MADRID, 1 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) won pole position this Saturday at the Thai Grand Prix, the seventeenth round of the World Championship and which takes place at the Chang International Circuit, in Burinam, with a track record, and with Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) eighth, while the Thai Somkiat Chantra (Kalex) will start from the preferred position in Moto2, and the Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda) will do the same in Moto3.
In the premier class, Bezzecchi won the tight final duel for the long-awaited pole against Jorge Martín (Ducati), who was close to pole until the end with a time of 1:29.692. But on his final lap of Q2, the Italian shaved off a few thousandths to set a 1m29.671s and claim his first MotoGP pole position.
‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati) will complete that first row (1:29.775), ahead of current leader Fabio Quartararo, who achieved a good fourth place, two tenths behind the ‘poleman’ and one tenth behind the Italian, the top contender to take the lead . Thus, the Frenchman keeps the pulse of the Ducati, with a little more rhythm this Saturday.
After his pole at Motegi, Marc Márquez will start eighth in Burinam, after making a good Q1, in which he was first, ahead of the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (KTM). That good lap by the Portuguese left Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) off the hook, who did not have time to respond and will start in a poor thirteenth position, forced to come back to hunt down Bagnaia and Quartararo and not fall out of the fight for the title.
In Q2, Márquez had no choice, and all the spotlights were on Martín and Bezzecchi. The duel would fall on the side of the Italian, who saw his pole position in danger in one last lap of the man from Madrid, who finally could not beat the fast time of ‘Bezz’, who celebrated his first pole position.
CHANTRA AND FOGGIA DOMINATE THE MOTO2 AND MOTO3 CLASSIFICATION
In Moto2, the local rider Somkiat Chantra (Kalex) dominated the qualifying time table from start to finish and, buoyed by the support of the public, flew into Burinam to take pole position for this Sunday’s race . His time of 1:35.625 was the fastest of the final qualifying session in the intermediate category. This great time makes him the first Thai driver to get the preferential position in the Thai Grand Prix.
Chantra will be accompanied on the front row by the Italian Tony Arbolino (Kalex) and the Japanese Ai Ogura (Kalex), who puts pressure on the leader of the World Cup, the Spanish Augusto Fernández (Kalex) -with an advantage of only two points-, who this Sunday will start eighth, after completing a lap half a second slower than the Thai.
Before Q2, the Italian Celestino Vietti (Kalex), the Thai Keminth Kubo (Kalex), the Dutch Bo Bendsneyder (Kalex) and the American Joe Roberts (Kalex) did their homework to keep their place in that final qualifying session. However, Roberts had a scare when he was run over by the motorcycle of an Albert Arenas (Kalex) who had just suffered a fall. Pedro Acosta (Kalex) will be the best Spaniard at the start, with Vietti and Alonso López completing the second row.
In Moto3, the Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda), with a 1:42.077, broke the absolute track record and will start ahead of Jaume Masià (KTM) and Ayumu Sasaki (Husqvarna). Thus, the Leopard Racing driver takes seriously his mathematical options of being champion -63 points behind the leader- and gets a pole that gives him many options to take a ‘bite’ of that complicated advantage facing the final stretch.
The current leader, Izan Guevara (GasGas), who participated in Q1 for the first time this season, could only finish eleventh, hampered throughout the final session by a problem in his front end. Like the Spaniard, Sergio García Dols (GasGas), the top contender to snatch the lead from the Majorcan, will be forced to come back after being trapped in Q1, with a disappointing twentieth place on the grid this Sunday.