IT'S RACE WEEK!!!! Round 1 - PT Thai Grand Prix

DavidSim said:

I hope there is a good mix of bikes in the top 10 for a change.

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Despair as we might re: the over-dominance of Ducati, there have been some great races, and compared to the 800cc days, this has been a golden era.

Martin will miss Argentina too:

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/n...o-out-of-argentina-gp-due-to-injury/10698850/

Faz said:

Yeah, but they’ll all have a red basecoat!

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We are all equal underneath

Looks like Martin will not be a factor at all for who knows how long. With KTM not looking great at any preseason test and Yamaha not really up to par despite small amounts of progress, it looks like the Ducati train will continue to chug along with perhaps a change at the front.

Boring.

Bern1 said:

Looks like Martin will not be a factor at all for who knows how long. With KTM not looking great at any preseason test and Yamaha not really up to par despite small amounts of progress, it looks like the Ducati train will continue to chug along with perhaps a change at the front.

Boring.

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We shall see.

P1 results.

Marc cruising.

Yamaha's in top 5.

Ogura impressing early on.

Interesting FP2. Morbidelli who was cruising on the race line condemns Pecco to go through Q1, good ol' Franco. Little Márquez got the best time but it was Marc who was in #1 for the entirety of the session until his brother stole his spot in the last second. Honda has been really competitive throughout the practice, really surprising. Yamaha not as competitive as in FP1 but doing strides too. Some Aprilias in there, Bezz was very fast in his last push but he found the limit of the bike at the end. Acosta as predicted is KTM's sole bright spot, although newcomer Maverick didn't go very bad, unlike future WSBK contender Enea Bastianini.

Could never pick that ten straight to Q2

I think that's the first time in a mighty long time that we have seen all 5 manufacturers get in the top 10
3 Ducati's
1 KTM
3 Aprilia's
2 Honda's
1 Yamaha

Kudos to HRC for whatever they've done since last season!

I can't see Bagnaia's approach to a race weekend, with slowly building himself up, being an approach that will crown him champion. The risks, as seen today, are higher this year. When his so-called friend is cruising on the racing line, it should set off some adjustments.

Also very pleased for Quartararo, who I consider to be one of the few elite riders in this championship. Would be great to see him on a competitive bike next season!

Aprilia should also be very happy, even if Martin is going to wait for the championship to return to Europe, before coming back to the track.

3 Japanese bikes and one Japanese guy in the Top 10, mighty impressive!

Like I said, this could be a wide open season, at least until the debut of the GP25

Frankie needs to have his license revoked at this point, seriously. It seems like no weekend goes by without him cruising on the race line and screwing someone's lap.
What a .....

Franky doing stupid things already.

Deserved penalty.

The penalties doesn't have any effect on him though. He clearly doesn't care about it.

From The Race website.

Bagnaia and Morbidelli.

The Morbidelli situation​

As for the Morbidelli incident, Bagnaia simply pointed out that several riders - not just his VR46 friend - were slow on the line.

Morbidelli has received a three-place grid penalty for the impeding incident, a sanction he shares with LCR Honda rookie Somkiat Chantra (who got in the way of Alex Marquez at another part of the track).

Morbidelli didn't feel he was fully to blame as he was caught out by two riders - seemingly Jack Miller and Joan Mir - rolling off ahead of him. This, he indicated, was due to Miller and Mir going through Turn 3 while Marco Bezzecchi's crash was still being cleaned up (albeit with yellow flags already lifted, according to Morbidelli).

But there was still a substantial amount of time between Morbidelli going through that corner and rolling off and Bagnaia arriving at speed.

“The dangerous episode happened with me," Morbidelli acknowledged.

"I was the last of the group going slow. If I was more clever - because in these occasions I need to be more clever and really learn to get out of the way when I slow down, because usually I slow down and then I take some time to get out of the way… so if I would’ve been more clever and got out of the way immediately, nothing would’ve happened to the two riders in front.”

Now thats a top 10 I could have never predicted. The Gulf of America bike in there. Ogura looks impressive. But I am most shocked to see Mir up there. Lets see if he can manage to keep it rubber side down longer than I can hold my breath come race day. Giving Morbidouche a gp25 is like giving a moron the nuclear codes. Its a recipe for disaster.

Barbedwirebikerr said:

"I was the last of the group going slow. If I was more clever - because in these occasions I need to be more clever and really learn to get out of the way when I slow down, because usually I slow down and then I take some time to get out of the way… so if I would’ve been more clever and got out of the way immediately, nothing would’ve happened to the two riders in front.”

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Unfortunately for the other riders you are not more "cleaver." I think the English word he was looking for here is common sense.

Great job by Mir! Hopefully that continues.

Morbidelli needs a race ban. He never learns, he never ever learns.

#22 said:

Great job by Mir! Hopefully that continues.

Morbidelli needs a race ban. He never learns, he never ever learns.

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I'd give him the Ant West ban