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 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 pulled out 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 second, 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.

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:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	13	-				12
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	13	+1.185 1.185	1.185			9
3	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	13	+3.423 3.423	2.238			7
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	13	+4.392 4.392	0.969			6
5	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	13	+5.790 5.790	1.398			5
6	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	13	+11.700 11.700	5.910			4
7	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	13	+13.437 13.437	1.737			3
8	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	13	+14.228 14.228	0.791			2
9	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	13	+15.453 15.453	1.225			1
10	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	13	+16.209 16.209	0.756
11	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	13	+16.817 16.817	0.608
12	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	13	+17.152 17.152	0.335
13	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	13	+17.741 17.741	0.589
14	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	13	+18.984 18.984	1.243
15	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	13	+19.149 19.149	0.165
16	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	13	+19.569 19.569	0.420
17	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	13	+20.140 20.140	0.571
18	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	13	+23.948 23.948	3.808
19	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	13	+24.594 24.594	0.646
20	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	13	+31.443 31.443	6.849
dnf	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	11	2 laps			Retirement
nc	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	6	7 laps
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