MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

An overcast view welcomed the paddock on Saturday morning, but Matteo Bertelle seemed particularly happy with the conditions, as he took control of the final practice session early on, briefly allowed some rivals in the limelight, before attacking the lap record in the final couple of minutes of FP2. Bertelle’s record-worthy time was over seven tenths of a second faster than the closest rival and serves as excellent preparation for Q1 later on, as he failed to secure a Q2 place on Friday. 

That late lap demoted David Muñoz to second, the Spaniard also keen to make a statement despite his upcoming pitlane start – legacy of his adventures in Thailand. Stefano Nepa snuck ahead of championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda by four hundredths of a second, with Riccardo Rossi completing the top five. Joel Kelso in 6^th position was a whole second slower than the leader and narrowly ahead of Scott Ogden, Adrian Fernandez and rookie Alvaro Carpe. 

Angel Piqueras completed the top 10 of the session despite a late tumble at turn 5, with Ryusei Yamanaka and home favourite Valentin Perrone close behind. Friday’s leader, David Almansa, faded down to 22^nd position after a crash at turn 2 halfway through the session, with Luca Lunetta also joining the crash list late on, at turn 9. 

Results:

Marc Marquez has topped the timed practice session for the MotoGP class, smashing his own lap record and removing one of the last mementos of the Bridgestone era. The Ducati Lenovo rider was fast throughout the session, got close to his old record on used tires, then took nearly four tenths off the record on his time attack.

Fabio Di Giannantonio took second spot on the Pertamina VR46 Ducati, following the group chasing Marquez around on his final run and jumping up into the top 10, a tenth of a second off the time of Marquez. Alex Marquez was third quickest, the Gresini Ducati rider continuing his run of form from Buriram at one of his stronger tracks.

Marco Bezzecchi was the first non Ducati, the factory Aprilia rider showing good pace and ending the session as fourth quickest. Brad Binder was the fastest KTM, the Red Bull Factory Racing rider fifth fastest and a quarter of a second slower than Marc Marquez. Alex Rins was sixth quickest, the Monster Energy Yamaha rider very smartly using a tow from Marc Marquez to find some missing pace, and end a fraction slower than Binder.

Johan Zarco was the first and only Honda in the top 10, though both Joan Mir and Luca Marini got close at times. The LCR Honda rider ended the session in seventh, ahead of the other factory Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo. The 2021 champion followed his teammate's lead of getting a tow from a Ducati, though Quartararo chose Bagnaia instead of Marquez. It paid off, despite Bagnaia crashing out at Turn 2 on a hot lap.

Pedro Acosta made it two factory KTMs in the top ten, the Spaniard ending the session in ninth, just ahead of Bagnaia, who was lucky to hold onto the final spot in Q2. The Ducati Lenovo rider's 2025 season is off to a rocky start, but at least he won't have the hell of Q1 to get through.

Trackhouse Racing's remarkable rookie Ai Ogura ended timed practice in 11th, the first rider to miss out on Q2, and only by a couple of hundredths of a second. It was Di Giannantonio's lap that pushed him out of Q2, though the satellite Aprilia rider will surely be happy with his day. There were a bunch of riders who narrowly missed out on Q2, including the factory Honda HRC Castrol riders Joan Mir, Luca Marini, the impressive Pramac rider Jack Miller, and the second Pertamina VR46 rider Franco Morbidelli.

Results:

Manu Gonzalez broke the existing Moto2 lap record from 2023 by seven tenths of a second in the afternoon timed practice session. The top 8 all dived under Alonso Lopez' 2023 record.

Alonso Lopez also brought an early end to the practice session, crashing at Turn 4 and leaving his bike laying in the middle of the track, bringing out the red flags with 1'16 left in the session. With so little time left, there was no point restarting, so the session was cut short.

The top 14 pass directly through to Q2.

Results :

With the track cleaning up, records at Termas de Rio Hondo are tumbling in Moto3. David Almansa was almost 1.5 seconds faster than the previous lap record, set by Sergio Garcia in 2022. The top 16 riders were all inside that 2022 record, Adrian Cruces the last to just beat Garcia's time.

The top 14 make it directly through to Q2.

Results:

After an absence of six years from the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina Marc Marquez has picked up where he left off. The Ducati Lenovo rider ended the first session of practice for the MotoGP class on top of the timesheets, and was fastest for a good part of practice. He was the first rider to get into the 1'38s, joined at the end by Johann Zarco.

