Marco Bezzecchi “made two critical mistakes” in “tough” Thai MotoGP Sprint

Marco Bezzecchi took a seventh-place finish in the Thai MotoGP Sprint despite starting from the second row.

The issue for Bezzecchi was the front tyre. He’d been weighing up front tyre choices all weekend, and the choice, for him, between the soft-compound front tyre and the hard-compound front tyre was between general confidence and performance when riding in a group.

“It was a tough race, but I expected this because I tried this weekend to work with the hard front [tyre] but I was not able to use it,” Bezzecchi explained.

“I lose too much speed and too much confidence when I put the hard front.

“But, with the soft, when you have hot air in front or other bikes in front then it starts to be difficult. My start was good, but not the best, so I lost a couple of places at the beginning.

“Then I made two critical mistakes in corner three, I went wide two times — the second one more, on the blue paint.

“So, I lost positions, then in the end when the group was broken I was able to overtake again Brad Binder and [Fabio] Di Giannantonio.

“Then, I felt again a bit better.”

As a result of how his Sprint went, Bezzecchi plans to work on making the hard-compound front tyre work for him in Sunday morning’s Warm Up session.

“I hope that tomorrow morning we find something in the Warm Up to be able to use the hard front, because in braking they [the other riders with the hard-compound front tyre] have a bit more,” Bezzecchi said.

“Let’s say that, when you are alone, it’s similar, but when you are behind and the soft starts to receive more hot air, then the front locking starts to be more, like in Mandalika.

“So, hopefully, I can find something to use the hard front. Also, it’s a different approach for the long race, so we will see.”