Marquez claims dominant sprint victory, Bagnaia third

Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez claimed a dominant lights-to-flag victory in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race, as team-mate Francesco Bagnaia held off Ai Ogura to finish third.

Having claimed pole position by 0.146s in qualifying, Marquez was also untouchable in Saturday’s half-distance race at Buriram, leading every lap en route to a 1.18s victory over younger brother Alex Marquez.

The six-time MotoGP champion pulled away cleanly from pole, while Alex Marquez briefly dropped behind a fast-charging Bagnaia before retaking second.

Within just two laps of race start, the elder Marquez’s lead was up to 0.6s and by the seventh tour he had gained an advantage of 1.2s.

Although Alex Marquez subsequently closed the gap to under a second, the factory Ducati rider was able to streak clear again to claim an unchallenged victory in the opening sprint of 2025.

Gresini’s Alex Marquez still secured a strong runner-up finish, proving his testing pace was no fluke, while Bagnaia resisted race-long pressure from Trackhouse’s debutant Ai Ogura to claim the final spot on the podium.

VR46’s Franco Morbidelli had a largely boring race en route to fifth, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta inherited sixth after Pramac’s Jack Miller crashed at Turn 8 with a handful of laps to run.

Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo recovered from a slow start to take seventh for Yamaha, with Brad Binder finishing eighth coming out worse in an early battle against team-mate Acosta.

The final points-paying position went to factory Honda rider Joan Mir, who edged out the LCR-run RC213V of Johann Zarco in the final laps of the sprint.

Factory Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi made a shocking getaway that dropped him to the lower reaches of the top 20, but a charging ride recovered him to 12th.

MotoGP Thailand GP – Sprint race results: