MotoGP Thailand GP: Pedro Acosta breaks duck with sprint win

The KTM star defeated Marc Marquez for victory after Marco Bezzecchi fell

Pedro Acosta can finally call himself a MotoGP winner after taking victory in the sprint at Buriram on Saturday.

The KTM rider went toe-to-toe with world champion Marc Marquez but emerged on top after a pulsating race that had everything.

Pole position man and favourite Marco Bezzecchi had to witness it all from the Aprilia box after falling while in the lead on lap two of the race.

With Bezzecchi out of the running, a likely battle between the Italian and Marquez turned into a scrap between Acosta and Marquez.

The Spanish youngster would not leave the elder statesman - and likely 2027 colleague at the factory Ducati squad - in peace. The race looked set to be decided at the final corner as Acosta rehearsed a block pass there multiple times - twice succeeding in crossing the finish line first before Marquez re-took the lead.

But the race was ultimately decided in very different fashion. On the penultimate lap, Acosta pounced on a slight error from Marquez in the twisty middle part of the lap, claiming the lead. But that wasn't the end of it.

Marquez produced a block pass of his own at the end of that lap - but it was anything but clean. He pushed his young challenger well wide, immediately triggering a stewards' investigation.

Working with remarkable speed, the stewards came to a decision with half a lap remaining. Marc received a dashboard message to the effect that he would have to drop one position.

The 33-year-old complied at the final corner, allowing Acosta his long-awaited first race win in MotoGP.

Raul Fernandez saved some pride for Aprilia by taking a solid third place aboard the Trackhouse entry.

His team-mate Ai Ogura was fourth after passing factory rider Jorge Martin late in the race.

Acosta's team-mate Brad Binder had a strong afternoon to take sixth, ahead of Joan Mir (Honda) and Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), who lost time in a first-lap incident with Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati).

With Alex also dropping places in that clash, the way was cleared for Francesco Bagnaia to salvage the final point after missing Q2 earlier in the day and qualifying 13th.

SPRINT

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	13	19'39.155		180.7		12
2	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	13	+0.108 19'39.263	0.108	180.7		9
3	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	13	+0.540 19'39.695	0.432	180.6		7
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	13	+2.100 19'41.255	1.560	180.4		6
5	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89	Aprilia	13	+3.851 19'43.006	1.751	180.1		5
6	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	13	+4.612 19'43.767	0.761	180.0		4
7	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	13	+4.924 19'44.079	0.312	179.9		3
8	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	13	+5.748 19'44.903	0.824	179.8		2
9	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	13	+6.910 19'46.065	1.162	179.6		1
10	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	13	+7.796 19'46.951	0.886	179.5
11	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	13	+8.504 19'47.659	0.708	179.4
12	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	13	+8.577 19'47.732	0.073	179.4
13	D. Moreira Team LCR	11	Honda	13	+11.970 19'51.125	3.393	178.9
14	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	13	+12.395 19'51.550	0.425	178.8
15	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	13	+13.467 19'52.622	1.072	178.7
16	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	13	+15.079 19'54.234	1.612	178.4
17	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	13	+15.452 19'54.607	0.373	178.4
18	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	13	+15.876 19'55.031	0.424	178.3
19	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	13	+21.445 20'00.600	5.569	177.5
20	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7	Yamaha	13	+25.860 20'05.015	4.415	176.8
21	M. Pirro Gresini Racing	51	Ducati	13	+27.892 20'07.047	2.032	176.5
dnf	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	1	+12 Laps 2'30.673	12 Laps	178.4	Accident
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