Pecco Bagnaia took victory in the Thai GP, in a wet race with multiple falls, but he could only take five points off Jorge Martín, second. The man from Madrid used mathematics and minimized the defeat, favored by the fall of Marc Márquez, who was second when he crashed.
From cutting Pecco 9 points to losing only 5. From having the Italian at 13 points to seeing him at 17. So in the long race in Malaysia, next weekend, Jorge could have his first championship ball. Now only the two of them can mathematically qualify for the title, like last year.
While Márquez managed to resume the race in 16th position and climb to 12th (later penalized one place for taking Joan Mir off the track), Pedro Acosta achieved a creditable podium by bravely overtaking Jack Miller in third position .
brutal exit
Martín started like a missile, from third to first, fighting side by side with Bagnaia to take the lead of the race
The rain appeared in the run-up to the Buriram race, the asphalt was soaked and the marshals removed the “Wet race” sign, so the bike could be changed at any time. Ducati, through the mouth of Davide Tardozzi, team director, put Marc Márquez as the favorite in those wet conditions. While the other Márquez, Àlex, was the first victim of the wet asphalt when he fell on the formation lap and had to leave the pit-lane.
At the start, Martín started like a missile and jumped from third to first place, with Bagnaia at his side, fighting hard in the first corners, both of them risking to stay in first place. Márquez, on the prowl, was third and Quartararo fourth, ahead of Acosta. In less than one lap, Jorge gained half a second on Pecco. I wanted to give it another moral blow before arriving in Malaysia.
Martín looked strong and confident to push very hard despite the water on the track and opened a gap of 7-8 tenths on the third lap, while Márquez stuck to the tail of Bagnaia’s Ducati to prepare for the assault.
Martin’s mistake
On the fifth lap, the man from Madrid went far in braking at 1 and gave up the lead to Bagnaia and Márquez
However, when it seemed like he was going away, Jorge made a mistake on the fifth lap by going wide under braking in the first corner and gave the lead to Pecco. Márquez also took advantage of the mistake to place second, 7-8 tenths ahead of Pramac Ducati. In those positions, the Italian would cut 9 points from Madrid.
The track became more complicated for the pilots. Quartararo, Morbidelli and Bastianini went to the ground and Acosta narrowly saved the fall. Conditions in which Marc Márquez grew up, who sneaked up on Bagnaia. On lap 9 (of 26), the Catalan attacked the Italian in turn 12, but Pecco repelled the blow. The fight favored Martín to get closer to the lead.
Script change
When looking for the lead, Márquez stepped on a curb and crashed on lap 14; Bagnaia was left alone at the front of the race
Márquez saw that he had his great opportunity to win the race. He studied Bagnaia’s movements and launched his second attack on lap 14. The Italian repelled him again. But when Marc was approaching the two-time champion again, he crashed after losing grip on the front wheel when he stepped on the wet surface. He tried to lift the bike and rejoined the race, but very late, 16th. It left Bagnaia alone in the lead with 2.6 seconds over Martín.
The emotion was suddenly extinguished in the fight for victory. Bagnaia expanded to 2.9s ahead of Martín to secure his ninth win of the year (a new record for him), while Márquez, running 16th, was very far away, 23 seconds behind the leader. The provisional third position was for Jack Miller, who had overtaken his teammate Brad Binder. Acosta, fifth, put pressure on the South African to compete for fourth position, which the Murcian took from him with five laps remaining.
With two laps remaining, Acosta jumped on top of Jack Miller and fought for the podium with the Australian, an accomplished water specialist. The Tiburón de Mazarrón took the KTM duel with a huge overtake.
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