Marquez sets scintillating pace in Thailand to end MotoGP testing on top

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Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez set the fastest time on the final day of pre-season testing at Buriram, leading another 1-2 finish for Ducati.

Having already established himself as the pacesetter on Wednesday, Marquez found another three tenths overnight to lower the benchmark to 1m28.855s on the factory Ducati.

This put him just one and a half tenths down on the outright lap record at Buriram, set by Francesco Bagnaia during qualifying for last year’s Thai Grand Prix.

The 31-year-old set his quickest time just two hours into the start of the day’s running before switching to longer runs in the afternoon, averaging a time of 1m30.361s over a 23-lap race simulation.

Meanwhile, Gresini’s Alex Marquez carried over his strong form in pre-season testing on Thursday, posting a best time of 1m29.034s to finish 0.179s behind his elder brother in second.

Marco Bezzecchi once again carried the torch for Aprilia in the absence of reigning champion Jorge Martin, jumping up to third in the final 30 minutes of the session.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bezzecchi’s late effort demoted KTM’s star rider Pedro Acosta to fourth, although they were separated by just over half a tenth.

Acosta was the first rider to beat Marquez’s lap time from Wednesday as the final day of testing began, but he was shuffled down to fourth after failing to improve on his initial 1m29.133s flier.

Double champion Bagnaia ended up a solid fifth for Ducati, half a second behind his team-mate Marquez, while Joan Mir propelled Honda to sixth place with a time of 1m29.399s.

Seventh position went to VR46’s Franco Morbidelli, another standout performer of pre-season testing, while Fabio Quartararo seemingly got on top of the issues that plagued him on Wednesday to put Yamaha in eighth.

Tech3’s Maverick Vinales, Pramac rider Jack Miller and Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura all lapped within half a tenth of Quartararo, ending up ninth, 10th and 11th respectively.

It made reigning Moto2 champion Ogura the fastest of the three rookies at Buriram, with Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini) and Somkiat Chantra (LCR) in 18th and 20th respectively.

Cla	Nº	Rider	Bike	Time	Delay	Laps
1	93	Marc Márquez	Ducati	1’28.855		39
2	73	Álex Márquez	Ducati	1’29.034	0.179	36
3	37	Pedro Acosta	KTM	1’29.133	0.278	31
4	72	Marco Bezzecchi	Aprilia	1’29.244	0.389	34
5	63	F.Bagnaia	Ducati	1’29.378	0.523	38
6	21	F.Morbidelli	Ducati	1’29.454	0.599	37
7	79	Ai Ogura	Aprilia	1’29.636	0.781	38
8	36	Joan Mir	Honda	1’29.730	0.875	35
9	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1’29.732	0.877	42
10	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1’29.818	0.963	27
11	43	Jack Miller	Yamaha	1’29.830	0.975	31
12	5	Johann Zarco	Honda	1’29.882	1.027	41
13	10	Luca Marini	Honda	1’29.884	1.029	35
14	25	Raúl Fernández	Aprilia	1’30.013	1.158	33
15	42	Alex Rins	Yamaha	1’30.218	1.363	38
16	12	Maverick Viñales	KTM	1’30.258	1.403	48
17	35	Somkiat Chantra	Honda	1’30.465	1.610	41
18	23	Enea Bastianini	KTM	1’30.516	1.661	31
19	88	Miguel Oliveira	Yamaha	1’30.565	1.710	40
20	54	Fermín Aldeguer	Ducati	1’30.597	1.742	28
21	32	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	1’31.527	2.672	36