Jorge Martín dominated the Sprint race in Thailand and confirmed his return to winning ways. Pecco Bagnaia, on the other hand, got off to a bad start and finished little better, finishing seventh to narrow the gap in the championship.
Another race was about to start and all eyes were on Pecco Bagnaia, the world leader with a 27-point lead over second-placed Martín. The track conditions were pleasant compared to the last few GPs, with 33ºC on the track. Note the starting positions, as Martín started from pole position and Bagnaia from sixth.
And the start of the race wasn’t a positive one for Bagnaia, with the Italian dropping to ninth, unlike Martín, who was leading. Marc Márquez was another of the highlights, fifth after gaining three positions, as was Johann Zarco, eighth, also with three positions gained.
Luca Marini in second seemed to be in great shape for the moment, with Brad Binder in third, also once again promising to be in the fight for the top spots. With four laps completed Martín was leading by 1.204s over second, Marini.
Aleix Espargaró in fourth was the best Aprilia rider, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, with Márquez in sixth. Bagnaia had already recovered two positions and was seventh, with Álex Márquez eighth, Zarco ninth and Fabio Quartararo rounding off the top ten.
Binder was 0.043s behind Marini and an attack on second place was expected at any moment, but the Italian from the Mooney VR46 Racing Team was successfully defending himself.
Augusto Fernández, meanwhile, was the first to crash in the 12th corner, but not seriously. The Spaniard had won Q2 outright for the first time on Friday.
With six laps to go, the long-awaited overtake came, with Binder taking second place in the race. The South African was 1.525s behind Martín, who was still on course to return to winning ways and closing the gap to Bagnaia, who remained in seventh position.
That was the top ten with five laps to go:
The race was fast approaching the finish and things weren’t looking good for Bagnaia, even though the Italian was gaining time on Márquez with the gap being just over two tenths. Martín was leading by 1.6s over Binder, with Marini close behind at 0.225s.
Rapidly approaching the finish, the race looked like it would be difficult for Martín to escape, at a stage when Márquez was already in the top five after beating Bezzecchi.
Indeed, the Sprint came to an end and Martín celebrated his return to winning ways and narrowed the gap to Bagnaia, in seventh.