Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) was the quickest rider out the blocks in the Moto2™ class at the inaugural PTT Thailand Grand Prix, laying down a benchmark time of 1:37.757 to beat Championship contender Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) by 0.093 seconds, with Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) 0.166 back in third.
Title race leader Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) got his weekend at the Chang International Circuit off to a solid start in fourth, 0.192 from Pasini and he and Oliveira got a bit close for company in the opening exchanges of FP1 – a sign of things to come across the weekend for the top two in the Championship? Elsewhere, Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40) set the fifth fastest time of the session, just 0.008 behind Bagnaia.
Clash of the titans ⚔️
— MotoGP™???????????? (@MotoGP) October 5, 2018
Talk about a close call! TItle rivals @OliveiraMoto2 and @PeccoBagnaia get a bit *too* close in FP1!#ThaiGP pic.twitter.com/t43xSG26a5
Turn 12 caught a trio of riders out early on in FP1, with Stefano Manzi (Forward Racing Team), Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Edgar Pons (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) all crashing – riders ok.
The top 23 are covered by less than a second, so make sure you watch the intermediate class on track in Thailand for FP2 at 15:05 local time (GMT +7).
Click here for the full results!