Francesco Bagnaia has reduced Jorge Martin’s lead in the 2024 MotoGP standings after mastering wet conditions to win the Thailand Grand Prix.
The Italian capitalised on an error by Martin in the early stages to take the lead and assume control, Bagnaia going on to take the flag almost three seconds clear of his title rival.
It allows Bagnaia to recover ground conceded to Martin in Saturday’s sprint race with the margin between the Ducati pair reduced to 17 points with two rounds of the season remaining.
Going on to pull a second clear of the Italian, a mistake by Martin coming into the hairpin on lap five of 26 allowed both Bagnaia and Marc Marquez to slip past.
With further leery moments in the tricky conditions stymying Martin’s attempts at recovering lost ground on his Ducati counterparts ahead, Bagnaia and Marquez moved clear in their battle for the lead.
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
However, when Marquez’s challenge ended on lap 14 with an off at Turn 9, Bagnaia was released into a comfortable advantage he protected to the chequered flag for his ninth victory of the 2024 MotoGP season.
In second, Martin benefitted from Marquez’s exit to limit the damage to his championship advantage with just two rounds and four races remaining.
Behind Martin, countryman Pedro Acosta came on strong in the closing stages following earlier off-track moments to recover to a fifth podium of the season in third, while Fabio di Giannantoniobrought his 2024 MotoGP campaign to a close in fourth ahead of the surgery that will sideline him from the remaining two events.
Jack Miller ran as high as third as he revelled in the slippery conditions before slipping back to fifth at the flag, ahead of factory KTM team-mate Brad Binder in sixth.
Maverick Vinales flew the flag for Aprilia in seventh place, ahead of top Honda rider Johann Zarco in eighth and Aleix Espargaro on the second of the factory Aprilias in ninth.
Despite falling on the sighting lap in the worst of the weather conditions, Alex Marquez made it back to complete the top 10, leading brother and team-mate Marc in 11th after the six-time MotoGP world champion remounted for a points finish.
Marquez was initially docked one position, behind Honda’s Luca Marini, for “irresponsible riding” while battling with former team-mate Joan Mir, but video evidence showed Marquez had already given the place back, meaning he was eventually classified 11th.
Marquez wasn’t the only rider to fall victim to the conditions with Enea Bastianini also crashing, though the Italian got going again for a 14th place finish behind Takaaki Nakagami, the final point going the way of Mir.
Elsewhere, Marco Bezzecchi was another to crash out, while both Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins fell to leave Yamaha pointless.
