Riders are back in Buriram, and the season opener is fully underway. Aprilia and Bezzecchi were dominant in both sessions with Bez setting another Buriram track record of 1:28.536.
Free Practice 1
The early session saw the Aprilia rider pick up where he left off during testing last week. Bez set a 1:29.346 early in the session ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio and teammate Jorge Martín.
The session also saw the first fall of the GP sessions of the 2026 season – Jorge Martin. The Italian had a small incident at Turn 12 with just 10 minutes into the session. He was unharmed and got straight back up. The Spaniard managed to keep the engine alive throughout the incident by not letting go of the clutch. He finished the session 3rd on the timesheets.
Yamaha’s troubles continued with their best rider in 13th and both rookies, Moreira and Razgatlıoğlu, in 16th and 21st respectively.
The session ended with practice starts and with less than a second covering the Top 13 as well as the 5 manufacturers.
Practice
With rain and thunder threatening to cut the afternoon session short, the riders were eager to get on track. The goal was to get the lap times to secure a place in Q2 in case the session is stopped due to the weather.
The session saw several riders abandoning their laps due to running wide. Amongst them the current World Champion, Marc Márquez, who ran wide after being caught out by the rain spots. The reigning champion also saw himself in the danger zone of not making it directly into Q2 about halfway through the session. However, he managed put in a time that saw him P2 by the end of the session.
Another notable rider who was running wide and struggled was Pecco Bagnaia. The Italian struggled to get in quick enough times overall finished P15. The Ducati rider was 1.3 second of the leader and missed Q2 by +0.234. The Italian will be one of the 12 riders in Q1 tomorrow to fight for his place in Q2.
The final moments of the practice were eventful. An incident between Álex Márquez and Michelle Pirro happened just under 10 minutes before the session ended. Pirro accidentally blocked Álex while he was on a flying lap. The incident was under investigation by the stewards and resulted in a three-place grid penalty for Pirro. Yet, the incident didn’t stop the Ducati rider, and minutes later, Álex put in his fastest lap of the session.
Meanwhile, Ai Ogura had an incident at Turn 7 with only 3 minutes of the session to go. Trackhouse Racing rider walked away from the crash and was later seen in the pit briefing the team about what happened. Despite the accident, the Japanese rider finished the session 9th and is safely through to Q2.
Within the final few minutes of the session, it was a true race for the times. Both Bez and the current world champion put in a flying lap that topped the timesheets, with the Aprilia rider setting another lap record.
Busy weekend still ahead
As the first day of ThaiGP resulted in Aprilia dominance, there are still two days of sessions to go. While it’s early to tell, this definitely gives hope to Aprilia Racing for their first podium at the Buriram circuit.
Tomorrow sees Free Practice 2 and Q1 & Q2 as well as the sprint race before the race on Sunday.
Feature photo courtesy of Aprilia Racing