Zarco was once again the best of the Hondas, the LCR rider just a couple of hundredths slower than Marquez. Alex Marquez ended FP1 in third, the Gresini Ducati rider three tenths slower than his brother. Franco Morbidelli was fourth quickest on the Pertamina VR46 Ducati, the Italian carrying his good form on to the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit.

Marco Bezzecchi was the fastest Aprilia, six tenths behind Marc Marquez, and just ahead of Luca Marini on the factory Honda HRC Castrol bike. Jack Miller was the best Yamaha rider, the Pramac rider seventh quickest ahead of Maverick Viñales on the Tech3 KTM, and best of the Austrian bikes. Joan Mir in ninth made it three Hondas in the top ten, while Pedro Acosta rounded out the top ten.

Track conditions were far from ideal. The track had dried throughout FP1 for Moto2, the riders able to ride all session on slicks. But there were still damp patches, and the track is still quite dirty, so times were a little way off the lap record. Marc Marquez was 1.3 seconds off his own pole  record set in 2014 on the Honda.

Results:

The track dried out during the session, riders switching from wets to slicks halfway through. Track conditions are improving

Results:

Overnight rain left the track wet, drying throughout the FP1 session for Moto3. Times are 9 seconds off the lap record.

Results:

If the sprint (and the rest of the weekend) was anything to go by, Sunday’s outcome seemed a foregone conclusion, but the hotter conditions managed to bring just a little bit of spice to proceedings. Although the race started as a copy-paste job of Saturday’s action, things got slightly more interesting when Marc Marquez willingly gave up the lead of the race in favour of his brother, only to take his trophy back in the closing stages and safely secure his first grand prix victory with the factory Ducati squad – perhaps meaningfully his 63^rd in the premier class. Although left to enjoy some time at the front, Alex Marquez had to admit defeat once again and was happy enough with second place, while Pecco Bagnaia completed the podium in a deja-vu from 24 hours ago. 

Marc Marquez made another solid start to keep the lead off the line, but this time his teammate was immediately on his tail, with Alex Marquez losing some ground after a slight contact with Bagnaia at turn 1 and briefly allowing Ai Ogura a taste at podium positions. However, the Gresini rider retaliated by the end of the opening lap, demoting both Ogura and Bagnaia to chase down his brother, who was already six tenths of a second ahead. Behind the same familiar quartet from Saturday’s action, Franco Morbidelli was busy finding a way past Raul Fernandez and Jack Miller to make up for his penalty and join the top 5 on the second lap, with Marco Bezzechi, Pedro Acosta and Joan Mir completing the top 10 early on. The KTM man didn’t last there for much longer though, crashing out at turn 1 a few laps later. 

By lap three, Marc Marquez maintained his early advantage, while Alex’s red hot pace put him 1.3 seconds ahead of Bagnaia, who again had Ogura on his tail but also Morbidelli – making the battle for third a party of three. One lap later, the leader dipped into the 1:30s to keep his brother over a second away, but it wasn’t as smooth sailing as one day ago, as the poleman seemed to get into trouble on the exit of turn 3, handing the lead to Alex Marquez at the start of lap 7. There was no real indication of what that trouble actually was, but the elder Marquez quickly regrouped to catch up with the new leader and was in no rush to make a move. The odd incident gave Bagnaia some hope as it allowed him to bridge the gap to half a second one lap later. Morbidelli was still a contender as well, while Ogura started dropping around a second behind the Italian but with a solid buffer of three and a half seconds over the chase led by Miller.

Alex Marquez continued to enjoy prime spot over the next few laps, although the thought of Marc Marquez glued to his rear tyre was probably making it even less enjoyable than the sweltering heat gnawing at him and his tyres. Given that the Ducati Lenovo man seemed happy to tag along for the ride sparked suspicions of tyre pressure issues but whatever the reason, it all felt like the calm before the storm, as Bagnaia and Morbidelli were looking like a threat to the Marquez hegemony at the halfway point of proceedings. 

Despite the shrinking gaps at the front, there was no change of positions going into the final 10 laps, the main change in the top 10 being Mir handing 7^th position to Bezzecchi after crashing out at the end of lap 15, and the Italian making good use of that to swiftly depose Miller of 6^th. That seemed to be the best the Italian could hope for, as colleague Ogura was flying the Aprilia flag over seven seconds up the road. Meanwhile, Miller started fading and dropped into Johann Zarco’s clutches, with Fabio Di Giannantonio not far behind either. The final top 10 place was being disputed by Brad Binder, Luca Marini, Raul Fernandez and, against all odds, Enea Bastianini. 

