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Breathtaking. A word that perfectly encapsulates the first ever PTT Thailand Grand Prix which saw Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) emerge victorious to take another giant leap towards the 2018 MotoGP World Championship, as the battle in Buriram went down to the wire between the Spaniard and second place Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) with Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales claiming a valiant comeback podium.

It was Marquez who got the holeshot from pole as the lights went out, with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) tucked in behind his rival from P2 on the grid. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) launched well from P5 to slot into third, before Dovizioso re-took P3 into Turn 3 as the front three in qualifying held station, spearheading the field into a high-speed game of chess at the Chang International Circuit.

Everyone held position before Rossi got past Marquez on lap 4 on the run down to Turn 3, ‘The Doctor’ back up the sharp end and looking strong to control the pace. With tyre life a major factor in the soaring Thailand temperatures, no one wanted to force their hand. That was until lap 11 when Rossi couldn’t get his M1 firing off the first corner, with the Ducati of Dovi and Honda of Marquez getting past the nine-time World Champion – the number 04 now the man in charge of controlling the 200mph freight train.

With lap times fluctuating and a front group of eight now packed together, Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) the man to lead Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) up to the tailpipes of Viñales in fifth, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to pull the pin and with 11 laps to go, Dovizioso upped the pace. Marquez and Rossi tagged along, with fourth place Crutchlow slipping back down the order from P4 to P7.

However, the lap times then slowed again as Viñales bridged the gap to the leading trio, with Pedrosa then crashing at Turn 5 with eight laps remaining as he and Zarco got a whiff of a potential podium, the duo closing down the leaders by half a second on the previous lap. The race then entered a critical stage and it was Dovizioso and Marquez who started to fight it out for the lead, with Rossi starting to lose touch as teammate Viñales moved through to get a front-row seat of another Ducati vs Honda battle. With four to go, Marquez played his first hand, braking deep into Turn 3 in an attempted pass. But he ran wide to allow Dovi to slice back through.

This painted the picture for a barnstorming final three laps in Buriram. On the same lap, Marquez sliced his way through at Turn 8, but Dovi snapped straight back at Turn 9. It was déjà vu a lap later as the Repsol Honda grabbed the lead into Turn 8, no way through for the Ducati this time at Turn 9, but a pass into Turn 12 was made to stick heading onto the last lap. The chosen corner for a Marquez assault was Turn 5 – a great move from the six-time World Champion with Dovizioso unable to squeeze back under at Turn 6. This set us up for another final corner epic between the two. Dovi got the run off Turn 11 to brake late into the final corner to get alongside Marquez, but the Desmosedici couldn’t quite drop its anchors quick enough – Marquez cutting back underneath Dovi to win the race to the line, with Viñales just 0.270 away from the win in third.

Rossi crossed the line fourth in what was a hugely promising weekend for Yamaha, with fellow M1 and leading Independent Team rider Zarco getting the better of Rins – P5 and P6 respectively for the duo. Crutchlow ended the race seventh, finishing 0.171 ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) in eighth, with the two Alma Pramac Racing riders completing the top ten – P9 for Danilo Petrucci, P10 for Jack Miller.

Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) couldn’t repeat his Aragon heroics in Thailand – P11 for the Italian after a bad start, with Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) taking top rookie honours that sees the Malaysian return to form in P12 – his best finish since Le Mans. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix Espargaro crossed the line P13, the only rider to not run the hard rear tyre in the race, with Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) completing the points in P14 and P15 respectively.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) crashed at the final corner on lap 3 – rider ok.

A seventh win of the season draws Marquez level with Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) on 68 Grand Prix wins, while it also gives him a magnificent chance to wrap the title up at Honda’s home round – Motegi. The 2017 Japanese GP was the scene of another iconic Marquez vs Dovizioso tussle, will we be treated to another sensational spectacle in two weeks’ time?

Moto2

Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) claimed a magnificent seventh win of 2018 at the PTT Thailand Grand Prix to claim the 800th Italian Grand Prix win, finishing ahead of teammate Luca Marini by 1.5 seconds after the latter got the better of Bagnaia’s title rival Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) on the final lap.

Thailand temperatures were soaring and so was the battle on track between the Moto2™ Championship protagonists, who were joined at the front by Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in a proper dogfight at the front after making their way to the summit in the opening exchanges from P5 and P6 on the grid respectively. Uncharacteristically though, Bagnaia ran wide at Turn 12 on a couple of occasions and almost collected the rear of Oliveira as the trio ran in close into the tricky Turn 3, before Binder then lost control under braking into Turn 5, narrowly avoiding his teammate to drop to P3 – tensions running high on circuit.

Bagnaia though had composed himself and started to reel in Oliveira after the race leader had been able to grab a half-second lead, before Bagnaia took P1 with 13 laps to go. It was then a case of the Italian finding his rhythm out front, slamming home two consecutive fastest laps to stretch the gap to over a second with 10 to go.

