Former world champions Fabio Quartararo and Jorge Martin make their return to MotoGP action during day one of the final pre-season test, at Buriram in Thailand on Saturday.
Quartararo missed the last two days of testing at Sepang due to a broken finger on day one of the Official Malaysian test, although all the new Yamaha V4s were then grounded on day two of three due to a technical issue.
Martin, meanwhile, hasn’t been on his Aprilia since last November’s Valencia test, having undergone secret follow-up surgery on his wrist and collarbone injuries in December.
Alex Marquez was fastest from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi at the end of the Sepang test, with the Gresini rider also delivering the fastest Sprint simulation, ahead of factory Ducati duo Francesco Bagnaia and reigning champion Marc Marquez.
Marc Marquez took a perfect double victory from pole position on his Ducati Lenovo debut in last year’s Thai Grand Prix.
Riders and teams will be using the final two-day test to decide on their bike spec, and especially aero homologation, for next weekend’s season-opener.
Testing is split into two sessions each day. The first session runs from 10am to 1pm, followed by practice starts. The second is from 1:20pm to 6pm, then practice starts to finish.
Yamaha had another tough test day on Saturday in Thailand with its V4 MotoGP bike, but are there really no positives to be taken?
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Marc Marquez has explained in detail why there has been a delay in signing a new Ducati deal.
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Pecco Bagnaia says his MotoGP future will be known in the coming days, as he has finally made a decision.
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Ai Ogura's long run in Session 2:
1'31.632
1'32.863
1'30.580
1'30.686
1'30.739
1'30.781
1'30.856
1'30.759
1'30.726
Average = 1'30.958
And this was Pedro Acosta's long run this afternoon (half-a-second per lap slower on average).
Update: Acosta said his Sprint was closer to Bagnaia than it looked as he went out just after a red flag period, due to track conditions, and was a little more careful in the early laps.
1'30.850
1'30.255
1'30.265
1'30.234
1'30.790
1'30.413
1'30.659
1'30.815
1'30.671
1'30.429
1'30.670
Average = 1'30.550
Francesco Bagnaia may not have improved in Session 2, but he was one of the few to do a Sprint simulation, setting an impressive pace:
1'30.394
1'30.277
1'29.798
1'29.828
1'30.070
1'30.236
1'30.522
1'30.402
1'30.173
1'30.259
1'30.514
1'30.446
1'30.669
Average = 1'30.276
Alex Marquez was fastest on a dramatic opening day of the final MotoGP pre-season test.
Report ✍️
Day one at the Buriram MotoGP test ends with Alex Marquez fastest from brother Marc Marquez, followed by Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi.
Yamaha's Alex Rins is getting some late laps behind Marc Marquez but remains in 19th.
With the sun going down, the baking heat is finally starting to recede, also aiding lap times. Joan Mir jumps from 15th to seventh for HRC. 4mins to go.
The final ten minutes are about to begin and the top six riders - Alex Marquez, Marc Marquez, Franco Morbidelli, Johann Zarco and Raul Fernandez - are covered by just 0.224s.
Marc Marquez makes progress to second place, behind brother Alex. With Franco Morbidelli into 3rd ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco completing the top five.
15mins to go.
With just over 20 minutes to go, Bagnaia, Martin, Marc Marquez, Morbidelli, Binder and Quartararo are yet to improve on their best times from session one today.
Pit lane has reopened with half an hour to go.
Pitlane will open again at 5:30pm local time, so in about four minutes.
Everyone is back in pit lane, according to the timing screens.
There has been another red flag for 'track conditions'.
After his earlier stoppage, Raul Fernandez is right back up to speed and goes third overall with a 1m29.486s with just over 45 minutes to go.
Johann Zarco moves up to fourth on the LCR Honda.
Looks like more trouble for Fabio Quartararo as Yamaha checks out some kind of technical issue on his bike.
Pretty quiet out there just now. Ogura, Fernandez, Quartararo and Razgatlioglu the only ones out.
Marc Marquez heads back out for another run. Ducati looks to be pushing on with evaluating the 2024-spec aero and the 2025-spec aero.
The VR46 team have been having a good day so far. Fabio Di Giannantonio is third overall on the GP26.
Session has restarted with just under an hour and 20 left on the clock.