Martin shows them a clean pair of heels on day one in Thailand

MotoGP 2023

Round 17 – Thailand Grand Prix

MotoGP Friday Practice Report

Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin once again displayed his speed for all to see as practice got underway in Thailand on Friday, fastest in both sessions despite a late tumble.

The Aprilia Racing duo are looking very strong as well, with Maverick Viñales finishing the day just 0.098s from Martin and Aleix Espargaro only another 0.062s back. The top three were split by just 0.160s.

With Friday afternoon’s Practice session deciding who goes through to Q2, the riders spent the majority of the session working on their race packages before engaging in full time-attack mode.

Martin got his flyer in right in the closing stages and demoted the Aprilias down a spot each. The Spaniard then went from hero to zero just after, however, after a Turn 3 mistake saw his Prima Pramac machine skating through the gravel trap.

Martin’s team-mate was another who improved right at the end. Fresh from finally tasting victory in the premier class, Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) showed good promise as he finished just 0.020s shy of the top three.

Next up was the Mooney VR46 Racing Team duo of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi. Both still recovering from injury, both riders picked up automatic Q2 positions in 5th and 6th respectively.

Luca Marini – P5

“Overall a good day, I felt pretty good from the beginning. We need to work on the last part of braking and in the entering of the corners, I’m not competitive there. The standing are really short, the level is very high. For tomorrow we have to put everything together and aim to do a perfect lap in qualifying. On a physical level, I suffer more on the time attack than on the long run. I don’t have enough strength, but it’s something that doesn’t hurt me during the race. The target is the first two rows, the first is better, but it won’t be easy. Ducati, Yamaha and Aprila are all very strong.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P6

“I am very satisfied with the time on the flying lap: I was very fast in my last attempt, which was then canceled due to yellow flags, but definitely a very interesting lap time. I still have to work on the pace, with used tires I’m not perfect and, due to the shoulder, I can’t push 100% throughout the session. The Top10 was the goal for today, we showed our potential, both the Ducati and the Aprilia are very competitive. On a physical level I feel better, I have removed the stitches, the skin around the wound is less painful and I have more strength. I’m not totally happy with my neck, but I’m not complaining and I’m confident for tomorrow.”

Reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) looked like he could be under a little pressure, but the defending champion ultimately finished the day in seventh. It’s not the top of the timesheets, but it’s the first time in three Grands Prix that the Championship leader will be going directly into Q2 as he ensures himself a sligtly less stressful Saturday morning.

Francesco Bagnaia – P7

“I’m happy because we are in Q2 directly, and this is a great result. Honestly, we worked hard this morning, and the feeling was already great. I was doing a good pace, one of the strongest and I was happy with this morning. This afternoon I started with a target, but I was struggling to find some grip. We started to change something on the bike, and as soon as we changed the rear everything went perfect again. With the yellow flag of Martin, I didn’t do the second time-attack lap but all in all, I’m very happy with today. Now I feel so much better under braking, finally, I can push hard, so I’m very positive for the rest of the weekend.”

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The Yamahas also showed decent potential in Thailand. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) consistently kept himself within the top ten and finished the day in P8, saying a good qualifying could see him fight for the podium, ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and rookie Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3).

Fabio Quartararo – P8

“It was a good day, and a good afternoon. We had a great pace, and we achieved our goal of getting into Q2, so it was a great feeling today. We will have a good chance here. The pace looks really good. If we do a great qualifying, I think we will have a chance to fight for the podium. But I will have to make a great lap in qualifying and be towards the top. As we can see today, I‘m in P8 and 0.2s from first, so it will be super important to make a perfect lap.”

Q1 is set to be a tense affair as always with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) being the first rider to miss out on Q2. Marc Marquez also go caught out by a rogue wing from Martin’s machine.

Marc Marquez – P11

“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.”

The eight-time Champion will have to battle it out with Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), recent form Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP), and Pol Espargaro (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) to decide who will take the final two Q2 spots. The whole grid is split by just 1.2 seconds.

Augusto Fernandez – P10

“It is my first direct Q2 of the season, which has been our main target for the last few rounds, so I am really happy that we have finally made it. Normally, we are feeling the opposite, but today I was good on the time attack and struggled with the race pace. Therefore, we have work to do tonight to try preparing in the best way possible for sprint and race, but of course being guaranteed to start from the first four rows is a big thing for us. Let’s work hard tonight, and try having a great Saturday.”

Franco Morbidelli – P12

“It was very important to get into Q2, and we had the speed today. I could be quick, but I was not quick enough. I did not make a second time attack because of yellow flags and in the first lap I had made a mistake. But, sincerely, for the speed that I had, I should have done a good enough lap time on the first attempt to be through to Q2. Unfortunately, in the first time attack I was not aggressive enough. I took it a bit too easy, and here we are. We still have a chance, though – the speed is there. We will give it another try tomorrow to get into Q2, because it‘s vital.”

Jack Miller – P13

“Not the way I hoped to roll out this weekend, once we switched to the hard tyre it felt a lot better out there, but there’s still some work to do. It’s a great track and the times are really close so we’ll head out and see what we can do tomorrow.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P14

“The general feeling in race configuration is excellent and we have a great pace with the hard tyre option ahead of Sunday. We had a few grip issues at the rear-end during the time-attack and it’s a shame we couldn’t get into Q2 already, but we’re all very close and every little step forward can translate into a big jump position-wise.”

