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Alex Marqueztook the lead on the first day of the Thailand MotoGP test in Buriram, while his older brotherMarc Marquezcame back from two initial crashes to secure a second-place position.

Alex Marquez, the Gresini rider, continued his strong performance from Sepang, achieving a fastest time of 1m29.262s during the final hour to lead the rankings. Despite some competitors making gains towards the end of the session, the younger Marquez maintained the top position by 0.129 seconds.

The Buriram test began with an energetic morning session, as multiple riders surpassed the 1m30s mark. Marc Marquez,Pedro Acosta and Luca Mariniall reached the number one position at some point, but it was Ducati’sFrancesco Bagnaiawho established the standard in the three-hour session, a 1m29.678s.

Bagnaia’s time stayed unchallenged until roughly three hours remained in the afternoon session, whenMarco Bezzecchireached the summit with a time of 1m29.462s on the Aprilia RS-GP.

The last two hours of the session witnessed a strong push from the Ducati riders, with Alex Marquez recording the fastest time on his factory-spec GP26, reinforcing his status as one of the top contenders in the pre-season. However, his time was still significantly behind the circuit record (1m28.700s), which was set by Bagnaia during the 2024 Thai GP on his way to securing pole position.

Current world champion Marc Marquez had a difficult day, starting with a crash at Turn 1 after only 20 minutes, followed by another fall at Turn 5 several hours later.

However, the Spaniard regained form after the lunch break, securing the second-fastest time thanks to a late lap of 1m29.391s on his factory Ducati.

VR46’s Franco MorbidelliAnother rider improved during the last 30 minutes of the day, with the Italian finishing 0.011 seconds ahead of Bezzecchi, pushing the Aprilia rider down to fourth place.

Honda had a strong performance on the first day at Buriram, with LCR’sJohann Zarco and factory rider Joan Mirfinishing in fifth and seventh places respectively – separated by the Trackhouse bike of Raul Fernandez.

KTM also rose into the top 10 in the last hour, with Tech3’s Maverick Vinales moving up to eighth position ahead of VR46’sFabio di Giannantonio.

Bagnaia was unable to better his morning time and fell to 10th in the overall standings, just ahead ofBrad Binder’sKTM.

Buriram saw Aprilia’s Jorge MartinRide a MotoGP bike for the first time since the November test, after a long injury break during the winter. The 2024 MotoGP champion finished in 13th place, more than half a second behind the top speed.

Fabio Quartararoalso returned to Buriram following a absence from most of the Sepang test because of a finger injury. Riding the updated V4-powered M1, he placed 18th, just one position higher than Pramac’sJack Miller on the same-spec bike.

The group of 22 bicycles was supported by a Ducati test riderMichele Pirro, who took the place of the injuredFermin Aldeguer at Gresini.

Saturday’s events featured two short red flags. The session was initially halted because of an air fence problem at Turn 1, and later, track conditions required all riders to return to the garage at the beginning of the final hour.

Buriram MotoGP testing – Day 1 outcomes:

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