Bastianini Wins the Thailand Sprint, Martin Fends Off Bagnaia

October 26, 2024Ray Milton
MotoGP

Enea Bastianini reminded the MotoGP front runners that he still has what it takes to top the table today at Chang. In a dominant performance Enea Bastianini topped the Thai grand prix sprint race beating championship leader Jorge martin by just under 1.5 seconds. Despite a better start, Bagnaia lost out on move from Martin in to turn 1 and would eventually settle for P3 in the race. Bagnaia had a bit of an off which saw him drop to P5 momentarily and it was a scrap to get back to the podium places. In the commotion Bastianini put his head down and charge forward forming a gap ahead of the squabble behind.

“It was a great race,” said Bastianini. I took advantage of (Jorge) Martin’s mistake at turn one as I saw he had hit the brakes very late, and I knew he couldn’t make the turn stick. I then tried to pull away a little in the first two-three laps and managed to do so, and from then on things were a lot easier – even though the others were never too far behind for the whole race. In the end we managed to take the win in a much more comfortable way than we expected, even though it’s never easy.”

Martin expressed his frustrations saying “It has been a very difficult race. I made a good start, but at the first turn, I lost a position to avoid an accident. Then, I had to push more than expected and overtake riders like Acosta and Pecco, who are really strong on the brakes, which was complicated. It has been a good Sprint, but I know that tomorrow more riders will improve, and it is essential to start well, keep calm, and do our best.”

Sprint Race Results