VR46 is on top in MotoGP™ again! Rookie Marco Bezzecchi, one of Valentino Rossi’s proteges, has broken the All Time Lap Record around the Chang International Circuit to grab pole position for the OR Thailand Grand Prix. The Mooney VR46 Racing Team rider set a 1:29.671 with the chequered flag out to edge Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin by just 0.021 seconds in Q2, while Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) gave his title hopes a boost by also getting himself onto the front row. World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) qualified fourth, but fellow title contender Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) could not escape Q1.

Martin had been fastest through Free Practice and he went even quicker again on his first run in Q2 in setting a 1:29.893. Prima Pramac Racing teammate Johann Zarco held second on a 1:29.963 as the track went quiet and Quartararo was third on a 1:30.009. Bagnaia, however, was all the way back in ninth at 0.835 seconds off the pace.

‘Pecco’ went early for his second run and climbed to fourth on a 1:30.098 before jumping all the way into provisional pole when he laid down a 1:29.775 on the following lap. Martin’s hopes of snatching P1 back from his Ducati stablemate were nearly dashed when he lost the rear of his Desmosedici through Turn 5 but the Spaniard caught it just in the nick of time and stayed ‘sunny side up’. Next time through, ‘The Martinator’ was indeed back on top as he set a 1:29.692.

That was already a new All Time Lap Record and then the chequered flag came out, but Bezzecchi had not given up on pole. The 23-year-old stormed to a 1:29.671, although that was still not the end of matters! Martin was flying around the Buriram circuit again and went red in Sector 3, meaning he was on track to snatch pole position straight back. However, he could not go on with it, checking in at ‘just’ 1:29.782 – still a faster lap than all but Bezzecchi’s and Bagnaia’s best – and would have to settle for P2.

Once again, Quartararo is the lone ranger amid a flock of Ducatis. He dug deep to claim fourth with a final-lap 1:29.909, Zarco qualified fifth despite being unable to improve on his first run, while Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) managed to also get onto Row 2 with a late 1:29.988 as he seeks to keep his title hopes alive. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) slipped from fourth at the end of the first runs to seventh all-told after an apparent issue of some sort with his motorcycle.

Marc Marquez came from Q1 to take eighth with the only new soft Michelin rear tyre he had left. However, it might have been even better, the eight-time World Champion on-track to go as high as the front row before a moment through the final corner on his last lap, which turned out to be a 1:30.133. Luca Marini made it both Mooney VR46 Racing Team entries on the first three rows, ahead of Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

Earlier, in Q1, Marc Marquez was quickest at the end of the first runs on a 1:30.343, with Cal Crutchlow (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team) second on a 1:30.542, one position and 0.067 seconds up on Aleix Espargaro. The Aprilias had been struggling for grip all weekend but when Aleix Espargaro emerged from the pits again with a fresh soft Michelin rear slick, he grabbed his RS-GP by the scruff of the neck and somehow extracted a 1:30.202 from it to move into a provisional Q2 place.

In the final minute of the session, Marc Marquez reclaimed the ascendancy with a 1:30.038 while practically latched on to the exhaust pipe of Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) as he crossed the line, and Oliveira jumped from seventh to second with a 1:30.099. Aleix Espargaro had already returned to the pits by then and he was therefore pushed out of Q2, the Spaniard now firmly on the back foot in the title race given he will start 13th on Sunday afternoon.

Morbidelli qualified 14th, ahead of Crutchlow, and Raul Fernandez, who was back on his Tech3 KTM Factory Racing entry after a stomach ache saw him watch FP3 from the sidelines. Maverick Viñales suffered similar struggles to Aleix Espargaro as he put his Aprilia Racing machine just 17th on the grid, from Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing), Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team), Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), Tetsuta Nagashima (LCR Honda Idemitsu), Darryn Binder (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team), and Danilo Petrucci (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

So, we have a first-time pole-sitter, and Bagnaia has an opportunity to claw back ground on Quartararo. After the Sunday morning Warm Up at 10:40, the battle for the Thailand GP takes place over what are sure to be 26 thrilling laps from 15:00 (GMT +7)!

