Enea Bastianini cruised to his second Saturday success of the MotoGP season as he saw off feuding title rivals Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia to win the Thailand Grand Prix Sprint race at Buriram.
The factory Ducati rider capitalised on a scuffle between Pramac’s Martin and team-mate Bagnaia at the first corner to grab the lead of a race he would control right to the chequered flag.
He led home Martin in second place, the Spaniard getting the better of title rival Bagnaia to eke his overall advantage out to 22 points with Sunday’s full-length encounter still to come.
The race outcome would be largely assured moments after the start when Martin’s deep inside line into turn one sent him wide on the exit, taking Bagnaia out to the run-off with him and allowing Bastianini to slice past both on the long run to the hairpin.
Once in front Bastianini would assert his control to open up an early half-second advantage that he would extend out to a winning margin of 1.5s.
If Bastianini had it relatively easy out front, then Martin by contrast was made to work hard for second after slipping down to fifth place behind Bagnaia in the wake of their turn one skirmish.
Nevertheless, after disposing of Pedro Acosta and Marc Marquez, Martin set to work on relieving Bagnaia of second and duly succeeded with a well-judged overtake coming through the flip-flop at turns 10 and 11.
From here Martin would have the measure of his rival to hold position to the flag and nudge his advantage up with five races of the season remaining, including two sprints.
Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
In fourth, Marquez faded from the podium battle after a bright start, the Gresini rider having plenty in hand over brother and team-mate Alex Marquez in fifth after Acosta low-sided out of the position on lap four.
His exit allowed Ducati to lock out the entire top eight with Franco Morbidelli (Pramac), Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio (both VR46) taking sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, with KTM’s Brad Binder the only point-scorer on alternative machinery in ninth.