MotoGP Thailand qualifying and sprint race report

Written by Isha Reshmi Mohan, Edited by Sasha Macmillen

After an entertaining set of Practice rounds, the Qualifying sessions and Sprint race that followed did not disappoint. 

Credit: Ducati Corse via Instagram

Qualifying 

Following Friday’s practice sessions, Marini was asked whether the Honda was a “harder” bike to compete with in Q1. He was quick to shut down the idea, stating, “All bikes are hard.”  

When it was clarified that the question referred to Bagnaia's Ducati, as the Italian rider had dropped into Q1, Marini responded that Ducatis always turn out “four times better” than they appear on Friday and that they always have something in their back pocket.

With that said, Bagnaia secured his place at the top after being forced into Q1 due to Friday’s mishap, making this his first Q1 start since Valencia 2023.  

VR46’s Di Giannantonio nearly joined Bagnaia in progressing to Q2, but instead, Prima Pramac’s Jack Miller took the second spot. He is also said to have set the fastest lap time by a Yamaha rider at Chang International Circuit.  

Going into Q2, Miller sustained his used tyres for the entire session, while Bagnaia had an extra set of fresh tyres which we switched to midway through the session.

Ai Ogura maintained consistency throughout the weekend and secured fifth place, performing significantly better than the other rookies, gaining praises from other riders including Morbidelli, Raul and Miller after the Saturday session. 

When asked about his strategy for the Sprint Race, he said he only planned for a safe start and to do his best over the 13 laps - “nothing too special” in his words.

Ogura also set the record for the best qualifying debut since Fabio Quartararo in 2019. Over the weekend, he has also managed to get rid of the struggle with braking that he had mentioned over pre-season testing.

In the closing minutes of the session, Bezzecchi suffered his second crash of the weekend, bringing out a yellow flag that led to Zarco and Morbidelli’s lap times being deleted.  

Shortly after, Honda HRC’s Joan Mir also went down after initially qualifying in sixth, which dropped him further to 11th place, just ahead of Zarco.  

With two yellow flags in play, the riders were given an extra lap to set their times. The spotlight was on the Márquez brothers, who were battling for the top spot, followed closely by Pecco Bagnaia.

Credit: Michelin Sport via X

Marc Márquez kicks off official Ducati debut, wins the Sprint Race 

Marc Márquez overtook his brother in just two laps to take the lead in the Sprint Race, but all eyes were on Ogura as he moved up a spot, settling comfortably into fourth place.  

After the sprint session, he mentioned how he ‘learnt’ from Bagnaia who was in front of him and mimicked how he controls himself on the corners and described it as ‘quality’. 

With six laps to go, Miller dropped out of the race - an unfortunate way to end Saturday’s session. On the bright side, his starting position had already been secured for Sunday’s race. 

Morbidelli made an attempt to get past Ogura and Bagnaia but couldn’t get ahead. After the race, he explained that his only mistake was in the beginning and that he was affected by the heat as he got closer to the bikes in front. 

With that, he also mentioned that it could be worse for the race on Sunday with 26 laps ahead fo him and starting from P9. 

Pedro Acosta, who qualified seventh, was the only KTM rider to make it into the top 10. 

Despite his statement after Friday’s session of "not caring about the Sprint Race due to the low fuel and flat outs" so that he could focus on qualifying and the race, he still managed to engage in a mini battle with his teammate, Brad Binder who eventually took his place in eighth while Acosta overtook Fabio Quartararo to finish sixth. Di Giannantonio also ran into an issue in Turn 5, causing him to drop out of the race with just two laps to go. 

As this is the first session allowing riders to earn points for their Championship run, Marc Márquez secured the most points, putting him in the lead for the first time since 2019. It is now in his hands to extend his advantage in tomorrow’s race.