MADRID, 27 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Madrid rider Jorge Martín (Ducati) started the Thai Grand Prix strongly, the seventeenth round of the Motorcycle World Championship, and began commanding the MotoGP category on a Friday with the Spaniards taking center stage as Pedro Acosta (Kalex) and Jaume Masiá (Honda) also dominated in Moto2 and Moto3, respectively.
The first contact with the Chang International Circuit reinforced the spirit of Martín, who faces the weekend 27 points behind the leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and who comes from two adverse races for which he wants to make up for on the Thai track to tighten the fight again.
And for now, the Madrid native started strong, with a Friday where he was the fastest both in the first free practice and in the ‘Practice’, where his drive even led him to fall, without consequences. Aprilia could be a threat again, while Bagnaia this time avoided going through ‘Q1’ as had happened in Indonesia and Australia.
It was a very tight ‘Practice’ in which only three riders fell below the 1:30 barrier and in which between first and tenth, the Spanish Augusto Fernández (KTM), there was only a difference of just three tenths, which which predicts a good ‘battle’ for this Saturday, where rain could also appear.
Martín led the time table with 1:29.826, narrowly ahead of his compatriots Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró, who were less than a tenth (1:29.924) and more than a tenth and a half (1:29.986). respectively, and that they had also escorted him on the board in the morning session. From there, four ‘Desmosedici’, those of Johan Zarco, Luca Marini, Marco Bezzecchi and that of Francesco Bagnaia who was more than two tenths behind the Spanish.
The Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and the South African Brad Binder (KTM) completed the ‘Top 10’ and avoided the always uncomfortable drink of a ‘Q1’ that the eight-time world champion Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) will have to go through. .
The driver from Cervera improved his times as the laps went by, but in the end he stayed eleventh, just over half a tenth off the cut and almost four off the best time in a scary training session as he received the impact on his right shoulder from a piece that came off Jorge Martín’s motorcycle, although fortunately without physical damage. His teammate Joan Mir was sixteenth, less than half a second behind the Spaniard.
ACOSTA AND MASIÁ DOMINATE FRIDAY IN ITS ENTIRETY
On the other hand, in the Moto2 category, the Spanish rider Pedro Acosta (KTM) made it clear that he will try to close the world title this weekend and set the two best times in the two free practice sessions.
The one from Mazarrón, in his first opportunity to end the excitement of the championship, led the national dominance in the time table with a best time of 1:35.985. Only the Murcian and his compatriot Marcos Ramírez (Kalex), who was just 14 thousandths behind, were able to lower the 1:36 barrier.
Fermín Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) completed the ‘Top 3’ with a time of 1:36.005, 20 thousandths behind Acosta, while the Italian Tony Arbolino (Kalex), who practically needs to repeat his 2022 victory, finished tenth, six tenths behind. World Cup leader.
Finally, in Moto3, the World Championship leader, the Spaniard Jaume Masiá (Honda), also led the way to rest with the reinforcement of having also been the fastest on Friday, both in the session that opened the activity on the track and in the second round, where he practically copied his best times.
The Valencian driver set the best time on Friday with a lap of 1:42.318, achieved early in the morning and only one thousandth better than the one he also dominated after noon, ahead of the Colombian David Alonso (GasGas) by just over a tenth. , which is 37 points behind the lead, and just over two behind the Brazilian Diogo Moreira (KTM).
As for his two most direct rivals in the fight for the title, the Japanese Ayumi Sasaki (Husqvarna), second in Buriram in 2022 and his biggest threat for being four points away, could only be tenth at more than seven tenths, while Alicante’s Dani Holgado (KTM), third at 22, was eighth, more than half a second behind.