stages when the Pramac rider dropped the bike at Turn 12.
Meanwhile, Aldeguer more than made up for a poor qualifying effort in which he could manage no better than 11th, charging through the field in both races. On Saturday, he was easily the top midfielder, finishing a solid sixth behind Martin’s Aprilia. Sunday was more of the same, but it was impressive how he finished over five seconds clear of Fabio di Giannantonio’s VR46 Ducati.
With a better qualifying, he would have most certainly emerged as a more potent threat in the two races.
Loser: Trackhouse
After the highs of Silverstone, Trackhouse got to experience the other side of competition in MotoGP. Ai Ogura’s withdrawal due to injury was already a serious blow, as both he and Raul Fernandez had been pushing each other throughout the season. But even with a single-bike attack (Ogura’s replacement Savadori was never really in the fight, having not tested the 2026-spec RS-GP in recent months), Trackhouse should have had a better weekend.
But from Friday onwards, Fernandez didn’t feel comfortable on the satellite Aprilia, and despite Trackhouse engineers trying their best, they were unable to find a breakthrough overnight. This meant he struggled to extract any pace out of the rear tyre and went backwards in the sprint, slipping from fourth to eighth place.
Sunday should have been better after Trackhouse implemented some changes in the warm-up, but a mechanical problem– believed to be related to the gearbox– ended his race after just six laps.
Two points was all Trackhouse scored over the weekend, and suddenly it is now under threat of losing second place in the standings to the factory Ducati squad.