Lap 20 took another contender out of the victory battle, as Morbidelli lost touch with Bagnaia, leaving the headliners from Saturday to decide the trophies between themselves. While Marc was still keeping close enough to touch Alex, Bagnaia’s deficit hovered around eight tenths of a second until a moment for the leader at turn 11 allowed him to close right back in for the final four laps. The poleman started showing the leader a wheel over those last four laps, but Alex Marquez was not making it easy for his brother, who had to wait until the end of lap 23 to get ahead at turn 12. Once he got past, however, the elder Marquez stretched over a second of advantage in the blink of an eye, while the Gresini rider focused on controlling both his unruly Ducati on long-suffering tyres and a threatening Bagnaia. 

Marc Marquez started the final lap in control of proceedings by 1.7 seconds and finished it the same way to complete a perfect weekend in Thailand. Although it was harder work than 24 hours ago, Alex Marquez fended off Bagnaia for second place, while Morbidelli took a lonely 4^th place. Ogura continued his exceptional debut in the premier class with a 5^th place in his first full length race, while Aprilia colleague Bezzecchi climbed up to 6^th. Zarco led the charge for Honda in 7^th, with Binder the lead KTM in 8^th place. After a thoroughly underwhelming start to his KTM era, Enea Bastianini had a surprisingly good Sunday to climb into 9^th position, with Di Giannantonio completing the top 10. 

A great weekend for the Marquez household leaves them leading the world championship standings, Marc getting the full 37 points to lead Alex by 8 points. Bagnaia leaves Thailand with a 14-point deficit to his teammate, with Morbidelli and Ogura in the top 5. 

Results:

A touch of cloud cover brought some welcome respite for the intermediate class ahead of their 22-lap charge, but Manuel Gonzalez needed no help in taking control of the race and securing his second victory in the class – and the championship lead as a bonus. Aron Canet demonstrated once again his proficiency in second places, helped somewhat by his rivals’ errors, while Senna Agius recovered from a long lap penalty to make a late bid for third and make his second appearance on the grand prix podium.  

Gonzalez only lost the spotlight briefly when Celestino Vietti got ahead of the poleman into the first corner, while front row starter Canet immediately faded to 6^th position, behind Agius, Darryn Binder and a fast-starting Izan Guevara – who went from 11^th on the grid to 5^th after a couple corners. However, the dream start didn’t last for long, as both Guevara and Binder soon received double long lap penalties for jumping the start. Marcos Ramirez, Jake Dixon, Diogo Moreira and Barry Baltus held onto the early top 10, although Dani Holgado was making some early progress to threaten that by lap 3, and the rookie soon found himself 8^th after the men ahead served their penalties. 

Lap 3 was a good one for Gonzalez as well, who reclaimed top spot, with Vietti and Agius hot on his tail, while Canet was finally released from the early squabble against Binder and Guevara but had a whole second to find on the trio ahead. Moreira was easily holding onto the Spaniard and although they were making no progress with the gap to the podium positions, the duo had dropped the next group another second down the road, including Ramirez, Baltus, Holgado and Dixon.  

Although not quite running away at the front, Gonzalez’s pace allowed him to find a tenth here and there and eventually stretch one second of advantage over Vietti by lap 10.  With Agius breathing down his neck, the Italian’s focus turned to defending second place, but with a limited threat to their podium positions, as Canet was still struggling to bridge the gap in 4^th. Disaster struck on lap 12, when contact between Agius and Vietti sent the Italian into the gravel at turn 10, which worked in Canet’s favour, as he suddenly found himself in second place. Moreira inherited 3^rd as well, with Agius rejoining in 4^th but immediately getting a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding. Helped by the battle behind, Agius was able to complete the penalty without losing position but was out of podium contention by three seconds.

Unaffected by the drama behind, Gonzalez enjoyed an advantage of three and a half seconds at the front, while Canet was finally able to ditch Moreira by one second going into the final 8 laps. With Agius still in no man’s land, the first real battle at that stage was for 5^th, where Ramirez was fending off Baltus and Dixon. Holgado was holding onto 8^th position, although struggling a little to hold onto the group ahead. 

The final four laps brought some reason for concern for Moreira, whose fading late pace left him eight tenths a lap slower than the recovering Agius, who was all over the back of the Brazilian one lap later. Agius made the first of several subsequent moves at the final corner and although Moreira’s tyres seemed to have had enough, the Brazilian repeatedly responded to the Australian’s advances in a very entertaining penultimate lap. Although Moreira kept close to Agius until the very end, he wasn’t given another opportunity to attack on the final lap and Agius claimed third place, almost four seconds after Canet crossed the finish line, and joining his victorious teammate on the podium. Moreira settled for 4^th, with Ramirez holding onto 5^th after distancing Baltus and Dixon over the last couple of laps. Holgado took a lonely 8^th place, while Filip Salac got past Alonso Lopez for 9^th on the last lap. 