MotoGP™ Q2 Top 10

1. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) – 1:29.671
2. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.021
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.104
4. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.238
5. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.292
6. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 0.317
7. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.435
8. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.462
9. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.543
10. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.666

Somkiat Chantra has become the first Thai rider to qualify on pole position in Grand Prix history, and what better place to do it than at the OR Thailand Grand Prix? In a big afternoon for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, Chantra not only secured pole with his 1:35.625, but its Moto2™ World Championship hope Ai Ogura qualified third-fastest. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) splits those two on the front row at the Chang International Circuit while Championship leader Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) will line up on the middle of Row 3 on Sunday afternoon.

Two Thai riders started Q2 and the home fans were sent into raptures when Chantra went to the top with a 1:35.625 on his first flying lap. That effort had him three tenths clear of the field and the gap was still more than two tenths when Arbolino consolidated second position with a 1:35.839 next time through. ‘Tiger Tony’ got even closer a couple of laps later when he set a 1:35.710, before a big save when the front wheel of his motorcycle started to fold at Turn 1.

Meanwhile, Ogura, who Arbolino had used as a reference, had crept up to third with a 1:35.973 and then improved to a 1:35.889 in the final four minutes of the session. That effort would prove crucial in the battle for a front row berth when Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) clocked a 1:35.956 to climb to fourth, where he would remain. Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) came from Q1 to qualify fifth on a 1:35.973, with Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) also making it onto Row 2 on a 1:35.987.

Seventh went to Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) on a 1:36.106 and Fernandez set a 1:36.130 to qualify eighth, ahead of Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40), Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team), Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™), Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), and Jeremy Alcoba (Liqui Moly Intact GP) in 14th.

There was a dramatic incident halfway through Q2 involving Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) and Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team). Replays suggested that Arenas lost the front of his bike before it slid into the machine of the unfortunate American. Thankfully, Roberts was to his feet, albeit in obvious pain, and he is off to the medical centre for a check-up. They qualified 15th and 17th respectively.

The other local hero, Keminth Kubo, earned 16th on the grid after some running repairs to his Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team. He crashed late in Q1 at Turn 9 before being sent back out and setting a 1:37.360 in Q2. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) failed to set a time in the latetr 15-minute stanza of qualifying and is set to start 18th, having crashed early on at Turn 5.

In Q1, Vietti set the pace on a 1:36.038 and Kubo got through in second despite the aforementioned spill. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), who is set to make his first race start since the Dutch GP, missed the top four in the session by 0.017 seconds and will start 19th, with Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing Team) and Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools Speed Up) joining him on Row 7. Niccolo Antonelli (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) crashed at Turn 9 with the chequered flag out – rider okay – as he qualified 28th.

Can Chantra turn a home pole into a home victory. The Warm Up is next for Moto3™ on Sunday morning at 10:20 (GMT +7), then the race itself gets underway at 13:20!

Moto2™ Q2 Top 10

1. Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) – 1:35.625
2. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 0.085
3. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 0.264
4. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.331
5. Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.348
6. Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) + 0.362
7. Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.481
8. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.505
9. Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40) + 0.639
10. Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) + 0.691

Dennis Foggia has set a new All Time Lap Record in Moto3™ Q2 at the OR Thailand Grand Prix. Just hours after establishing a new lightweight class benchmark in FP3 at the Chang International Circuit, the Leopard Racing rider chipped another 0.007 seconds out of it to claim pole position on a 1:42.077. His late effort knocked Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) off pole position, with Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) to share the front row with them, but we have to look a lot further back to find title contenders. Both Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team riders went into Q1 and while World Championship leader Izan Guevara was a subpar 11th by the end of Q2, his teammate Sergio Garcia did not even make it out of the first stanza of qualifying.

Sasaki set the early pace in Q2 with a 1:42.486 on his first flyer before Foggia took over the ascendancy with a 1:42.466. Meanwhile, Guevara had thrown a dummy when he went out on used tyres, unbeknownst to the several riders who decided to follow him. The Championship leader pitted immediately before going back out with new rubber, halfway through the session.

Guevara then moved into seventh on a 1:43.175 although Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) had managed to get into his slipstream and immediately pushed him back to eighth in setting a 1:43.084 to go sixth. It was a somewhat similar story on the next lap when Guevara moved up to sixth on a 1:43.047 and Yamanaka used him as a reference to creep up to fourth with a 1:42.986.

That was how they stood when the chequered flag came out, at which time Masia had not recorded a time at all, but then he strung a pretty good lap together – a 1:42.369 which was in fact good enough for pole until Foggia came through and set another lap record. Sasaki finished third courtesy of his initial flyer, ahead of Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team), Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI), Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse), John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max), and Yamanaka also on Row 3.

