The Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), "Martinator", dealt a resounding blow with his victory in the "sprint" race of the Thai MotoGP Grand Prix at the "Chang International" circuit in Buriram, to his world title aspirations of the category.
Martín starred in the seventh victory in a "sprint" race of the season, and the fifth in a row for the Spaniard, who benefited from the poor performance of the competition leader, the Italian Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), who finished seventh and added just 3 points, which cuts the Italian's lead to 18 points.
Despite raising the front wheel of his motorcycle a little, Jorge Martín was able to recover from the error to negotiate the first corner of the track in first position, in which the Italian "Pecco" Bagnaia was eighth and was still losing positions before completing the first lap.
Martín set a brilliant pace from the beginning to close the first lap with six tenths of an advantage over the fastest of his pursuers, while behind him, Marc Márquez (Honda RC 213 V), began to make up positions from eighth place to getting fourth on the second lap and that after having a major scare during the first lap.
Márquez received, during the morning at the Buriram circuit, confirmation from Honda, from its sports director, Alberto Puig, that he would not have any problem, from the Japanese manufacturer, to get on the Ducati in the test scheduled for after the Grand Prix of the Valencian Community in November, good news that, although expected, did not have official confirmation until this Saturday.
In the second lap Jorge Martín's advantage was already one second and Marc Márquez was fighting for fourth place with the also Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP), and "Pecco" Bagnaia lost ground from the ninth place he occupied and which he tried to defend from the attacks of the Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha YZR M 1).
Marc Márquez's initial attack, knowing that the first laps were where he could gain the most profit, gradually faded and the third lap saw him being overtaken by the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) from behind and approaching. dangerously his own brother, Alex Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP22).
But Marc Márquez did not give up and held on in the wake of the bikes of Aleix Espargaró and Marco Bezzecchi, in a clear attempt to aspire to fourth place in the final on a track where he knows what it means to win and, furthermore, to claim victory. world champion, since he did it here for the last time in the 2019 season.
Martín, at the pace of the fastest lap record, had a second and a half advantage on the sixth lap, in which another Spaniard, Augusto Fernández (Gas Gas RC 16), crashed in turn twelve, the same in which the Japanese Takaaki Nakagami (Honda RC 213 V) fell.
After Martín, the South African Brad Binder (KTM RC 16) and the Italian Luca Marini (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) engaged in a spectacular fight for second place, without either of them giving up an iota of ground, with Aleix Espargaró, Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Márquez were close to them and already a little further back, "Pecco" Bagnaia was seventh as he maintained his position against the attacks of Alex Márquez and Johann Zarco. On the tenth lap Marc Márquez managed to overtake Marco Bezzecchi to regain fifth position.
Ahead, Jorge Martín kept his distance to consolidate his first position, without risking more than was strictly necessary when "Pecco" Bagnaia was seventh and looking to overtake Bezzecchi.
On the last lap, a mistake by Aleix Espargaró allowed Marc Márquez to overtake him, but the Aprilia rider regained the position, although the eight-time world champion did not throw in the towel and in the corner he overtook him again to finish fourth. for just 78 thousandths.
Jorge Martín took the victory, easily ahead of Brad Binder and Luca Marini, who accompanied him on the podium, with Marc Márquez fourth, ahead of Aleix Espargaró and Marco Bezzecchi.
The world leader, "Pecco" Bagnaia was seventh, with Alex Márquez, Johann Zarco and the Australian Jack Miller (KTM RC 16), behind him, closing the top ten race positions.
