Jorge Martin completed a clean sweep of Friday MotoGP practice at Buriram, despite a late crash in the second session.
Key moments
- Martin leads Aprilia duo
- Bagnaia secures Q2 spot win seventh
- Italian bikes lead the way
- Marquez comes up just short
Championship hopeful Martin, 27 points behind main rival Pecco Bagnaia, took over out front with a 1m29.826s on the medium rear tyre - the softest available compound this weekend - on his 22nd lap of the session, before crashing on his 23rd.
A rare sight at the moment! 😮@88jorgemartin dumps it just after going fastest! 💥#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/5cYy8I0yIx
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 27, 2023
The Pramac Ducati man tucked the front coming into the hairpin-like Turn 3, bringing out yellow flags that wrote off several attempts for his rivals.
Like in practice one, Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales again led much of the session and ended up a tenth behind Martin, with team-mate Aleix Espargaro not far behind as he completed the top three.
Martin's Pramac team-mate Johann Zarco and VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini completed a top five covered by 0.199s.
The other VR46 entry, that of Marco Bezzecchi, was just 0.009s adrift in sixth - but Bezzecchi had actually logged the fastest lap of the day, only to have it chalked off, seemingly for track limits.
Bagnaia again didn't have the strongest Friday showing, but this time was at least relatively comfortable in advancing directly to Q2.
The rest of the top 10 - after the top seven was made up entirely of Ducati and Aprilia bikes - was Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Brad Binder (KTM) and rookie Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 Gas Gas).
Marc Marquez was fastest of the Hondas and fastest of those to miss out on a direct pass to Q2, the six-time champion also taking a chunk of debris to his right shoulder after Martin hit a pit entry marker metres ahead.
A painful sting for @marcmarquez93! 👀@88jorgemartin flicked up one of the pit lane marker boards up into Marc's shoulder 💥#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/X1JQBjiFX9
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 27, 2023
The top 18, completed by Marquez's brother and future team-mate Alex (Gresini Ducati), was covered by just over half a second, but the remaining three riders - Enea Bastianini, Taka Nakagami and Miguel Oliveira - were further adrift of the younger Marquez than he was of Martin.
Directly to Q2
Ducati - Martin, Zarco, Marini, Bezzecchi, Bagnaia
Aprilia - Vinales, A Espargaro
Yamaha - Quartararo
KTM/Gas Gas - Binder, A Fernandez
Contesting Q1
Ducati - Di Giannantonio, A Marquez, Bastianini
Aprilia - R Fernandez, Oliveira
Yamaha - Morbidelli
KTM/Gas Gas - Miller, P Espargaro
Honda - M Marquez, Mir, Nakagmi
