Marc Marquez Bags the Double, Alex Marquez Finishes P2 Again in Thai GP

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) has emerged as the early season favorite after securing maximum points in the riders standings with another win in the Thai Grand Prix. The podium stayed the same as the sprint race with Marc Marquez’ brother Alex Marquez finishing P2 and Ducati Lenovo teammate Francesco Bagnaia finishing P3. Many fans casted doubt on Marquez’ move to Ducati Lenovo but today he put those doubts to rest with an exquisite performance.

Marquez said, “It was truly the perfect weekend. Results aside, the important thing is the incredible feeling I have with the bike and the team. The strategy for the race was to push hard in the early stages to create a gap and then try to manage it. As the laps went by, however, I noticed I was at the limit with regards to the front-end tyre pressure and I had no choice but to give up one position. It was really hard to be in Alex’s slipstream with this heat as I struggled breathing properly. I waited for the right moment to retake the lead and create the right margin, and things went as I had hoped. I’m happy.”

Words from Alex Marquez

In celebration with his team and brother Alex Marquez had the following words. “It was a great weekend. Today we gave it all and an excellent result came; we knew we could repeat the same type of race as yesterday, but it’s not a given over a 26-lap distance. We’re leaving Thailand with plenty of points and awareness of our strength. Marc and Pecco have something more but we’re working on staying with them at each race: we managed to do so here and we must be very happy with it.”

A disappointed Francesco Bagnaia settle for P3 again but took some positives form the weekend. “I was expecting a bit more today but honestly speaking, the race was a very long one and I couldn’t bridge the gap,” he said. “I tried to get closer to Alex, but each time I was less than half a second away from him, I ended up struggling grip-wise…I tried everything I could but my feeling wasn’t perfect today. We lost 14 points this weekend, but we need to look forward and try our best in Argentina. It’s not my favorite circuit, and this one wasn’t either, but we’ll do our best to get a good result.”

Of Note

Ai Ogura finished the race P5 after previously scoring points in the sprint race. The rookie secured 17 points on his MotoGP debut weekend. Ogura said, “This weekend was just a miracle! I had a good Qualifying, a good Sprint Race and even a great main Race – I can’t thank my team enough…I had another good experience today, all the race behind Franco (Morbidelli) and in the front there were another three guys on Ducati. I really learned a lot from them, it was a fantastic experience. It was perfect and a good start. I’m still a rookie and at another track it’s maybe a completely different story. I just want to keep going my way and I’m open to take anything, the bad or the good.”

Full Race Results from the Thai Grand Prix