Emotion, suspense, unpredictability. That’s how another MotoGP race went, with Jorge Martín coming out on top against the competition in Buriram, in a race where any of the three riders could have clinched the victory, it was the Spaniard who completed the sweep in the Thai GP.
The first laps were very intense with the riders very close together and now it was Binder beating A. Espargaró and reaching second place, with Marc Márquez also overtaking Bagnaia and reaching sixth.
With five laps completed, Martín led by 0.210s over Binder, who in turn had Álex Márquez at 0.422s. Luca Marini was fourth and A. Espargaró fifth.
Six laps completed and Miguel Oliveira was the first rider to retire from the race, with problems on his Aprilia RS-GP.
Bagnaia was showing some improvements and moving up to fifth place.
This was the top ten after eight laps, with A. Márquez already in the podium positions:
Marini was the next one to have no arguments for Bagnaia who now reached fourth. Martín maintained a two-tenths advantage over Binder while A. Márquez was 0.448s behind the leader and had the #1 at 0.525s.
With the race already halfway through, there was a significant setback: A. Márquez crashed in turn 10 and was out of the race while running in third position, “offering” the podium to Bagnaia. 0.626s separated the third from the first, Martín.
Johann Zarco, winner of the last GP, was in a distant 13th, behind Joan Mir. The KTMs were also in opposite fields, with Binder in second, Jack Miller in 15th. The two GASGAS Tech3 were running together at the bottom of the table in 18th and 19th.
In the final laps, Martín was losing time to Binder and the South African was 0.135s behind. Fabio Quartararo further back, rose to seventh place exchanging with Marc Márquez, at a time when the Mooney VR46 Racing Team duo was battling for fourth place with Bezzecchi getting the better of Marini, for now, placing fourth.
This was the top five eight laps from the end:
Moments later, Binder moved to the front but went slightly wide, allowing Martín to regain the lead. The KTM rider briefly passed in front again but #89 managed to recover: with five laps to go, everything was still open, as Bagnaia… was also closer, 0.223s from the lead.
No arranque da 23.ª volta Binder passava para a frente e desta vez «fechou» a porta. Martín estava pela primeira vez, efetivamente, em segundo e logo a duas décimas da liderança. A tensão era quase palpável e Martín parecia muito próximo do limite, com Bagnaia a apenas 0.111s e à espreita para atacar o espanhol. Fase absolutamente decisiva na corrida e onde qualquer erro podia ser irrecuperável. Emocionante! Martín, apesar das dificuldades não desistiu e no terceiro setor da 25.ª volta passou para a frente, e no começo da última volta Bagnaia passou de terceiro para primeiro durante escassos metros, já que Martín e Binder responderam e voltou tudo à fórmula inicial.The heart rate was extremely high and the eyes were fixed on the battle for victory, it was the final attack, the all or nothing, and Martín ended up prevailing over Binder and Bagnaia to win, thus completing another GP full of triumphs.
Binder, after finishing second, saw as soon as he crossed the finish line the information that he lost a position for touching the green part of the track, thus giving second place to Bagnaia.
