Marc Marquez has topped the opening day of MotoGP testing at Buriram after a late time attack put him 0.465s clear of the field.
The Buriram test is considered as decisive for Ducati, who are yet to decide whether it will continue using its 2024 components or take a risk on new ones for 2025.
The day started positively for the Italian manufacturer, with Gresini’s Alex Marquez topping the morning session ahead of his older brother as both riders ran with the GP24 spec.
The younger Marquez, who topped testing in both Barcelona and Sepang, continued his great form and remained fastest for most of the first day.
Not to be outdone by his younger brother, Marquez set a time of 1m29.184s to send him top of the timesheets ahead of the Gresini rider.
VR46’s Franco Morbidelli completed an all-Ducati top three as he ended the day 0.034s behind the Marquez brothers.
Marco Bezzecchi ran as the sole Aprilia after world champion Jorge Martin was ruled out through injury, and the Italian ended the day in fourth.
Pedro Acosta lead the KTM charge in fifth, while Honda’s Luca Marini and Johann Zarco produced a strong showing in sixth and seventh respectively.
Francesco Bagnaia finished the day in eighth, with the second KTM of Brad Binder in ninth despite suffering a late crash at Turn 5.
Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller rounded out the top ten after a difficult day for the Japanese manufacturer, who had shown promise following the first test in Sepang last week.
Honda’s Joan Mir took 11th ahead of the factory Yamaha pairing of Alex Rins in 12th and Fabio Quartararo in 13th.
The top rookie of the first day of the test was Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer, who wound up 14th after a crash at Turn 8.
Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura was just under a tenth behind his fellow rookie in 15th, while Enea Bastianini was 16th for Tech3.
Miguel Oliveira finished the day in 17th ahead of a lowly Maverick Vinales in 18th.
Raul Fernandez returned to testing after he was declared unfit in Sepang and ended the session in 19th.
Somkiat Chantra was 20th at his home track, with Aprilia’s test rider Lorenzo Savadori rounding out the standings in 21st.
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