Marc Marquez sets a blistering lap record pace to top the timesheets in Thailand’s second MotoGP practice session.
The Gresini Ducati rider produced a benchmark time of 1.291.165s to set a new record around the Thai circuit.
Jorge Martin bettered his best lap record time from last year. Still, he finished 0.110s adrift of his fellow countryman, with the factory Ducati duo of Enea Bastianini and Francesco Bagnaia behind by under a tenth of a second.
The first practice session saw all riders prepare for the main race on Sunday, as all riders selected the harder rear tyre due to tyre wear consumption from the circuit’s late braking zones.
However, a few notable riders chose the medium rears in the second practice. KTM’s Brad Binder, GasGas’ Pedro Acosta, and championship protagonists Bagnaia and Martin chose the softer tyre and were instantly competitive in the session’s early phases.
Lorenzo Savadori and Enea Bastianini crashed out earlier in the session, but both escaped unharmed.
Fabio Quartararo entered the fold at the midway point with his medium rear tyre choice before setting successively improved lap times as the Frenchman slotted his bike as high as second.
Multiple riders spent time at the top of the classification, as Aprilia, Yamaha, and KTM produced the fastest lap. By the end of the session, the top 19 riders were separated by just over a second.
It was nearly impossible to call who would end up in first place, but Marquez defeated the rest of the competition.
As Ducati occupied the top four scoring positions, the lead non-Ducati rider was Maverick Vinales aboard his Aprilia. Despite his team-mate struggling after his crash in the first practice session, Vinales secured fifth and a Q2 appearance.
Franco Morbidelli finished sixth in the final classification, with the rookie Pedro Acosta close behind.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi were separated by only 0.008s but both riders secured Q2 qualification by the skin of their teeth.
Johann Zarco continued Honda’s upward turn in form to book another Q2 position and round off the top ten places.
Despite leading earlier in the session, KTM’s Binder and Yamaha’s Quartararo marginally missed out. The former missed out brutally, as only 0.001s separated the Frenchman and South African.
Jack Miller delivered 13th place for KTM ahead of Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez, with the second LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami ending his session in 15th.
Fabio Di Giannantoio finished as the distant last Ducati rider in 16th ahead of his final race of the season due to opting for surgery.
Luca Marini finished in 17th for Repsol Honda ahead of the Spanish trio of Alex Rins, Joan Mir and Augusto Fernandez.
Lorenzo Savadori finished in second to last as he continued his stand-in duties for the injured Miguel Oliveira
Aleix Espargaro finished in dead last after choosing to withdraw from the session due to injuries sustained earlier on in the day.
