MotoGP: Marquez leads Friday practice in Thailand – Road Racing World Magazine

Friday afternoon practice at the PT Grand Prix of Thailand provided an important session for teams and riders, with Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) taking top position at the end of the session. The #93 set an incredible 1:29.165, maintaining a 0.110s advantage over George Martin (Prima Pramak Racing), who continued his strong day in Thailand. Martin finished the session comfortably in the top 10 and ahead of Innea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team). ‘The Beast’ improved on a flying round of the day, recovering from a previous fall in round 3.

The 60-minute session provided more drama at the start of the session for Lorenzo Savadori (Trackhouse Racing) and Bastianini who had a minor crash on the opening stage – riders OK. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez stole top honors as the premier class stars began to dive into the lower 1:30 bracket. Times were very close in the opening 40 minutes, with just 0.445s separating the top 15 riders.

However, the 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 honors ahead of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GAASGAS Tech3). And Fabio Quatararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) got time. It was an impressive end to Friday’s action as Martin became the next rider to go up top before Marc Marquez took control and quickly finished practice.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) will sleep well tonight, as the Italian continues to work on setting up his GP24 to finish fourth in the process. The reigning world champion was less than two-tenths off Marc Marquez’s benchmark, finishing ahead of top Aprilia Racing rider Maverick Viñales on Friday. The #12 showed impressive pace throughout the day, beating sixth-placed Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing).

Meanwhile, Acosta bounced back from a tough weekend in Australia and managed to gain time in seventh place. The start was a quick adaptation, with Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), putting the hour-long practice over 20 laps. The #73 was strong in the third sector, finishing the afternoon in front of Marco Bezecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), who climbed to ninth place after finishing FP1, and the last place in the important top 10 went the CASTROL Honda LCR’s way. Johann Zarko.

Back at the back, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Binder and Jack Miller will return to the drawing board overnight as both riders prepare to battle it out in Q1 on Saturday. Joining them will be Quartararo and the battle fit Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) is expecting an action-packed session. Meanwhile, Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro ended the day with a low 2.218, opting to spend the final stages of the session in the pit box as the #41 continued to recover from an FP1 crash.