Jorge Martin showed no signs of a Phillip Island hangover as the Pramac Ducati rider took control of MotoGP Free Practice 1 at the Thai Grand Prix.
Martin goes into Round 17 trailing reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia by 27 points after losing the race lead on the final lap of the Australia GP, six days earlier.
In the opening session at Buriram, Martin was 0.238s quicker than Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales, with Pol Espargaro third on the GasGas Tech 3 KTM as the top three were covered by half-a-second.
Bagnaia was 10th after the first action of the weekend on the Lenovo Ducati.
Alex Marquez led the way in the very early stages after a handful of laps on the Gresini Ducati from Martin and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who is now in the frame for the factory Repsol Honda seat next season as a replacement for Marc Marquez, who will link up with his brother Alex at Gresini in 2024.
Yamaha riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli then went to the top after 10 minutes before Viñales took over with a time in 1:31.484s with just over half-an-hour of the 45-minute session to go.
Viñales was a mere two thousandths of a second ahead of Alex Marquez with Martin third, only 0.009s adrift.
Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) was 0.078s off the top spot in fourth as he maintained his strong run of recent form.
Honda’s Marquez, the race lap record holder from 2019 (1:30.904s), was 11th after the first 15 minutes.
Bagnaia was in 10th spot after 23 minutes behind Frenchman Quartararo.
There was a change at the top going into the last 11 minutes when Aleix Espargaro – after fitting a hard front Michelin – lapped in 1:31.171s on the factory Aprilia to bump team-mate Viñales down to second, three tenths of a second adrift.
Martin jumped to the summit with six minutes remaining, posting a 1:31.025s on medium tyres as he moved 0.359s up on Espargaro. The Pramac man then upped the ante further on his next lap with a 1:30.520s to go six tenths clear.
Pol Espargaro climbed to third on his final lap on the satellite KTM behind Martin and Viñales with Espargaro fourth. Morbidelli and Augusto Fernandez (GasGas Tech3 KTM) completed the top six.
Di Giannantonio was seventh with Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia), Alex Marquez and Bagnaia rounding out the top 10.
Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami was the leading Honda rider on the LCR machine in 11th, 1.079s off Martin’s time.
Marc Marquez, who got his Repsol Honda completely sideways during a practice start after the session concluded, was only 18th.
Aussie Jack Miller was 13th, ahead of Red Bull KTM team-mate Brad Binder, while Quartararo fell back to 12th on the Monster Energy Yamaha.
VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi had a quiet morning as the Italian completed FP1 in 16th, behind team-mate Luca Marini, while Phillip Island winner Johann Zarco was languishing in 19th on the Pramac Ducati.
Miguel Oliveira, who won in the wet in Thailand in 2022, was 21st on the RNF Aprilia.
LCR Honda’s Alex Rins is ruled out this weekend following further surgery.
The Spanish rider withdrew from the previous round at Phillip Island in Australia last weekend as he continued to experience pain from the leg fractures he sustained at Mugello in Italy.
