Marquez brothers still on top in Thai MotoGP warm-up

Marc Marquez and younger brother Alex will head into this afternoon’s Thai MotoGP having ruled the timesheets in qualifying, the Sprint race and morning warm-up.

New factory Ducati signing Marc finished with an advantage of 0.362s over Alex’s Gresini machine, while Francesco Bagnaia made warm-up a carbon copy of the Sprint rostrum in third.

All eyes are on Bagnaia to try and respond this afternoon, but Marc Marquez goes into the race as the clear favourite to complete a perfect debut weekend in red.

After yesterday’s unofficial MotoGP record race temperature of 37-degrees in the Saturday Sprint, air temperature had already reached 34-degrees for warm-up.

While the Marquez brothers used soft tyres front and rear for their one-two in the Sprint, most riders chose the hard front and soft rear tyre combination on Saturday afternoon.

Although the hard front would seem the obvious choice for the full grand prix distance in the searing heat, the rubber compound is said to be the same as the soft, the only difference being the stiffer carcass.

The Marquez brothers, Bagnaia, plus VR46 team-mates Franco Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio - who completed an all-Ducati top five this morning - and Aprilia Marco Bezzecchi in sixth all chose the soft front for warm-up. 

Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) then followed on the hard front.

Controlling wheelspin is the priority for the rear tyre. Home rookie Somkiat Chantra (LCR) was the only rider to use the medium, rather than soft, in the Sprint but the medium rear was the favoured option for warm-up.

Chantra and Morbidelli each have a three-place grid penalty to serve in this afternoon's race, for obstructing other riders at the end of Friday practice.

The 26-lap Thai Grand Prix starts at 3pm local time.