David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) came from Q1 to head up Row 4 and we find Guevara shuffled back to 11th in the final flurry after he could not improve on his last lap. Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) qualified 12th, ahead of Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team), Q1 pace-setter Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power), while Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) was classified 18th.

Back in Q1, the top four after the opening flyers was Fellon, Furusato, Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and Garcia. That remained the case until Guevara came back out for his second run and clocked a 1:42.926 to jump to second and bump his teammate out of the provisional Q2 positions. Making matters worse for Garcia, Guevara had given a tow to Muñoz, who used it to take up fourth position on what was his first flyer, and Fellon followed both of them around as he moved the benchmark to a 1:42.813.

Garcia was therefore sixth when the chequered flag came out and while he then went personal-best to Sector 3, the Spaniard could not improve on his initial 1:43.140. He will therefore start 20th on the grid, between Fernandez in 19th and Elia Bartolini (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team) in 21st, on the seventh row of the grid.

Warm Up is next on Sunday at 10:00 (GMT +7), then it’s lights out at 12:00!

Moto3™ Q2 Top 10

1. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) – 1:42.077
2. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.292
3. Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 0.409
4. Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) + 0.454
5. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.639
6. Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.663
7. Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.770
8. John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 0.829
9. Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.909
10. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) + 0.954

Jorge Martin has picked himself up from an early crash to set the pace after FP3 for the MotoGP™ field at the OR Thailand Grand Prix. The Prima Pramac Racing rider set a 1:30.205 in his time attack and ended the session 0.012 seconds up on fellow Desmosedici rider Jack Miller, of the Ducati Lenovo Team. Third and fourth was also Pramac and factory Ducati, namely Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia, courtesy of their FP2 efforts at the Chang International Circuit, and World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) is fifth. However, some big names are going into Q1 this afternoon, including Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and title contender Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing).

The rain stayed away on Saturday morning and riders took the opportunity to undertake race simulations before bolting on new Michelin tyres for the final minutes of the session. Martin had ended Friday in third position but a crash at Turn 12, less than 10 minutes into FP3, was not an ideal way to kick off his FP3 programme. However, the Spaniard was still fourth on combined times when he set that 1:30.205 inside the final three minutes to claim top spot.

Less comfortable had been Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), who was looking to protect his title hopes but was outside the Q2 places at the end of FP2. His time attack in FP3 did not start well, with an error at Turn 12, but he recovered well enough to set a 1:30.513 and move up to seventh on combined times. In doing so, Bastianini put Ducati stablemate Miller in the danger zone, but the Japanese GP winner then jumped to second with a 1:30.217. ‘Thriller’ crashed on his next lap, up at Turn 3, although it would matter little.

On the other hand, Marquez’s messy run through Turn 12 as Miller was setting that P2 time would prove costly when he failed to improve on the 1:30.523 which he set in FP1. He was out of the top 10 when Brad Binder set a 1:30.405 after the chequered flag and unable to get back in – yellow flags for Miller’s crash certainly did not help his cause. As for Binder, his lap was good enough for sixth, one position behind Quartararo on a 1:30.310. Zarco held onto third with the 1:30.281 that was the benchmark in FP2 and Bagnaia to fourth with a 1:30.299 in that same session.

Rounding out the top 10 were Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Bastianini ultimately on a 1:30.492, and the Mooney VR46 Racing Team duo, Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini. Marquez was not the only notable consigned to Q1, with Aleix Espargaro only managing to improve to a 1:30.831 on his penultimate lap which left him 14th on combined times. Aprilia’s grip struggles were continuing on Saturday morning in Buriram, and teammate Maverick Viñales was particularly frustrated as he was unable to go better than the 1:30.996 which he set on Friday. ‘Top Gun’ is classified 18th after FP3, while Tech3 KTM Factory Racing’s Raul Fernandez missed the session altogether due to a bad stomach ache.

Riders now have another chance to work on race trim in FP4 at 14:25, then it’s Q1 from 15:05 (GMT +7)!

MotoGP™ Combined Top 10

1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) – 1:30.205
2. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.012
3. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.076
4. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.094
5. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.105
6. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.200
7. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.239
8. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 0.287
9. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.308
10. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.311