BURIRAM, Thailand (Reuters) - Six-times MotoGP champion Marc Marquez made a dream start to life at factory Ducati when he led from lap one to the chequered flag to win the sprint at the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix on Saturday, as his younger brother Alex Marquez came in second.
Twice MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia, Marquez’s new team mate, finished third to complete an all-Ducati podium.
“It was a perfect Saturday,” Marquez said. “The feeling is great with the bike. I got out and I was consistent and then I saw that the gap was already there and then I tried to manage.
“Happy to start my new journey with Ducati Lenovo. In this way, tomorrow will be the most important but already we achieved the first point of a sprint race victory. So let’s see if tomorrow, minimum, we need to be on the podium.
“But if we can, we will try to fight for the victory.”
The Buriram International Circuit pole-sitter rocketed off the line as Alex struggled to match his pace, and never looked in danger of losing the top spot in the 13-lap sprint.
It was just the second time in his career that Marquez had won a sprint, with the first coming at the Aragon MotoGP in August.
The 32-year-old Spaniard now leads the championship for the first time since 2019 after collecting 12 points, three more than Alex and five ahead of Bagnaia in third, and will have the opportunity to stretch the gap further in Sunday’s race.
“I’m super happy today, this was our maximum target,” Alex said. “Everything depends on the start, and especially Marc — he pushed quite hard today. He did a really good start... So I said, okay, I need to wait here, I need to finish the race.
“Super happy, like I said, it was our target so now we need to study a little bit Marc’s lines and all that. Tomorrow will be a little bit more ready, but (it) will be difficult to really reach Marc.”
Trackhouse’s 24-year-old Japanese rider Ai Ogura had a promising MotoGP debut, making up one place from qualifying to come fourth. Franco Morbidelli was fifth, ahead of Pedro Acosta and Fabio Quartararo.
Australian Jack Miller of Prima Pramac Yamaha crashed out at turn eight, having qualified fourth on the grid.