Marc Marquez dominates FP1 at the Thai MotoGP, Bagnaia 10th

Marc Marquez picked up where he left off in MotoGP pre-season testing by finishing opening practice for the Thai Grand Prix on top of the timesheets at Buriram.

Marquez was fastest for almost the entire 45 minutes, his team making some mid-session set-up changes after the Spaniard gestured that the rear of his GP25 was unstable under hard braking.

He certainly wasn’t the only one getting sideways on corner entry, with team-mate and predicted title rival Francesco Bagnaia repeatedly running wide.

The Italian was eventually classified tenth, 0.718s behind Marquez, although the pair opted for a different tyre choice with Bagnaia staying on the soft front and Marquez the hard (both keeping the same medium rear tyre throughout).

VR46’s Franco Morbidelli (soft front, medium rear) got closest to Marquez this morning, being 0.158s behind on the ‘standard’ GP24 package, but only after fitting new rubber at the end.

It was also a good morning for Yamaha, which finished third and fourth courtesy of Fabio Quartararo and Jack Miller.

Quartararo, fast throughout the session, set his best after a late switch from soft front-medium rear tyres to brand new hard front and soft rear. Miller put new soft front and medium rear rubber for his final run.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi backed up his impressive pre-season test to be Marquez’s closest rival for much of the session, before being pushed down to fifth. Bezzecchi’s tyre data was officially ‘missing’. 

Update: Bezzecchi kept the same set of soft front and medium rear tyres throughout.

Rookie Ai Ogura turned heads with sixth on new soft front and medium rear tyres for Trackhouse Aprilia.

Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez was seventh but the second fastest rider after brother Marc not to fit new rubber at the end (pending Bezzecchi's info).

Miller’s team-mate Miguel Oliveira was eighth while Maverick Vinales overcame an early technical issue to be top KTM in ninth for Tech3.

Bagnaia was the third rider in the top ten to avoid new rubber at the end. The following Hondas of Johann Zarco, Luca Marini and Joan Mir also stayed on old tyres, with Marini and Mir inside the top six at the halfway stage.

Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer was the next best rookie after Ogura, in 14th, with home star Somkiat Chantra a creditable 17th and only one-second from Marc Marquez.

Pedro Acosta was KTM's top rider for most of FP1 but dropped down to 16th after finishing with a continuous 17-lap run on the soft rear tyre (and hard front).

The RC16s suffered tyre wear issues in their race simulations at the recent test and Acosta's team-mate Brad Binder likewise did a long run on the soft rear (but with the soft front) this morning, also explaining his 19th place. 

The South African was quicker than Acosta for average pace but both had some fairly erratic lap times, suggesting the KTMs are hard to consistently control.

VR46's Fabio di Giannantonio was 18th on his return to MotoGP action, and on his ‘GP24’ debut, after missing five of the six days of pre-season testing due to a fractured collarbone at Sepang.

Jorge Martin’s Aprilia replacement Lorenzo Savadori completed a 22-rider field covered by 2.421s.

The second practice session, which will decide the top ten for direct Qualifying 2 entry, takes place this afternoon.