BURIRAM: Marco Bezzecchi won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position on Sunday as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel.
Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third.
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Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equalling eighth world title this season but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go.
The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide and the jolt to his bike dislodged the rear tyre and badly damaged his wheel.
Bezzecchi returned to winning form after crashing out of Saturday’s sprint race on the second lap.
The Italian was fastest in all three practice sessions and set a new track record in qualifying.
It was also his third straight grand prix win stretching back to last season.
Acosta beat Fernandez to second place to wrap up a successful weekend for the 21-year-old Spaniard.
Acosta won the sprint after Marquez was forced to let him pass on the final lap because of a penalty.
Marquez said earlier this week that he was still feeling the lingering effects of a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the final four races of last season.
The 33-year-old was picked off by a succession of riders as the race got underway but recovered to put himself back into podium contention.
He was priming himself for an attack on Acosta and Fernandez when he ran wide and did well not to be thrown from his bike, even though it did spell the end of his race.
Jorge Martin, the 2024 world champion, finished fourth after seeing the defence of his title wrecked by injury last season.
Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura was fifth, followed by VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and KTM’s Brad Binder.
Alex Marquez, last season’s championship runner-up, did not finish the race after a late crash Francesco Bagnaia, the 2022 and 2023 world champion, finished ninth after starting from 13th on the grid.
