The #93 leads the Championship top four charge on an intriguing Day 1 in Thailand.
For a second Friday on the spin, Australian GP winner Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) heads into Saturday at the summit of the timesheets as the eight-time World Champion set a brilliant new Buriram all-time lap record in Practice. Marquez’s 1:29.165 was enough to see him beat Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) by 0.110s, with the World Championship leader a further 0.052s clear of third place Enea Bastianini. His Ducati Lenovo teammate, title-hunting Francesco Bagnaia, ended Friday at the PT Grand Prix of Thailand in P4 with the top four in the title fight just 0.195s apart heading into a vital Saturday.
Marc Marquez was the early session leader after the first set of laps landed, and it stayed that way heading into the final 20 minutes. But it was a very intriguing session in the meantime. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) and Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) were operating inside the top five, and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) was in a close second as he returns to action following his crash on Saturday in Australia.
Bagnaia was P4 with 18 minutes to go, however, the reigning Champion looked far from happy. Martin, meanwhile, was seventh before the fresh soft rubber was unwrapped.
Marquez’s stint at the summit ended when Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rose to P1 on a fresh medium compound rear tyre. The South African then got down to a 1:29.949 on his next flying lap to move the goalposts further, as Quartararo climbed back to P2 and only 0.138s away from the #33.
Then, another Pierer Mobility Group machine went fastest. This time it was Acosta, but Quartararo then beat the rookie by 0.018s, much to the delight of the Frenchman. 0.035s then split the top three as Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing MotoGP™) improved to a 1:29.857.
That soon changed though. Martin’s 1:29.543 saw the Championship leader go P1 before Bagnaia responded with a P2 time – 0.103s away from his title rival. Another name then pounced as Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) beat Martin, but the 2023 Thai GP winner returned the favour as the #89 pinched a 0.231s advantage with eight minutes to go. And his 1:29.275 was a new all-time lap record.
Bagnaia got within a tenth of Martin a few minutes later before Marc Marquez bagged provisional top spot with under two minutes to go, the #93’s advantage up to 0.110s. Elsewhere, having gone fastest not too long ago, Acosta found himself outside the top 10 with just one lap remaining – but the #31 delivered a lap good enough for P7 when it mattered most.
So at the end of Friday’s play, Marquez’ new record leads a trio of GP24s into Saturday as Viñales fronts the non-Ducati charge in P5, 0.3s away from the eight-time World Champion. Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) picked up P6 ahead of the late improving Acosta, with Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) another rider that set a PB lap time late on to earn P8. Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and the impressive Zarco are the other automatic Q2 qualifiers, as Binder misses out by the truly barest of margins: 0.001s.
With the top 17 covered by less than a second, the Q1 scrap will be a fascinating one as the most important Saturday of the season appears on the Thailand horizon. Qualifying and the Tissot Sprint are coming up, what will unfold during Buriram’s Super Saturday? We’ll find out soon enough and as ever, you don’t want to miss it.
SHOWTIME
FP2: 10:00 (UTC+7)
Q1: 10:50
Q2: 11:15
Tissot Sprint: 15:00
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