Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi continued his early-season momentum as he topped the rain-affected Thai MotoGP timed practice session.
Bezzecchi looked to be the fastest rider on circuit throughout, but it was his final flying run that saw him finish the session in first.
The Aprilia rider broke the existing track record at the Buriram Circuit, which he had set during pre-season testing, with his best lap time 1:28.526s.
Rain threatened throughout the session which forced the riders to put a fast lap together much earlier than anticipated, and saw some unexpected names in peril.
Despite VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio looking comfortable throughout the session, both factory Ducati riders struggled to post a competitive time.
Marc Marquez eventually set a lap fast enough for the top five, but continued to struggle on left-hand corners, while Francesco Bagnaia remained in the bottom five.
Ai Ogura suffered the only crash of the session at Turn 7 with three minutes remaining, as the rest of the grid tried to put their final runs together.
Bezzecchi returned to the top of the timing tower after setting a new track record of 1:28.526s, and remained there over the final minutes of practice.
Marquez overcame his early struggles to end the session in second place, 0.421s behind Bezzecchi but 0.073s ahead of third-placed Di Giannantonio.
Pedro Acosta finished Friday practice in fourth, while Jorge Martin ensured both factory Aprilias made it inside the top five.
Alex Marquez was sixth at the flag as Joan Mir was the final rider to be within a second of Bezzecchi’s time in seventh.
Brad Binder confirmed both factory KTMs made it into Q2 after finishing eighth as Ogura also held onto an automatic Q2 spot despite a late crash in ninth.
Johann Zarco earned the final automatic Q2 berth in 10th, narrowly edging out factory Honda rider Luca Marini in 11th.
Maverick Vinales was 0.033s off the top 10 in 12th, while Franco Morbidelli took 13th ahead of Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez in 14th.
Bagnaia improved on his final run but only managed 15th as Fabio Quartararo was the top Yamaha in 16th.
Enea Bastianini crossed the line in 17th ahead of rookie Diogo Moreira in 18th.
Yamaha continued to struggle with its V4 engine as Jack Miller took 19th ahead of factory rider Alex Rins and Toprak Razgatlioglu in 20th and 21st respectively.
Gresini replacement rider Michele Pirro completed the standings in 22nd.
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