BURIRAM: Enea Bastianini of Ducati won the Thai MotoGP sprint race on Saturday. Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia, who are both competing for the world title, finished second and third, respectively.
Martin of Ducati Pramac increased his championship lead over Bagnaia to 22 points ahead of Sunday’s Buriram grand prix.
Martin, who is attempting to win the world title for the first time, from Spain stated, “I was not used to this heat, it was really tough.”
However, I was competitive and had good riding. Tomorrow’s race will be extremely difficult, so I need to concentrate.
Bagnaia, the two-time defending champion of the world, started on pole, but during a dramatic opening, the lead changed hands and teammate Bastianini emerged out in front.
Martin started in third, dropped to sixth at one point in the sweltering conditions, but recovered to pass Bagnaia of Italy on lap seven.
With Bagnaia in third, but not close enough to make a move, the Italian Bastianini was now at ease in front and extended his lead over Martin.
Marc Marquez, a six-time world champion who recently triumphed in Australia, came in fourth, followed by his brother Alex.
With only two more race weekends to go, Bagnaia has little room for error in Sunday’s grand prix, where another 25 points are at stake.
Bagnaia stated, “We fortunately lost only two points, and tomorrow we must try to close this gap because it is true that Jorge can finish in all of the remaining races second and still be champion.” We must concentrate on ourselves and strive for perfection.
The season’s penultimate race weekend is next weekend in Malaysia, before the season finale in Valencia in the middle of November.
