MotoGP Thailand GP: Marquez claims dominant sprint victory, Bagnaia third

Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez claimed a dominant lights-to-flag victory in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race, as team-mate Francesco Bagnaia held off Ai Ogura to finish third.

Having claimed pole position by 0.146s in qualifying, Marquez was also untouchable in Saturday's half-distance race at Buriram, leading every lap en route to a 1.18s victory over younger brother Alex Marquez.

The six-time MotoGP champion pulled away cleanly from pole, while Alex Marquez briefly dropped behind a fast-charging Bagnaia before retaking second.

Within just two laps of race start, the elder Marquez’s lead was up to 0.6s and by the seventh tour he had gained an advantage of 1.2s.

Although Alex Marquez subsequently closed the gap to under a second, the factory Ducati rider was able to streak clear again to claim an unchallenged victory in the opening sprint of 2025.

Gresini's Alex Marquez still secured a strong runner-up finish, proving his testing pace was no fluke, while Bagnaia resisted race-long pressure from Trackhouse’s debutant Ai Ogura to claim the final spot on the podium.

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

VR46’s Franco Morbidelli had a largely boring race en route to fifth, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta inherited sixth after Pramac’s Jack Miller crashed at Turn 8 with a handful of laps to run.

Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo recovered from a slow start to take seventh for Yamaha, with Brad Binder finishing eighth coming out worse in an early battle against team-mate Acosta.

The final points-paying position went to factory Honda rider Joan Mir, who edged out the LCR-run RC213V of Johann Zarco in the final laps of the sprint.

Factory Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi made a shocking getaway that dropped him to the lower reaches of the top 20, but a charging ride recovered him to 12th.

MotoGP Thailand GP - Sprint race results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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5

Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	13	19'35.005		181.3		12
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	13	+1.185 19'36.190	1.185	181.2		9
3	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	13	+3.423 19'38.428	2.238	180.8		7
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	13	+4.392 19'39.397	0.969	180.7		6
5	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	13	+5.790 19'40.795	1.398	180.4		5
6	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	13	+11.700 19'46.705	5.910	179.5		4
7	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	13	+13.437 19'48.442	1.737	179.3		3
8	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	13	+14.228 19'49.233	0.791	179.2		2
9	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	13	+15.453 19'50.458	1.225	179.0		1
10	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	13	+16.209 19'51.214	0.756	178.9
11	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	13	+16.817 19'51.822	0.608	178.8
12	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	13	+17.152 19'52.157	0.335	178.7
13	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54		Ducati	13	+17.741 19'52.746	0.589	178.6
14	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	13	+18.984 19'53.989	1.243	178.5
15	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	13	+19.149 19'54.154	0.165	178.4
16	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88		Yamaha	13	+19.569 19'54.574	0.420	178.4
17	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	13	+20.140 19'55.145	0.571	178.3
18	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	13	+23.948 19'58.953	3.808	177.7
19	S. Chantra Team LCR	35		Honda	13	+24.594 19'59.599	0.646	177.6
20	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32		Aprilia	13	+31.443 20'06.448	6.849	177.6
dnf	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	11	+2 Laps 17'16.335	2 Laps	174.0	Retirement
nc	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	6	+7 Laps 9'05.560	5 Laps	180.3	Accident
View full results

 

In this article

Rachit Thukral

MotoGP

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