2022 Thailand MotoGP, Buriram Circuit – Warm-up Results

* Rookie

Official Buriram MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marco Bezzecchi ITA Ducati 1m 29.671s (2022)
Fastest race lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 30.904s (2019)

MotoGP title contender Francesco Bagnaia leads a Ducati quartet at the top of the timesheets during a dry but overcast warm-up for the Thai Grand Prix at Buriram.

Bagnaia, 18 points behind Fabio Quartararo after the last-lap fall at Motegi, took medium-medium tyres to a 0.202s advantage over VR46s Luca Marini, a frustrated ninth in qualifying.

Johann Zarco (Pramac) and Enea Bastianini (Gresini) were the only other riders within half-a-second of Bagnaia.

Quartararo, whose Yamaha (fourth) was the lone Ducati in the top seven in qualifying, was behind the KTM of Miguel Oliveira in sixth this morning, followed by front row qualifier Jorge Martin.

Aprilia team-mates Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro have struggled for grip on the special heat-resistant rear tyre construction (last used in Austria) all weekend but broke into the top ten with eighth and ninth this morning.

Espargaro, currently 25 points from Quartararo, will start just 13th on the grid and feels he has no choice but to take risks this afternoon – including perhaps a different tyre choice to his main rivals if the race is dry and ‘all or nothing’ in the wet.

Rookie Marco Bezzecchi, who will lead an all-Ducati front row after claiming his first MotoGP pole position from Zarco and Bagnaia, was 12th in warm-up.

Marc Marquez, winner of both previous Thai Grands Prix, remains confident despite eighth place after a mistake at the final corner in qualifying. The Repsol Honda star was just 14th in warm-up, but appeared to be saving energy with 9 laps.

Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller took a trip through the gravel on his way to 15th place, possibly due to a low tyre pressure/puncture, with Suzuki stand-in Danilo Petrucci 22nd out of the 24 riders.

While the track had dried after overnight rain, further showers are forecast just before the 3pm race start – with bike swaps being practiced during warm-up.

If the race is dry, all riders are expected to use the medium front tyre, combined with either the soft or (more likely) medium rear, as seen in warm-up.

• Thailand MotoGP, Buriram – Full Qualifying Results
• Thailand Moto2 Grand Prix, Buriram – Qualifying Results
• Thailand Moto3 Grand Prix, Buriram – Qualifying Results

Fabio Quartararo takes an extended 18-point world championship lead over Francesco Bagnaia into the final four rounds, after the Italian’s last lap accident at Motegi.

The Japanese Grand Prix was also a race to forget for Aleix Espargaro, who has slipped 25 points from the top after technical issues forced a last-minute bike swap, leaving him 16th.

The last time MotoGP raced at Buriram, in 2019, Marc Marquez – on pole at Motegi last weekend – narrowly held off then rookie Quartararo to wrap up his eighth world title, with Maverick Vinales completing a podium covered by just 1.3s.

MotoGP welcomes back Danilo Petrucci this weekend. Fresh from finishing runner-up in the MotoAmerica Superbike championship, the double premier-class winner (with Ducati) is stepping in at Suzuki for the injured Joan Mir.

Petrucci won’t be the only substitute on track, with HRC test rider Tetsuta Nagashima, who ed out of a MotoGP race debut last weekend at Motegi, called up in place of injured countryman Takaaki Nakagami at LCR Honda.

Wet weather is forecast throughout the Buriram event.

As with the other end of season ‘flyaways’, absent from the calendar since Covid restrictions in 2019, ten riders have no prior experience of racing in MotoGP at Buriram: Brad Binder, Alex Marquez, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini, plus this year’s rookies Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio di Giannantonio, Darryn Binder, Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez.

Friday September 30

3am – Moto3 FP1

3.55am – Moto2 FP1

4.50am – MotoGP FP1

7.15am – Moto3 FP2

8.10am – Moto2 FP2

9.05am – MotoGP FP2

Saturday October 1

3am – Moto3 FP3

3.55am – Moto2 FP3

4.50am – MotoGP FP3

6.35am – Moto3 Q1

7am – Moto3 Q2

7.30am – Moto2 Q1

7.55am – Moto2 Q2

8.25am – MotoGP FP4

9.05am – MotoGP Q1

9.30am – MotoGP Q2

Sunday October 2

4am – Moto3 warm-up

4.20am – Moto2 warm-up

4.40am – MotoGP warm-up

6am – Moto3 race

7.20am – Moto2 race

9am – MotoGP race