Results: 

The lightweight class started their first showdown of the season in the hottest temperatures of the weekend so far but there’s no better distraction from the tricky conditions than a traditional Moto3 kerfuffle. If the first half of the race was the usual amount of chaos, Jose Antonio Rueda was in a league of his own in the closing stages, taking the first race win of the season by a massive seven seconds and the championship lead to go with it. As if the Red Bull KTM Ajo team did not have enough to celebrate already, Alvaro Carpe joined his teammate on the podium, with a final corner move that secured the rookie an excellent second place. Adrian Fernandez proved once more that starting positions don’t mean much in Moto3, as we climbed from 11^th on the grid to the 3^rd step of the podium. 

Rueda made his intentions clear from the very beginning, robbing poleman Matteo Bertelle off the line and the duo started an early squabble for the lead over the first couple of laps. Carpe had quickly snuck his way into the top 3 but was soon under threat from Stefano Nepa and a fast-starting David Muñoz, who had started 10^th but joined the podium positions by lap 3. Carpe then lost a bit of ground in the usual squabbles at the front, dropping just outside of the top 10, while the spotlight returned to the leaders, where Rueda was leading from Muñoz and Bertelle. Ryusei Yamanaka was the next threat for the podium positions, with Luca Lunetta, Joel Kelso, Dennis Foggia, Fernandez, Nepa and Angel Piqueras completing top 10 – and with 18 riders still in the lead group. 

Rueda managed to hold onto top spot for a handful of laps, while Muñoz, Bertelle and Yamanaka kept each other entertained, but his lead was eventually challenged by compatriot Muñoz on lap 8 and it opened the door for Lunetta to briefly take over at turn 3. However, the glory was short lived as Rueda promptly reclaimed top spot and the Italian was then sent for a ride through the gravel at turn 3 by Muñoz, dropping him to the bottom of the top 20. 

Although the leading group had already reduced to only a dozen riders, due to mistakes and crashes, Rueda’s challengers reduced further when Bertelle ran wide and dropped out of contention and then when Yamanaka crashed out at turn 5 at the halfway point of proceedings. The feisty Muñoz was still glued to Rueda’s rear wheel and ready to challenge him again, however, after a lively lap 11, the Spaniard got served a long lap penalty for the incident with Lunetta. Rueda and Muñoz had stretched nearly a second of advantage by that point, but when it rains it pours, and Muñoz crashed out on lap 13 at the site of his earlier indiscretion, before even serving his penalty. That left a lonely Rueda nearly two seconds ahead of the chasing pack, that was now featuring Carpe once again – the rookie having rejoined the top 10 by lap 8. With five laps to go, he was battling Fernandez for the honour of leading the chase, but with Piqueras, Foggia, Nepa, Kelso and Scott Ogden still in the mix as well. 

Rueda continued to enjoy clear air at the front and showed off with his pace, but all eyes were on the podium battle behind, where Carpe was still in the spotlight. That fight got a touch more dramatic with five laps to go, when Piqueras and Kelso tangled out of contention at turn 12, the incident also forcing Foggia into taking avoiding action and dropping into the second group led by Bertelle, nearly three seconds down the road. A mistake from Carpe soon allowed Nepa and Fernandez to get ahead and it looked like the remaining podium positions would be decided between the three of them, as Ogden steadily lost ground down in 5^th place and was slipping into the clutches of Bertelle. 

Rueda started the final lap over seven seconds ahead of his rivals and despite the exquisite runaway performance, most of the airtime was taken by the men behind. Nepa was on the backfoot going into the final lap after running wide the lap before and allowing Fernandez and Carpe to get ahead, and although he stayed glued to his rivals’ rear wheel, he didn’t get another chance to retaliate. Carpe seemed the keenest to attack and although his first move didn’t work out, he made one stick at the final corner to claim second from Fernandez. Nepa settled for 4^th, with poleman Bertelle crossing the finish line two and a half seconds later in a rather disappointing 5^th. Foggia took 6^th, with David Almansa 7^th, although the Spaniard ended the race with a literal bang, making contact with Ogden at the final corner and sending the Brit into the gravel. Riccardo Rossi, Joel Esteba and Lunetta completed the top 10 positions. 

Results: