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Jorge Martín leads P1 at Thai GP
The seventeenth round of the MotoGP season started with Jorge Martín heading the timesheets on the first day. The Spaniard was fastest with a time of 1:29.826, despite a crash in the final stages of the session.
Behind him, Aprilia riders Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró made their way directly into Q2, followed by last week’s race winner, Johann Zarco. Luca Marini, Marco Bezzecchi, Pecco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder and Augusto Fernandez completed the Top 10.
Saturday sees a second day of practice, with qualifying and the MotoGP sprint race.
Marc Márquez closes in on Q2 and Joan Mir improves his feeling.
In the Repsol Honda Team box it was a positive first day for Marc Márquez and Joan Mir, in which the extreme equality on track relegated them down the order. The eight-time World Champion took an important step forward from the first to the second session. Eighteenth in P1, Márquez finished the day eleventh, just 0.0065s off making it directly through to Q2.
Joan Mir also made progress. The two-time World Champion was twentieth in P1 and finished P2 in sixteenth position, just one tenth behind his teammate and less than half a second off Jorge Martín.
Thailand GP Practice Results
| RIDER | TEAM | TIME |
| 1. Jorge Martín | DUCATI | 1:29.826 |
| 2. Maverick Viñales | APRILIA | +0.098 |
| 3. Aleix Espargaró | APRILIA | +0.160 |
| 4. Johann Zarco | DUCATI | +0.180 |
| 5. Luca Marini | DUCATI | +0.199 |
| 6. Marco Bezzecchi | DUCATI | +0.208 |
| 7. Pecco Bagnaia | DUCATI | +0.243 |
| 8. Fabio Quartararo | YAMAHA | +0.248 |
| 9. Brad Binder | KTM | +0.295 |
| 10. Augusto Fernández | GASGAS | +0.304 |
| 11. Marc Márquez | REPSOL HONDA | +0.369 |
| 16. Joan Mir | REPSOL HONDA | +0.469 |
Statements
Marc Márquez
“I am happy with how today went; it was an optimistic goal to go straight to Q2 so we can’t be too disappointed. To miss out by 0.06s is not too bad all things considered, tomorrow we will try again even if it will be difficult. Our speed is there between tenth and 15th, if we do a lap behind someone, we can be faster because the slipstream can help a lot here in the first part of the track. No problems for me after the hit with the piece of carbon from Martin, it was just painful in the first minute or two because when you are going that speed everything can hurt. Afterwards today and for tomorrow it’s no problem.”
Joan Mir
“Our day didn’t start in the best way, the base we had in the morning wasn’t what we needed at this track. So we spent time fixing that, making steps forward and learning all the time. In the last run two runs we had a bike that was pretty acceptable to be able to push with and we finished only 0.4s back. Like this we were able to end the day well, but the times here are so tight so even the smallest mistake in your quick lap can make a big difference. If we can find a bit of time overnight, let’s see what is possible tomorrow.”