With just three rounds to go, Jorge Martin takes a 20-point title lead over reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia into this weekend’s Thai MotoGP.
Marco Bezzecchi went fastest in the first practice session on Friday.
Due to the heat and stress on the tyres, Buriram is among the venues where Michelin selects its stiffer construction rears.
The weather is forecast to be hot, humid and dry for Friday and Saturday with a risk of thunderstorms on Sunday.
Practice is at 3pm (9am UK).
Good start to the afternoon for Yamaha so far. Quartararo is sat in fifth, albeit on a fresh medium rear tyre.
The Frenchman reckoned on Thursday that the stiffer rear tyres this weekend would disadvantage Yamaha less because its rivals wouldn't have such a big advantage.
Both of our championship contenders are looking a bit flustered this afternoon as not all looks well on their bikes.
Small moment for Bagnaia coming through Turn 5. He's bailed out of this lap and back into the pits.
40 minutes left in Practice. Top 10 is:
Martin also had a look at his rear tyre when he climbed off his Ducati in pitlane. All not totally fine with the championship leader at thsi stage.
He's fourth with just under 20 minutes of the session gone.
Nice stoppie from Martin on the way into pitlane. Just a moment ago he was shaking his head into Turn 1, so perhaps a few braking troubles for the Pramac rider at this stage?
With 15 minutes of the session gone, the top 10 is:
Bastianini has gone down at Turn 3. But of a silly one as he'd run wide and was looking elsewhere when he touched the white line, which sent him down.
No harm done.
Lorenzo Savadori has crashed at the final corner. He just tucked the front but is now up again.
Marc Marquez now jumps back to the front of the order with a 1m30.105s.
Another small improvement for Acosta to a 1m30.209s. He leads Martin, Bagnaia, Bastianini and Miller right now.
Acosta is back on top with a 1m30.230s.
Times will chop and change quite a bit over the first 10 minutes while everyone settles into their long runs.
Marc Marquez now goes top, though, with a 1m30.537s.
Acosta now takes over at the top of the times with a 1m30.629s. Clearly not suffering too much with the shoulder he hurt in Australia!
Martin gets the ball rolling with a 1m31.045s.
Bit of a mix on tyres for the start of this session. Most have gone out on the hard front/hard rear.
Bagnaia is on the medium rear, as is Bastianini, Morbidelli, Acosta, Savadori, Binder, Espargaro, Rins, A.Marquez, Martin and M.Marquez.
A couple of riders looking at the soft front.
Pitlane is open for this hour of practice.
If you're new, the top 10 at the end of this session will determine who goes straight into Q2 qualifying on Saturday.
It's only Friday but the crowd is making it sound like it's a race day! It's for good reason MotoGP is starting the 2025 season in Thailand.
Conditions are dry and roasting ahead of this hour long session.
Good morning and welcome back to live coverage of the 2024 Thai Grand Prix.
Practice is due to begin in just under 20 minutes.
Jack Miller lights up his rear tyre all along the main straight during his practice start.
Francesco Bagnaia gets sideways as he drops the clutch.
Good news from Aprilia: "Following the fall involving Aleix Espargaró, the rider underwent examinations and no clinically significant injuries were found. He only sustained a minor trauma."
Session over.
Marco Bezzecchi leads FP1 from Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.
