Oliveira delivers another wet-weather masterclass to win in Buriram

Marco Bezzecchi made a brilliant start from his first-ever MotoGP pole to lead into turn one, however, the Italian ran off track on the exit of the same corner, as did Jorge Martin. 

As Francesco Bagnaia gained a position and moved into second following Martin’s mistake, main title rival Fabio Quartararo instead went backwards after suffering a shocking first lap as he dropped out of the points in just four corners. 

Getting swamped in the middle of the pack, Quartararo went from fourth to 17th before coming close to losing the rear of his Yamaha on the exit of turn four.

After gaining an advantage following his off track excursion, Bezzecchi was then asked to drop a position as Jack Miller got through on team-mate Bagnaia for second. 

Bagnaia was then pushed back to fourth as Oliveira was making a significant charge towards the front of the race. Bagnaia responded by getting ahead of a fading Bezzecchi, however, the factory Ducati rider had no answer for the pace being shown by Miller and Oliveira. 

Luca Marini, who was beginning to make progress, then crashed out of the race at turn nine. 

As Bagnaia’s pace began to pick up with the fastest lap of the race, Quartararo was again heading backwards as Pol Espargaro and Cal Crutchlow were the latest to get ahead of the Frenchman. 

Remy Gardner became the second rider to crash out which elevated Quartararo up one position, although not enough for the Yamaha rider to be inside the points. 

Managing to keep Oliveira at bay due to his prowess on the brakes, Miller’s defence was finally broken when the KTM rider got alongside the Australian heading towards the final corner. 

Oliveira began to immediately gap Miller as Marquez started lining up a move on Bagnaia for third. 

As the top four remained in line astern, Johann Zarco was quickly bringing himself into contention after setting five consecutive fastest laps of the race. 

Seeing a chance of victory just ahead of him, Zarco pounced on Marquez after the Repsol Honda rider made a failed attempt of overtaking Bagnaia at the final corner. 

Further back, Quartararo was up another position with 17th, however, points were too far ahead of the reigning world champion.

Despite late pressure from Miller, Oliveira resisted in order to claim his second win of the season, while Bagnaia did the same to hold off Zarco and secure a vital podium.