Race report

MotoGP Thailand GP: Marquez claims dominant sprint victory, Bagnaia third

Marquez’s fairytale debut weekend with Ducati continues as he coverts a pole into victory in the Thailand sprint

Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez claimed a dominant lights-to-flag victory in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race, as team-mate Francesco Bagnaia held off Ai Ogura to finish third.

Having claimed pole by 0.146s in qualifying, Marquez was also untouchable in Saturday's half-distance race at Buriram, leading every lap en route to a 1.18s victory over younger brother Alex Marquez.

The six-time MotoGP champion pulled away cleanly from pole, while Alex Marquez briefly dropped behind a fast-charging Bagnaia before retaking second.

Within just two laps of race start, the elder Marquez’s lead was up to 0.6s and by the seventh tour he had pulled out an advantage of 1.2s.

Although Alex Marquez subsequently closed the gap to under a second, the factory Ducati rider was able to streak clear again to claim an unchallenged victory in the opening sprint of 2025.

Gresini's Alex Marquez still secured a strong second, proving his testing pace was no fluke, while Bagnaia resisted race-long pressure from Trackhouse’s debutant Ai Ogura to claim the final spot on the podium.

VR46’s Franco Morbidelli had a largely boring race en route to fifth, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta inherited sixth after Pramac’s Jack Miller crashed at Turn 8 with a handful of laps to run.

Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo recovered from a slow start to take seventh for Yamaha, with Brad Binder finishing eighth coming out worse in an early battle against team-mate Acosta.

The final points-paying position went to factory Honda rider Joan Mir, who edged out the LCR-run RC213V of Johann Zarco in the final laps of the sprint.

Factory Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi made a shocking getaway that dropped him to the lower reaches of the top 20, but a charging ride recovered him to 12th.

MotoGP Thailand GP - Sprint race results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	13	19'35.005		181.3		12
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	13	+1.185 19'36.190	1.185	181.2		9
3	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	13	+3.423 19'38.428	2.238	180.8		7
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	13	+4.392 19'39.397	0.969	180.7		6
5	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	13	+5.790 19'40.795	1.398	180.4		5
6	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	13	+11.700 19'46.705	5.910	179.5		4
7	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	13	+13.437 19'48.442	1.737	179.3		3
8	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	13	+14.228 19'49.233	0.791	179.2		2
9	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	13	+15.453 19'50.458	1.225	179.0		1
10	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	13	+16.209 19'51.214	0.756	178.9
11	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	13	+16.817 19'51.822	0.608	178.8
12	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	13	+17.152 19'52.157	0.335	178.7
13	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	13	+17.741 19'52.746	0.589	178.6
14	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	13	+18.984 19'53.989	1.243	178.5
15	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	13	+19.149 19'54.154	0.165	178.4
16	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	13	+19.569 19'54.574	0.420	178.4
17	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	13	+20.140 19'55.145	0.571	178.3
18	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	13	+23.948 19'58.953	3.808	177.7
19	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	13	+24.594 19'59.599	0.646	177.6
20	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	13	+31.443 20'06.448	6.849	177.6
dnf	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	11	+2 Laps 17'16.335	2 Laps	174.0	Retirement
nc	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	6	+7 Laps 9'05.560	5 Laps	180.3	Accident
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