What triggered the tyre drama in MotoGP’s Thailand GP

Just as the Thailand Grand Prix appeared to be settling into a rhythm, the opening round of the 2026 MotoGP season was thrown back into life by a spate of tyre-related problems.

Although there were already some signs that the track conditions – and weather – were taking a toll, with Raul Fernandez notably struggling for performance on his Michelins, the biggest moment of the race took place on lap 21 of 26 and involved the series’ most high-profile rider.

Marc Marquez was chasing a struggling Raul Fernandez for third when the rear tyre rim of his Ducati suddenly failed at Turn 4, forcing him into retirement.

A few laps later, Marquez’s former team-mate Joan Mir became the next casualty as he pulled into the pits to retire with less dramatic – but still terminal – tyre issues.

Although the situation didn’t descend into complete chaos, it was clear that riders were having to nurse their tyres in the closing stages. While the frontrunners were lapping in mid-to-high 1m30s in the opening laps, their pace dropped by close to three seconds as the chequered flag drew close. Both race winner Marco Bezzecchi and second-placed Pedro Acosta completed the penultimate lap in 1m33s, while the likes of Fernandez and Jorge Martin slipped into the 1m34s bracket.

Only Ai Ogura, who showed incredible speed to charge to fifth late in the race, was able to stay within the 1m32s bracket. A drop-off is always expected over a race distance, but the scale of degradation at Buriram was striking.

Extreme heat and tyre specifications

To understand why tyres became such a limiting factor during the race, it’s important to consider the unusually tough weather conditions on Sunday. After some rain earlier in the weekend, the race day was bone dry, with ambient temperature reaching 34C and track temperature peaking at 58C. This means that the tyres were already being pushed to the limit.

For Thailand and Indonesia, Michelin supplies a stiffer rear tyre carcass designed to cope with high thermal stress. While the teams now have enough experience with this construction, it does have an impact on the way their bikes perform on track. Marquez, for instance, said that this specific casing was partly behind Bezzecchi’s dominant performances at Mandalika last year and again in Thailand.

Marquez’s case

Marquez’s retirement was more complicated than just temperature and tyre composition, however. The rear tyre of his Ducati delaminated after a kerb strike at Turn 4, something which Michelin put down to the kerb being too aggressive. However, Marquez also pointed out that he had ridden over the same kerb “hundreds” of times in the pre-season test, so a more thorough analysis would be needed for a complete picture.

“I was riding in a safe way, but I was unlucky,” Marquez said. “Because I jumped that kerb a hundred times in the [pre-race] test, for example.

“[It was the same] during the practice. And it never happened, what happened now. Because normally those kerbs are made so that you can jump out in a good way.

“But when I jumped out, I felt already that the rear tyre exploded. With a big hit also on the rear.

“Normally, we jump out many times on the double kerbs. But this time when I jumped out, there was like a big rock there. And it destroyed and exploded my rear tyre.”

Mir also loses big points

Joan Mir, Honda HRC

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

In Mir’s case, the rear tyre had degraded so much that it started affecting the electronics system. The situation became so severe that he felt it was no longer safe for him to ride.

The 2020 champion explained that he received no warning about the issue.

“I enjoyed all the race till I had a problem with an external supplier,” he said. “We have to check properly what [happened] because it was very strange.

“Normally, you feel a drop on everything, but in this case I had to retire, I could not even stay on the bike because it was dangerous. Also, the electronics of the bike were not working properly, so the bike was stopping.

“I think we were all struggling a lot with the tyre management, but this was something different, so we have to understand.”

While Marquez and Mir were the most visibly affected, tyre management proved a major challenge across the field. Teams and manufacturers engineered some clever solutions to deal with the issue, with riders limiting use of the ride-height device at certain corners to conserve tyre life.

It’s important to note that some other tyre-related issues earlier in the weekend had gone under the radar. Jorge Martin escaped a penalty in Saturday’s sprint because the drop in tyre pressure was caused by a leaking wheel rim. Given how strictly those rules have been enforced since their introduction, the decision suggested clear evidence of a mechanical cause.

Michelin later revealed that it had received other tyres with bent wheel rims during the weekend, suggesting that the issue was more widespread than initially assumed. However, it’s important to draw a distinction, as Michelin suspects broken wheel rims were caused due to kerb strikes, rather than related to the weather or an inherent defect with the tyre.

“Marc told us: “The only mistake I made was going wide”. He hit the kerb, the wheel bent, so the air came out and the tyre came off,” said Michelin MotoGP chief Piero Taramasso.

“It’s a shame for him because at that point he was the fastest on the track. We had this problem all weekend, we had a lot of wheels that were bent when they came back under our pit tent because it was very hot. 

“The material is really soft and the kerbs are very aggressive. For example, Jorge Martín’s loss of pressure at the front yesterday was the same thing: he hit a kerb, the front wheel bent and the air came out. Jorge had a slow leak and Marc lost air all at once.”

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– The Autosport.com Team