Jorge Martin resisted pressure all-through to win MotoGP race in Thai GP, as Francesco Bagnaia gets second after penalty to Brad Binder.
It was a tight start in MotoGP race in Thai GP as Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin kept the lead after starting from pole as Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro passed VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini for second, with KTM’s Brad Binder up to fourth by end of Lap 1.
It was Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia in fourth but by the end of the lap Binder and Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez passed him for fourth and fifth. Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was seventh from Honda’s Marc Marquez in the Top 8 places.
The Top 10 saw Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi rounding it out ahead of RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez, Pramac’s Johann Zarco, Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio, Honda’s Joan Mir and KTM’s Jack Miller.
While Martin continued to lead, it was battles behind him as Binder passed Marini and Espargaro to get himself into second. Espargaro dropped behind Marini along with Marquez and came under pressure from Bagnaia and M Marquez soon.
Behind this pack, Quartararo was running eighth from Bezzecchi and Fernandez, as ENF’s Miguel Oliveira retired due to problem. As Martin and Binder settled in the Top 2 places, Marquez was up to third from Bagnaia who cleared both Espargaro and Marini.
But Bagnaia did not have it easy as he went back and forth with M Marquez before getting through Espargaro and Marini to be back in fourth. Marini was fifth as Espargaro and M Marquez went for back and forth duel for couple of laps in the fight for sixth.
Espargaro won that duel as M Marquez then lost out to Bezzecchi as well who cleared Quartararo for eighth. A crash for A Marquez helped Bagnaia to be third from Marini as Bezzecchi passed Espargaro for fifth with M Marquez in seventh from Quartararo.
Vinales was ninth from di Giannantonio in the Top 10, with Fernandez, Mir, Zarco, Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and Miller in the Top 15 points places. The fight for the win started to get tasty as Binder hustled Martin to take the MotoGP Thai GP lead.
But Binder went wide both the times to lose out. Third time was the charm as he eventually took the lead and stayed at it from Martin, with Bagnaia close to them in third. Bezzecchi was up to fourth after passing his teammate Marini, who lost to Espargaro as well.
He then dropped behind Quartararo in seventh after the Frenchman cleared M Marquez. In fact, M Marquez also passed Marini for seventh, as di Giannantonio was up to ninth along with Zarco in the Top 10, with Mir in 11th from Morbidelli.
It was a recovery ride from Ducati’s Enea Bastianini who climbed from the back to 13th from Fernandez and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami in the Top 15. At the front, the Top 3 stayed together as Martin came back on Binder in the final laps.
He got through him to retake the MotoGP lead in Thai GP as Bagnaia tried to pass both in the final corner in an opportunistic move. But Martin held onto to win the race ahead of Binder who lost second after the race for track limits at Turn 4.
It helped Bagnaia to be second with Binder in third as the points gap between Bagnaia and Martin stands at 13 points. Bezzecchi was fourth from Espargaro, Quartararo, Marquez, Marini, di Giannantonio and Zarco in the Top 10 places.
A late pass from Morbidelli helped him to be 11th from Mir and Bastianini, as Nakagami cleared Fernandez on final lap to be 14th in the points places. Vinales was a late retirement, as Miller was 16th from GASGAS Tech 3 pair of Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro.
Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1718555048907571472?s=20
