Bagnaia claims pole for Thailand MotoGP, title rival Martin third

World champion Francesco Bagnaia set a lap record in powering to pole position Saturday for the Thailand MotoGP sprint race and grand prix, with chief title rival Jorge Martin starting from third after a late crash.

In overcast and hot conditions, Italian Ducati star Bagnaia surged around the circuit at Buriram in 1min 28.700sec — the first rider ever under 1:29.

His blistering pace put him 0.232sec clear of teammate Enea Bastianini.

Spain’s Martin, who is 20 points ahead of Bagnaia in the title race with three weekends left, filled the front row, 0.198sec further back.

But it was a mixed session for the Pramac rider, who lost control of his Ducati at turn five and crashed after setting his fastest time, taking no further part.

He hit the deck two corners after hard-charging Spaniard Marc Marquez — who set a lap record in practice on Friday — did the same.

Gresini’s Marquez, who is third in the championship standings, 79 points adrift with 37 points at stake this weekend, will start from fifth, behind Marco Bezzecchi on a Ducati-VR46.

“Very happy”

“Very happy,” said Bagnaia after securing his 22nd career pole position — and fourth of the season — to become the most successful ever for Ducati, surpassing Australian great Casey Stoner.

“I think we did a very good job with the bike and I was confident of being able to be on the front row.”

Martin, who claimed pole at Buriram last year and went on to win the sprint and grand prix, said being on the front row was his key goal in the steamy conditions.

“I’m ok, front row was the target,” he said. “Today was quite difficult, it was very hard, very hot and humid.”

The penultimate race weekend of the season is in Malaysia next weekend, ahead of the season finale in Valencia in mid-November.