There is everything to play for in the World Championship after a thrilling Thai GP at a wet Buriram
Miguel Oliveira has mastered the rain again! Just as he did in Round 2 in Indonesia, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot took victory in ultra-challenging conditions in the OR Thailand Grand Prix. The Ducati Lenovo Team claimed second and third at the Chang International Circuit, with Jack Miller giving it his all in a bid to make it two MotoGP™ race wins in a row but coming up just 0.730 seconds short, and Francesco Bagnaia taking a precious podium. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) clinched fourth when he held off Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) at the chequered flag after 25 unbelievable laps.
But for Bagnaia, the good news continues. He is now just two points behind World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo with three races to go after the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ rider finished 17th and scored a ‘zero’. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) also regained ground, although he is still 20 points in arrears of Quartararo after serving a Long Lap Penalty and finishing 11th.
After so much talk about weather on Friday and Saturday, the ran finally arrived on Sunday afternoon – in a big way. The torrential falls led to a delay of almost an hour before the premier class race finally got underway, and it was still very wet when riders eventually took the start. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) launched well from pole position but he and fellow front qualifier Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) went well wide as the field ran into Turn 1, and there was almost contact between the Ducati riders.
Bezzecchi still emerged with the lead, from Bagnaia and Miller, with Martin fourth and Marc Marquez fifth, but Quartararo had been shuffled back from fourth on the grid to 11th in the traffic. It got even worse for the Frenchman when he had a big moment on the paint exiting Turn 4 and dropped another six spots. Not only had Aleix Espargaro got ahead of him having inherited 11th, Bagnaia had assumed the live Championship lead.
Bezzecchi has to give up the lead
Bezzecchi was almost a second up at the end of Lap 2 but had been issued a position drop penalty for the manner in which he went off and rejoined at speed at the opening corner. That put him in an awkward situation considering how close…