The FP1 of the MotoGP in Thailand has concluded, with Marco Bezzecchi setting the fastest time before the session was even halfway through.
Jorge Martín was second and Pecco Bagnaia third, in yet another testament to the dominance of the Ducati, which occupied the top six places.
It was hot, very hot in this return of MotoGP to Thailand, as expected, and everything was in place for the start of the first session of the category in Buriram.
As the session got underway, the riders gradually took to the track, with Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo and Pedro standing out in the early stages, until Martín lapped in 1:31.356s. Shortly afterwards, Bagnaia set the bar at 1:31.248s, with Taka Nakagami 0.024s behind and Acosta 0.067s behind
This was followed by Bezzecchi completing a lap in 1:31.040s, with the yellow flag being raised after Aleix Espargaró crashed in the corner: the rider was accompanied by the track marshals and appeared to be in some difficulty.
The organization didn’t provide a replay of the moment, only the final seconds, so it wasn’t possible to understand what had happened, although it was possible to see the Spaniard rolling several times in the gravel.
Towards the end of the session Paolo Bonora (Aprilia Racing) gave an update on the rider’s condition and explained that the rider is apparently fine and that he preferred to stay with the medical center to check that everything was actually fine, given the pain he was feeling, and to return later in better condition.
Bagnaia was first into the second 30, in 1:30.692s, and was followed by Bezz who shaved 0.2s off his time. Shortly afterwards Martín improved his individual record and was 0.038s behind the VR46 Racing Team Italian. Bagnaia was third and Marc Márquez fourth, ahead of Acosta.
This was followed by a brief garage stop for the riders, the first of the session.
In the minutes that followed their return, the times didn’t drop, and with 15 to go the top ten was as follows: Bezz, Martín, Bagnaia, Márquez, Acosta, Jack Miller, Nakagami, Quartararo, Brad Binder and Franco Morbidelli.
The session quickly reached its final ten minutes with no further changes to the record.
FP1 came to an end in the meantime, with the second half of the session calm and unchanged in terms of fastest times, with Álex Márquez one of the highlights as he placed fifth two minutes from the end. The riders seemed more focused on setting everything well for the ‘real’ session of the day.
Source: VR46 Racing Team
