Marquez magic, a rookie sensation & tyre pressure drama. MotoGP Thai GP review

Well MotoGP is back and so is a certain Marc Marquez, winning both the sprint and the grand prix in style.

The eight time champion was joined on the podium by younger brother Alex Marquez and team-mate Francesco Bagnaia.

Marquez led off the start as Bagnaia pushed Alex off the track, seeing him drop below rookie Ai Ogura who temporarily inherited third place before the Spaniard got him straight back.

A certain Jack Miller was out to silence the critics and saw himself in fifth place on the opening lap, in a similar position to where he was in the sprint before he crashed out.

Alex Marquez was able to regain second place after Bagnaia nearly lost the front end in the final sector of the first lap, it was a very chaotic start in Thailand.

Only a few laps in, Pedro Acosta saw himself crash out at turn 1, running wide and then losing the front. A nightmare start to the Spanish prospect's sophomore season.

On the seventh lap, Marquez slowed down coming out of turn 3 and lost his 1.2 second gap to his brother who took the lead of the race.

Marc said after the race, that this was due to his front tyre pressure being too low and he couldn't get it back up despite trying, so he decided to slow down and let Alex through so he could follow his younger brother closely and get his tyre pressure within the required range.

Riders need to have their tyre pressure within a certain range for 60% of the race, if they fail to achieve this then they receive a 16 second penalty at the end of the race.

Halfway through the race we saw a very unfortunate Joan Mir crash out at the last corner, something that is unfortunately a familiar sight.

However, there is definitely positives for the 2020 World Champion as he was riding his best ever race on the Honda, seeing himself up in seventh place on genuine pace.

In the latter stages of the race, we saw Franco Morbidelli move past Miller and Ogura to find himself up in fourth, Miller also dropped behind Aprilia debutant Marco Bezzecchi. It appeared that the Aussie was having some tyre issues on his Yamaha.

With four laps to go, Marquez was able to get up the inside of his brothers GP24 on the last corner, and then check out immediately.

Marc went on to win one of the most bizarre MotoGP races in recent history, Alex in second meant it was the first ever siblings 1-2 in MotoGP history.

A remarkable weekend from rookie Ai Ogura saw him finish in fifth and exceed everyone's expectations of the reigning Moto2 champion.

Enea Bastianini managed to finish ninth, a great result for him considering he has really struggled adapting to the KTM.

Despite dropping to 11th, Jack Miller was still the top Yamaha and can definitely take positives from this weekend.

FULL RACE RESULTS

1. Marc Marquez

2. Alex Marquez

3. Francesco Bagnaia

4. Franco Morbidelli

5. Ai Ogura

6. Marco Bezzecchi

7. Johann Zarco

8. Brad Binder

9. Enea Bastianini

10. Fabio Di Giannantonio

11. Jack Miller

12. Luca Marini

13. Fermin Aldeguer

14. Miguel Oliveira

15. Fabio Quartararo

16. Maverick Vinales

17. Alex Rins

18. Somkiat Chantra

19. Pedro Acosta

20. Lorenzo Savadori

    DNF- Raul Fernandez DNF- Joan Mir

    
    

    Featured image: Red Bull

    
    

    CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

    
    

1.) Marc Marquez	37pts	Ducati
2.) Alex Marquez	29pts	Ducati
3.) Francesco Bagnaia	23pts	Ducati
4.) Franco Morbidelli	18pts	Ducati
5.) Ai Ogura	17pts	Aprilia
6.) Marco Bezzecchi	10pts	Aprilia
7.) Brad Binder	10pts	KTM
8.) Johann Zarco	9pts	Honda
9.) Enea Bastianini	7pts	KTM
10.) Fabio Di Giannantonio	6pts	Ducati