Friday afternoon’s Practice delivered a vital session for teams and riders at the PT Grand Prix of Thailand, with Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) securing the top spot at the end of proceedings. The #93 set an unbelievable 1:29.165, securing a 0.110s advantage over Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), who continued a strong day in Thailand. Martin crucially ended the session safely inside the top 10 and ahead of Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team). ‘The Beast’ improved on his final flying lap of the day, recovering after an earlier fall at Turn 3.
The 60 minute session served up further drama with a busy start to the session for Lorenzo Savadori (Trackhouse Racing) and Bastianini, who suffered small crashes in the opening stages – riders OK. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez stole top honours early on as the premier class stars began to dip into the low 1:30 bracket. Times were extremely close in the opening 40 minutes, with just 0.445s separating the top 15 riders.
However, time attacks – as usual – began to arrive thick and fast in the final 15 minutes at the Chang International Circuit, with Brad Binder (Red Bull Factory Racing) setting the pace and stealing top honours before Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) found time. It was a breathtaking end to Friday’s action, with Martin becoming the next rider to have a go at the top before Marc Marquez seized control and ended Practice fastest.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) will sleep well tonight, ending proceedings in fourth spot as the Italian continues to work on the setup of his GP24. The reigning World Champion was less than two-tenths adrift from Marc Marquez’ benchmark, finishing Friday in front of the top Aprilia Racing rider, Maverick Viñales. The #12 showed stunning pace throughout the day, beating Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing), who grabbed sixth.
Meanwhile, Acosta was able to find time, safely securing a spot in seventh, bouncing back after a tough weekend in Australia. The rookie was quick to adapt, placing ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), who set over 20 laps across the hour-long Practice. The #73 was strong in the third sector, ending the afternoon in front of Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), who climbed to ninth after topping FP1, with the final spot inside the important top 10 going the way of CASTROL Honda LCR’s Johann Zarco.
Further back, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Binder and Jack Miller will go back to the drawing board overnight as both riders prepare to battle in Q1 on Saturday. Joining them will be Quartararo and the fighting fit Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) as an action-packed session awaits. Meanwhile, Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro completed the day 2.218s down, opting to spend the latter stages of the session in the pit box as the #41 continued to recover from his FP1 crash.
