Marquez Stands One Weekend From an Eighth Title as Qatar Opens on an 18-Rider Grid

The floodlights are on at Lusail, and for the first time this season Marc Marquez can leave a race weekend as world champion. The Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar, round 20 of the championship, opens on Friday at the Lusail International Circuit, and the maths are simple enough for everyone in the paddock to recite: outscore Jorge Martin by 30 points and Marco Bezzecchi by eight across the sprint and the Grand Prix, and the title is his. Marquez arrives with 399 points, 44 clear of Martin and 67 ahead of Bezzecchi, both riding for Aprilia. There is one catch. He must finish at least fifth in Saturday's sprint to keep Sunday alive at all, and the championship cannot be settled in the sprint alone. The earliest it can be decided is Sunday's 22-lap Grand Prix. A win would give Marquez an eighth MotoGP riders' title, a tenth world championship across all classes, and an 81st premier-class victory, eight short of Valentino Rossi's record of 89. It is a remarkable place to be for a rider who was 102 points behind the championship leader at Mugello earlier in the season. "Three GPs but many moments" remain, Marquez said this week. He has won twice before at Lusail, in 2014 and again in 2025, and few circuits suit his style quite like this one. But this is no ordinary Grand Prix weekend. Only 18 riders will take part. Yamaha withdrew its factory team and its satellite squad Pramac in full, removing Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins, Jack Miller and Augusto Fernandez from the entry list after the company said its reassessment of conditions in the Middle East did not provide sufficient grounds to lift its travel restrictions. Gresini rider Alex Marquez is absent after shoulder surgery, and Honda's Joan Mir has stayed at home with health problems. Replacements Iker Lecuona and Jake Dixon bring the field back up to 18 for Friday's opening session. The uncertainty ran deep enough that 19 of the 22 riders signed a letter asking MotoGP to take full responsibility for the race or call it off. The race goes on, but the tension has not fully lifted. Martin's own weekend hangs in the balance. He broke his right wrist at Phillip Island and withdrew from the Malaysian Grand Prix after just three practice sessions. He has been declared fit only for the opening session and will be reviewed again afterwards, his cast removed and his strength only gradually returning. With a 30-point deficit to overcome against Marquez, he needs a strong weekend simply to keep the fight alive. The race itself was never meant to be run in November. Originally scheduled for April, the Qatar Grand Prix was postponed to November 6-8 because of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, a decision taken with the FIM, the championship promoter and local authorities. The shift also pushed the final two rounds of the season to Portugal and Spain on the last two weekends of November. The 24th Grand Prix held at Lusail since the circuit joined the calendar in 2004, it remains the only night race on the current MotoGP calendar, and the 20th held under floodlights. Friday's running starts with Free Practice 1 at 15:45 local time, followed by the Practice session at 20:00 that decides the ten riders who go straight through to Q2. Saturday brings Free Practice 2 and qualifying before the 11-lap Tissot Sprint at 20:00. Sunday's Grand Prix runs over 22 laps at 20:00. If Marquez holds his nerve, the Tower of Champions could have a new name by Sunday night.