2025 Thai MotoGP: Alex Marquez fastest in Practice, Francesco Bagnaia in Q1
Alex Marquez top late in second practice as Bagnaia out of Q2
Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez snatched top spot late on in second practice for the 2025 MotoGP Thai Grand Prix as Francesco Bagnaia missed the Q2 cut-off in 13th.
Expectations that the factory Ducati team would dominate the opening weekend of the year have so far proven untrue, with fortunes mixed for both Marc Marquez and Bagnaia on Friday at Buriram.
While Marquez was comfortably quick throughout the hour-long session, team-mate Bagnaia struggled to match that pace and found himself in the danger zone at the fringes of the top 10 as the shootout to bag a Q2 qualifying place began.
Bagnaia had a seventh-place lap time cancelled in the dying stages due to a yellow flag for Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) crashing at Turn 3.
The yellow flags were withdrawn as Bagnaia came through to start his final lap, which became even more critical after Trackhouse Aprilia rookie Ai Ogura sneaked into the top 10 seconds before.
Fastest in sector one and setting a personal best in the second sector, Bagnaia’s lap was curtailed by a touring Franco Morbidelli on the VR46 Ducati at Turn 5.
Fuming with his fellow VR46 Academy member, Bagnaia will face Q1 on Saturday morning ahead of the first round of the season.
Alex Marquez fired in a 1m29.020s at the end of the session his Gresini-run GP24 to lead older brother Marc Marquez by 0.052s.
Marc Marquez led FP1 this morning and was fastest after the opening 10 minutes of the afternoon session, with the factory Ducati rider setting the pace at 1m30.044s.
He would take numerous stints leading the way and was top with a 1m29.197s with just over 10 minutes to go as the time attack phase of the session got underway.
This looked like it would keep him top of the pile as the chequered flag came out, only for Alex Marquez to pip him.
Pedro Acosta led the KTM charge in third, 0.242s off the pace, while Bezzecchi held onto fourth despite his late crash.
Morbidelli was fifth but will likely face punishment from the stewards for blocking Bagnaia on his final lap.
Joan Mir carried on Honda’s strong winter form n sixth on the factory team RC213V, while Raul Fernandez ensured both Trackhouse Aprilias see Q2 after finishing seventh ahead of ninth-placed team-mate Ogura.
Fabio Quartararo was eighth for Yamaha, while Johann Zarco - who led the session at one point - was 10th for LCR Honda.
Maverick Vinales narrowly missed out on a Q1 spot by 0.073s on the Tech3 KTM, though did beat factory rival Brad Binder.
Bagnaia headed Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller, who crashed early on in the session, while Fabio Di Giannantonio was 15th on the sister VR46 Ducati.