Pol Espargaro – P15

“Everyone is so close to each other, it has been a very tight day! We had a good speed this morning, but we knew that we’d have to speed up for the afternoon’s Practice. When you are 0.4 seconds from the top and you are in P15, your laps have to be perfect, but I did not ride the perfect lap this afternoon. I was missing a bit in some corners that I could have negotiated better, and in the end, with all riders so close, I am out of the top 10. We will need to push tomorrow morning to try doing a better lap, and qualify for Q2.”

Joan Mir – P16

“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.”

Raul Fernandez – P17

“I think it was a good day in terms of pace and the fastest lap, the problem was on the last run, the yellow flags were out and I didn’t manage to do my best time. I did okay the first run and I knew I had more, but when I did my second run it was difficult to push and manage, I don’t have the same grip. The most important for me now is the pace, and we are very close to Maverick (Viñales) and more or less the same with Aleix (Espargaro) and basically I’m happy. We need to still find some solutions for the time attack tomorrow.”

Alex Marquez – P18

“I’m a little angry with myself because I made too many mistakes during the time attack. We could have comfortably been in Q2 already, but between my mistakes and the yellow flag on the last lap it just wasn’t possible. The feeling with the bike is good and we need to improve something especially on the single-lap performance, as race-pace wise we are already at a good level. It’ll be key, as usual, to make it into Q2.”

Enea Bastianini – P19

“I must admit that I struggled more than I thought I would, already this morning I didn’t have a good feeling, this afternoon it was even worse. I put the medium on the rear immediately and it went better, I lapped with more reasonable times so let’s say that the first soft I put on didn’t work. Afterwards, I did a few laps with the medium and in the time-attack, the second one was fine, except that I took the yellow flag for Martin. I could have been further up, but probably not enough for Q2. I can’t say I’m happy but we will work hard to improve further tomorrow.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P20

“I’m happy with my feeling with the bike’s front end; we’ve improved the balance. We are good in terms of pace, but I didn’t feel good with the medium tyre compound and couldn’t nail the time attack. The plan is to take a step forward because, during the morning, we’ve seen some positives”.

Miguel Oliveira – P21

“Actually, the pace is better than the position I finished in today. I had a technical issue in the morning with the front brakes when I had the brand new tyres. I was going to get a little feeling on the bike with the new tyres before the afternoon session but I couldn’t do it. It felt good in the afternoon and it felt normal with the bike, the pace was not too bad but then on the last time attack, I had two yellow flags at the end and I couldn’t improve my lap time. I’m disappointed for today of course, it’s not the place where we would like to finish and show my full potential. But at the moment, it’s the reality and we have to face it and go into tomorrow motivated and fully charged to turn things around.”

MotoGP Friday Afternoon Practice Results

MotoGP FP1 Results

MotoGP Championship Points

Moto2 Friday Practice

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Pedro Acosta made his intentions known on Day 1 of the OR Thailand Grand Prix as he sets his sights on wrapping up the 2023 Moto2 title. The Spaniard’s 1:35.985 saw him snatch the top spot once more, but by just 0.014s.

Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing) was the closest to the Championship leader. The Spaniard put in an impressive performance as he joined Acosta in the 1:35 club to finish P2 ahead of Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp).

Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) is looking determined as he runs a special livery on his Triumph-powered Moto2 machine at his home Grand Prix. The Thai rider bagged P4 on Day 1 as he sits just 0.189s away from the top spot.

Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) rounded out the top five ahead of Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) who had a positive start to his weekend in P6. Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) was 0.029s back from the Brit in P7 with Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) taking 8th.

Dennis Foggia (Italtrans Racing Team) put in an impressive time to finish 3rd in Practice 1, and although the Italian failed to improve in Practice 2 his time held strong as he bagged P9 ahead of compatriot and Championship challenger Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team), who rounded out the top ten.

Moto2 Friday Practice Results (Combined)

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3

Championship leader Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) put in an impressive day’s work to open the weekend’s Moto3 action at the OR Thailand Grand Prix. The Spaniard’s 1:42.318 saw him improve his P1 time by just 0.001s, but that was more than enough to secure him top honours on Day 1.

David Alonso (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) was also looking very strong and made a big step in Practice 2, putting himself into P2 as he got to grips with Buriram. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI), winner in Indonesia, bounced back from a tough Australian GP as he secured a top three on Day 1 in Thailand.

Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) had another strong showing as the rookie found himself just 0.073s away from the top three in P4.

Ryusei Yamanaka (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) has looked strong from the off too, and the Japanese rider rounded out the top five with Australian GP winner Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and first time podium finisher at Phillip Island, Joel Kelso (CFMOTO Racing PrüstelGP), slotting in just behind in 6th and 7th.

Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) had a solid day at the office as he took P8. The Spaniard was 0.602s slower than his title rival Masia, but does currently have 0.140s over another key rival, Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), who finished in P10 just behind Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse).

Moto3 Friday Practice Results (Combined)

Moto3 Championship Points