The lead slowly edged out to 1.5 seconds with four laps to go with Marini now starting to look menacing in P4, closing down Binder as he eyed his first podium finish since Austria. The Italian clawed the gap down to nothing with three to go, with teammate Bagnaia managing the gap out front. Marini made his move into Turn 12 past Binder and with two to go, with the Italian then locking his radar on Oliveira heading into the last lap.

Turn 3 then saw Oliveira run wide in what turned out to be a costly error. Marini swept through and held station to play the perfect wingman to teammate Bagnaia, as the latter crossed the line to take his seventh win of the season – 28 points now the advantage heading into the final four races of the year.

Binder crossed the line fourth to finish just off the podium, another solid ride for the South African, with Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) finishing in a lonely fifth place after an early battle with Marini. After looking strong across Free Practice and qualifying, Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) picks up a P6 in Thailand, with Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors) claiming his first top ten since Austria in P7. Eighth was Tetsuta Nagashima (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), a career-best finish for the Japanese rider before he heads to his home GP at Motegi, with Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) and Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) completing the top ten at the Chang International Circuit.

There was first lap drama with Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40) going down at Turn 3 after Mir lost the front, leaving Schrotter and Fernandez with nowhere to go. Elsewhere, pole man Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) crashed out of contention at Turn 1 with 16 to go after Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) had lost the front heading into Turn 5 two laps earlier - both pushing to keep tabs on the leading trio.

Stefano Manzi (Forward Racing) and Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors) crashed out too – riders ok.

After a masterful ride, Bagnaia takes charge of the intermediate class title race. However, with the trio of flyway races next and with Oliveira winning the final three races of 2017, the Championship certainly isn’t done and dusted. Onto Japan we go then for more spectacular Moto2™ action.

Moto3

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) claimed his second career victory in what was an explosive Moto3 race at the PTT Thailand Grand Prix. The Italian produced a stunning final lap to beat Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) who crossed the line second as major drama unfolded at the last corner – Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) taking out pole sitter and Championship contender Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP), allowing title race leader Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) to extend his lead with a phenomenal P4 finish.

The breathtaking action started from the word go as Bezzecchi got the perfect launch from pole to lead into the first corner, with Kazuki Masaki (RBA BOE Skull Rider) and Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) slotting in behind the Italian who led the freight train down into Turn 3. Despite his best efforts, Bezzecchi wasn’t able to make the break as the top 18 locked horns for a classic lightweight class battle. Di Giannantonio soon made his way to the front after being forced wide by the aggressive starting Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), the South African looking strong before getting caught up in a tangle with Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team Moto3) with both riders going down on lap four – riders ok. The battle raged on back on track as the race lead swapped and changed countless times, lap after lap, with Martin sitting patiently just inside the points with 10 laps gone.

In typical Moto3 style, with just six laps to go in Thailand, 1.8 seconds covered the top 18 – the winner being anyone’s guess at this stage. Heading into the final lap though, it was Bezzecchi who had the advantage and he managed to use the KTM grunt to hold it into Turn 3, but then Di Giannantonio and Dalla Porta slipped by on the run back up to Turn 4 to push the Italian into the grasp of Bastianini, teammate Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) and Martin. After executing his race to perfection, Di Giannantonio held the inside line at the tight final corner to take the win but the race would end in disaster for Bezzecchi, sitting third and in a position to take the lead in the title race, Bastianini went for the overtake – running in too hot, tucking the front behind teammate Dalla Porta and swiping away the front wheel of Bezzecchi – DNFs for both.

This left Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) to claim a maiden Grand Prix podium in third after hitting the front midway through the race from P25 on the grid, with Martin crossing the line in fourth to extend his lead in the Championship to 26 points. Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider) was in the hunt throughout, eventually taking home P5, with rookie Vicente Perez (Reale Avintia Academy 77) picking up his best result of the season in sixth – a sensational performance from the young Spaniard to keep tabs with the leading group throughout.

Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) claims his first top ten of the season in seventh, with Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai) eighth, just ahead of wildcard Somkiat Chantra (AP Honda Racing Thailand) in ninth – a magnificent ride from the Thai rider. Kornfeil, who ran wide at the final corner to avoid Bezzecchi and Bastianini, crossed the line 10th.

Andrea Migno (Angel Nieto Team Moto3) was 11th, Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) came home 12th ahead of 13th placed Philipp Oettl (Sudmetal Schedl GP Racing), Tony Arbolino (Marinelli Snipers Team) – who led the race at one point – takes home a P14 and Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) completes the point scoring positions in P15.

Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0), Masaki, Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse), teammate Tatsuki Suzuki, home hero Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (Honda Team Asia), Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and John McPhee (CIP – Green Power) all crashed – riders ok.

Martin retains what looked like an unlikely title race lead at one stage, 26 points now the gap back to Bezzecchi with Di Giannantonio just three behind his compatriot in the overall standings now. Japan is next, will there be another twist in the Moto3™ Championship tale?