The Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has clocked the fastest lap in the MotoGP™ Warm Up at the OR Thailand Grand Prix. Pecco has an opportunity to make up ground on World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) given he is the only title contender set to start from the front row at the Chang International Circuit, and he has reason to be confident about his chances. Bagnaia’s 1:30.360 at the halfway mark was the very fastest lap of the Warm Up but, perhaps more importantly, he lapped consistently under 1:31 at the end of the session. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) improved late to take second on a 1:30.562 while Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) made it an all-Ducati top four.
P1 for @PeccoBagnaia in #MotoGP warm-up! ????
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) October 2, 2022
A small, but important, psychological advantage ????#ThaiGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/zoBHD0uxVT
Quartararo was sixth and first-time pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) 12th, while Japanese GP winner Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) finished the session in 15th after a fairly harmless excursion through the gravel at Turn 3, the biggest incident of note. Also notable, though, was that a handful of riders were called to the pits to swap bikes during the session. The Warm Up was dry, but some teams were clearly preparing for the possibility of a flag-to-flag race this afternoon. Most ran on Michelin’s medium front tyre, while the field was split on whether to use a soft or medium on the rear.
Flag-to-flag bike swap practice ????
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) October 2, 2022
A clear indicator of the concern for the weather today ????️#ThaiGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/bEy2llNqEb
Now, all that is left is the race itself. Tune in at 15:00 (GMT +7)!
MotoGP™ WUP Top 10
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1:30.360
2. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.202
3. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.225
4. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 0.376
5. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.536
6. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.556
7. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.629
8. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) + 0.652
9. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.657
10. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.697