MotoGP Thailand GP: Marquez tops first practice for…

New factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez led the way in first practice for the season-opening Thai Grand Prix on Friday.

Marquez took to the top spot in the 45-minute session at Buriram with an initial benchmark of 1m29.592s, before cementing his place with a time of 1m29.423s.

VR46's Franco Morbidelli jumped to second place at the end of the session, but still ended up almost two tenths down on six-time MotoGP champion Marquez.

Morbidelli's former team-mate Fabio Quartararo finished an encouraging third for Yamaha, with Jack Miller backing up that performance in fourth in a Pramac-entered M1.

Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi and Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura finished fifth and sixth respectively, ahead of Gresini's Alex Marquez, Pramac rider Miguel Oliveira and Tech3 KTM recruit Maverick Vinales.

Two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia had a scruffy session en route to 10th, seven tenths down on team-mate Marquez.

Johann Zarco was the fastest Honda rider in 11th.

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	18	1'29.423		183.335
2	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	20	+0.158 1'29.581	0.158	183.012
3	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	19	+0.342 1'29.765	0.184	182.636
4	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	20	+0.417 1'29.840	0.075	182.484
5	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	21	+0.428 1'29.851	0.011	182.462
6	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	21	+0.496 1'29.919	0.068	182.324
7	A. Marquez BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP	73	Ducati	20	+0.521 1'29.944	0.025	182.273
8	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	19	+0.595 1'30.018	0.074	182.123
9	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	15	+0.631 1'30.054	0.036	182.050
10	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	19	+0.718 1'30.141	0.087	181.875
11	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	19	+0.796 1'30.219	0.078	181.717
12	L. Marini Honda World Superbike Team	10	Honda	14	+0.810 1'30.233	0.014	181.689
13	J. Mir Honda World Superbike Team	36	Honda	19	+0.818 1'30.241	0.008	181.673
14	F. Aldeguer BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP	54	Ducati	17	+0.846 1'30.269	0.028	181.617
15	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	19	+0.918 1'30.341	0.072	181.472
16	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	25	+0.962 1'30.385	0.044	181.384
17	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	17	+1.048 1'30.471	0.086	181.211
18	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	18	+1.114 1'30.537	0.066	181.079
19	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	24	+1.217 1'30.640	0.103	180.873
20	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	17	+1.299 1'30.722	0.082	180.710
21	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	20	+1.617 1'31.040	0.318	180.079
22	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	18	+2.421 1'31.844	0.804	178.502
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