04:41
Chequered flag. Marc Marquez stays fastest in final practice ahead of Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.
Qualifying 1 next.
Marc Marquez, 2024 Thai MotoGP
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2024 Thai MotoGP: Qualifying - LIVE!
Follow live updates from Saturday’s qualifying sessions at the 2024 Thai MotoGP.
With just three rounds to go, Jorge Martin takes a 20-point title lead over reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia into Saturday at the Thai MotoGP.
Momentum is very much with Martin, who beat Bagnaia in both Phillip Island races and took a clean sweep of Pole Position, Sprint and Grand Prix victories at Buriram last year.
But both title contenders will need to watch out for the likes of last weekend’s Phillip Island winner Marc Marquez, who was twice victorious at Buriram for Honda.
KTM fought for victory with Brad Binder one year ago, when Marco Bezzecchi and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo were also in the top five.
Due to the heat and stress on the tyres, Buriram is among the venues where Michelin selects its stiffer construction rears.
Marc Marquez was fastest in Friday practice from Martin, Bastianini and Bagnaia.
After a dry Friday, there is a risk of thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday.
Qualifying takes place on Saturday morning (10:50am local time, 4:50am UK) with the 13-lap Sprint race starting at 3pm (9am UK).
26 Oct 2024
04:39
Franco Morbidelli is now into second place. Most riders, including Marc Marquez, are finishing the session with the hard front and medium rear tyre.
Joan Mir and Aleix Espargaro are on the soft front, Binder and Mir the hard rear.
04:38
Acosta, riding with stretched ligaments in his shoulder from Australia, hangs on to his bucking KTM, but then has to do a double-take of the front brake to get the pads to bite on the disc.
04:35
If this session is anything to go by, there's looks to be divide between Marquez, Bagnaia and Martin at the front and the rest, now led by the KTMs of Pedro Acosta and Miller.
Bastianini is only 10th, +0.683s.
04:34
Just as I write that Jack Miller moves up to fourth!
But that's perhaps not a surprise as Miller's race pace on Friday was decent, it was only the time attacks that left him outside the top 10.
04:32
While the tyres are now past their best in terms of one-off lap times, it's the rate of degradation riders and teams will be focusing on as they put more and more laps on the rubber this morning.
04:24
Halfway through final practice - top 10: Marc Marquez, Bagnaia, Martin, Bezzecchi, di Giannantonio, A.Fernandez, A.Marquez, Bastianini, Nakagami, Quartararo.
04:20
Martin now moves into third on the timesheets, behind Marquez and Bagnaia.
04:19
10mins gone and Marquez is in the 1m 29s, 0.234s ahead of Bagnaia.
04:16
Marc Marquez's fastest Friday time, on brand new tyres, was a new lap record of 1m 29.165s. The race record is a 1m 30.896s by Marco Bezzecchi last season.
Francesco Bagnaia is also using hard front and medium rear tyres.
04:13
Marc Marquez starts with new hard tyres front and rear, title leader Martin has a used hard front and used medium rear.
04:12
Green lights are on and final practice begins.
04:11
No specific injuries were diagnosed in medical scans, but Dorna's Jack Appleyard says Espargaro is suffering whiplash-type injuries to his back and neck.
04:10
Meanwhile, Aleix Espargaro is back in the Aprilia pits after missing much of Friday following a heavy fall in the morning.
04:09
Marc Marquez was quickest on Friday, but insisted title leader Jorge Martin "is faster than us" for pace.
The Gresini rider also named third place Enea Bastianini as one to watch: "When he’s fast on Friday, it means he will be super-fast during all the weekend.
"But let’s see what we can do.”
Martin's title rival and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia, in fourth, insisted he wasn't concerned at time lost during day one with a set-up that didn't work as expected.
"In the morning I felt good, the afternoon as soon as I had to try a different set-up the bike wasn’t working well.
“So, we just changed again before the time attack and I felt better again going in the other direction.
“I was able to be fast. So, a good Friday.”
04:02
A reminder of Friday afternoon's results...
1 Marc MARQUEZ
2 Jorge MARTIN
3 Enea BASTIANINI
4 Francesco BAGNAIA
5 Maverick VIÑALES
6 Franco MORBIDELLI
7 Pedro ACOSTA
8 Alex MARQUEZ
9 Marco BEZZECCHI
10 Johann ZARCO
11 Brad BINDER
12 Fabio QUARTARARO
13 Jack MILLER
14 Raul FERNANDEZ
15 Takaaki NAKAGAMI
16 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO
17 Luca MARINI
18 Alex RINS
19 Joan MIR
20 Augusto FERNANDEZ
21 Lorenzo SAVADORI
22 Aleix ESPARGARO
04:01
The main task for the 30-minute final practice will be to decide on tyre choice for this afternoon's Sprint.
Michelin believes riders can be competitive on either the soft or hard front tyre for the 13-lap Sprint, depending on riding style, and the medium or hard rear.
In other words, only the medium front looks to have been ruled out.
03:57
Although the pre-event weather forecast only predicted a risk of storms on Sunday, it's a lot cloudier at the track this morning and some forecasts now suggest a risk of rain this afternoon... But final practice and qualifying are set to be dry.
03:51
Good morning from Buriram, where we are 20 minutes away from the start of final practice for the Thai MotoGP, hotly followed by Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2.
