• Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) wins Thailand Grand Prix GOLD
• Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) sets a new circuit record in 1min29s671
• New circuit speed record with 337,5 km/h for Johann Zarco
Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) took a superb victory in the 17e round of the MotoGP™ World Championship contested on a rain-soaked Chang International Circuit in Buriram. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) took second and third place respectively.
In the rainy conditions at the start, all the drivers (except one) chose the MICHELIN Power Rain in Medium rubber.
After very heavy rain in the previous days and a weekend that looked gloomy, the Free Practice sessions on Friday took place in the dry. This allowed the drivers to define their settings for these conditions and to attack in these two sessions to set a time in the top ten and go directly to Qualification 2 (Q2) in case the weather conditions deteriorate afterwards.
In the last five minutes of Free Practice 1 (FP1), the MICHELIN Power Slicks Soft were mounted on the machines and Marc Marquez (Honda Repsol Team) set the best time in 1min30s523 and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing beat a new circuit speed record with 337,5 km/h. The times were very close with a top ten grouped in three tenths of a second. Free Practice 2 (FP2) was the replica of the morning session in terms of the quest for laps fast in the dry. Johann Zarco completed the best lap in 1min30.
The track was also dry on Saturday under cloudy skies. The drivers took the opportunity to work for the Grand Prix with different types of slick tires for most of the session before switching to attack mode. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) won FP3 in 1min30s205.
In Q2, the pace picked up again, as the ambient temperature rose. Marco Bezzecchi took his very first MotoGP pole position by setting a new circuit record in 1min29, ahead of Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia who accompanied him on the first starting line.
At the end of the race, Piero Taramasso, Two-Wheel Manager of Michelin Motorsport, confided: “ This weekend was going to be very interesting. The results were very positive with consistently fast laps, two drivers bettering the previous track record and excellent feedback from the drivers throughout the weekend. The Soft and Medium rear slicks worked very well and could have been retained for the race. »
« The difficult racing conditions and the delayed start due to rain somewhat disturbed the drivers who had only used slick tires during practice. But the MICHELIN Power Rain gave them all the confidence and grip they needed to attack from the green light. And even when the line started to dry at the end of the race, the performance of the wet tires remained very good to provide a superb race to the checkered flag. »
