Bezzecchi Snatches Thai GP Pole

Aprilia shines in Thailand as Marquez misses out by 0.035s and Bagnaia fails to escape Q1

Qualifying at the Thai Grand Prix opened with a tense Q1 as Jack Miller tried to shadow Francesco Bagnaia for a tow to offset Yamaha’s lack of straight-line speed. Miller clung on gamely, but neither had the pace early on. Franco Morbidelli went top, then Raul Fernandez turned it up with a 1’29.196 before becoming the first rider into the 1’28s, the pair trading fastest laps while Bagnaia found himself stuck outside the transfer places.

Morbidelli was wild on the brakes, his Ducati snaking into turn 12, and although he briefly hit back with a 1’29.090, Fernandez responded again with another 1’28 to underline Aprilia’s strength in Thailand. Behind them Luca Marini ran fourth ahead of impressive rookie Diogo Moreira, while Bagnaia’s session fell apart with repeated mistakes – wide at Turn 4, then multiple off-track moments – before he rolled out of his final attempt. Morbidelli’s late low-side at Turn 3 didn’t change the outcome: Fernandez and Morbidelli advanced, with Bagnaia a shock third, ahead of Marini, Moreira and Fabio Quartararo.

In Q2, with the Thai sun baking down, the fight quickly became Aprilia vs Ducati. Marc Marquez led the early charge with Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta close, and Acosta briefly went quickest before Marco Bezzecchi dropped straight into the 1’28s and then lit up the timing screens with a 1’28.652. Fernandez kept his momentum to briefly make it three Aprilias near the top, while Fabio Di Giannantonio also edged ahead of Marquez on the first run.

Marquez then found a big step and looked set to steal it, but he came up just short – 1’28.687, only 0.035s away – before running off at Turn 3 on a later attempt. Late drama hit when Bezzecchi crashed heavily at Turn 12, bringing out yellow flags, but his earlier lap held up and delivered pole.

Behind the front two, Raul Fernandez secured third with 1’28.876 ahead of Di Giannantonio fourth (1’28.918) and Jorge Martin fifth (1’29.001). Pedro Acosta took sixth (1’29.061) from Alex Marquez seventh (1’29.077), Ai Ogura eighth (1’29.211), Morbidelli ninth (1’29.321) and Joan Mir completing the top 10 in tenth (1’29.385).

The stage looks set for Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez to resume their 2025 rivalry in this afternoon’s Sprint race, with Fernandez’s pace also looking capable of threatening the front positions.

Marco Bezzecchi – P1
“I’m okay, but when the airbag exploded, my ass was a little bit painful. But yeah, okay. Fortunately, the qualifying was good, and a small mistake in the end, but fortunately the lap time was good enough to not lose the pole position. It will be tough this afternoon, also tomorrow, but we are quite strong, so we will try to fight with the top guys for sure. Marc, compared with yesterday, did a big step, so he will be for sure super strong, but I will try my best.”

Marc Márquez – P2
“It was tough especially because on the first tire I didn’t feel so good, and then I said, ‘Okay, what’s going on here?’ But on the second time attack, from the first lap I felt much better. And then I attacked again. In the first lap I saw that time, and I said, ‘Enough, enough.’ The front row was the main target, and I thought that 1:28.6 was enough for the third row.”

Raúl Fernández – P3
“Yesterday we had a lot of work because during the pre-season I didn’t really feel comfortable. But today we changed some things on the bike, and I started to feel comfortable. I started to feel that I can do what I want. So yeah, thanks to the team, thanks to Aprilia, we are in a really good position—not just on the grid but also with the race pace. We are ready, so let’s try to enjoy.”

THAI MOTOGP QUALIFYING RESULTS