Zarco heads Bagnaia, Marquez fourth, Quartararo fifth as Aprilia look to move forward.
After two sessions back in business in Buriram, it’s incredibly close at the top at the OR Thailand Grand Prix. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) just took it by 0.018, with Championship challenger Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) the rider just denied the top spot but taking second. Jorge Martin completed an all-Ducati top three, and made it both Pramacs in the upper echelons.
World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) had a solid day on the timesheets in fifth, right behind one rider with a little fighting talk on Friday: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). The number 93 rated his chances of a podium highly if we raced on Day 1, and was fastest in FP1 despite a slide off. Quartararo and Marquez both set their best laps in FP1, too.
On the other side of the coin, both the riders third and fourth in the standings are currently heading for Q1 and outside the top ten. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) was 13th and teammate Maverick Viñales 15th as the new RS-GP tackles Thailand for the first time, and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) was 11th on Friday – missing out by just 0.025.
While it rained on and off during Friday, the track was well and truly dry for MotoGP™ FP2. That gave competitors the opportunity to work on their race pace and while Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was top for the session on a 1:31.088 with 10 minutes to go, there still had been no change to the combined top 10. That would change once the time attacks started, but even then, only half the 24-strong field improved on their FP1 pace. Martin was first to shift the benchmark, then Bagnaia and finally Zarco.
Japanese GP winner Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) is sixth-fastest overall. He was frustrated with himself at a mistake while going underneath Tetsuta Nagashima (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in the closing minutes, but his FP1 effort was good enough to provisionally book a spot in Q2. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) took seventh on combined times, ahead of Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Rins, and a much improved Friday position for Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™).
Cal Crutchlow (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team) was one crasher at Turn 7, and that also triggered a relatively long yellow flag in Sector 3 near the end of FP2, affecting some. Crutchlow walked away in some pain after losing the rear and being flicked from his YZR-M1 in what was his second crash of the session, ut rider given the all clear at the Medical Centre. Also hitting the floor during the afternoon were Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) at Turn 3, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) also at Turn 3 in a separate incident, and Darryn Binder (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team) at Turn 7 – riders okay.
Now we wait to see what the weather gods have in store on Saturday morning, with Bastianini and Aleix Espargaro among those hoping for dry weather again. Tune in to FP3 from 10:50 (GMT +7), before qualifying from 15:05!
FRIDAY: TOP 3
1 Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) – Ducati – 1’30.281
2 Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – Ducati – +0.018
3 Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) – Ducati – +0.190
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