Marco Bezzecchi’s marriage to Aprilia Racing has had a happy ending with a win in the MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix. After a tough day yesterday in the sprint race with three crashes, he bounced back on the day with the big points. He was joined on the podium by Pedro Acosta and Raúl Fernández. This is the first time in 88 races that there was no Ducati on the podium.
Race Start
Bezzecchi made a great start, building the lead up to a second within two laps. For a while, the race had an all-Aprilia podium with Jorge Martín behind Fernández. Marc Márquez had a slow start, but it seemed to pick up toward the end.
Hard battles throughout the field and for the final place on the podium with Martín, M. Márquez and Acosta. The race settled down for a while, allowing us to look around the grid.
All in the last six laps
Fernández on his Aprilia seemed to hit a brick wall, and his pace fell, allowing Acosta and M. Márquez to catch him. The battle was strong between them until M. Márquez’s tyre punctured at turn four. He managed to get off the track without crashing, but the rear wheel rim was a mess. From what we understand, the curb caused the puncture.
A lap later, on the same corner, his brother Álex Márquez crashed, meaning the first and second from last year’s race didn’t finish.
Ai Ogura had an incredible late race pace, going from ninth to fifth in the latter part of the race. This shows Aprilia’s improvement over the winter, with all four Aprilia’s in the top five of today’s race.
What do the podium finishers say
Marco Bezzecchi: “Yesterday was a small mistake with a big consequence, so it was important to bounce back today.”
Pedro Acosta: “We have to be happy the team is working super good, remember how we started last year here and this year we got back-to-back podiums.”
Raúl Fernández: “It was difficult, especially the last five or six laps, I tried to make my maximum, but I destroyed my rear (tyre).”
How did the other manufacturers do?
Ducati had a poor weekend by their standards, with the top Ducati being Fabio Di Giannantonio in sixth. They will hope for a stronger performance in Brazil.
Honda, while it does not look good with the top bike, Luca Marini in 10th, Joan Mir had a strong race running in 6th until he had a technical issue and had to retire. Their improvements from last year are clear.
While Acosta is flying the flag for KTM, the other bikes were in 7th, 12th, and 16th. Is the bike really as good as Acosta is making it look?
Finally, Yamaha, with their new V4, had a slow weekend with 14th, 15th, 17th, and 18th. This is a development project, but the riders will not enjoy finishing that low down the order.
Racing continues in two weeks at the first MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix.