Briefly recapping the MotoGP/2/3 afternoon practice sessions from Buriram

MotoGP 2025

Round One – Thailand GP – Buriram – Friday

Johann Zarco led the majority of the afternoon practice session and with 15-minutes remaining there were three Honda riders in the top five. However, once everyone got wound up for their serious flyers to guarantee their automatic entry to Q2, that order was shuffled somewhat, with Zarco ending up tenth, the last man to score that vital automatic graduation to Q2 on Saturday.

Marc Marquez went top with ten-minutes to run and stayed there until after the chequered flag, the six-time MotoGP champ was displaced from top spot by little brother on his final lap of the day by five-hundredths of a second.

Moments earlier, Marc’s hot lap had been spoiled by a yellow flag, but it was his team-mate Pecco Bagnaia who really couldn’t catch a break.  While Marc looked to be able to turn on the speed at will, Friday looked a lot more frustrating for Pecco. The Italian had been seven-tenths behind Marc in the morning session, but as always, when it really mattered, he found the speed to challenge. Unfortunately for Pecco, his first real good lap was spoiled when Marco Bezzecchi went down on a hot lap, which brought out the yellow flags and the subsequent cancellation of Pecco’s lap. Then, on his final run, he was on course to be well inside the top ten and perhaps even challenge for the top spot; Franco Morbidelli got in his way.  Morbidelli finished the session fifth quickest, but there seems little doubt a penalty will be coming his way from new FIM Steward Chairman Simon Crafar.  Either way, Pecco Bagnaia will have to brave Q1 on Saturday afternoon.

Pedro Acosta was the top KTM in third, while Marco Bezzecchi was the fastest Aprilia rider in fourth place.

Joan Mir was the top Honda on day one ahead of Raul Fernandez.

Rookie Ai Ogura made it three Aprilias in the top ten. Ogura was quick all day and looked tidy doing so, the Moto2 World Champion looks to be an inspired signing by Aprilia.

Fabio Quartararo the only Yamaha in the top ten. Jack Miller had been fourth in FP1 but couldn’t find extra speed when it mattered in the afternoon and will have to contest Q1.

MotoGP Practice Times

Moto2 Practice

Moto2 riders have a racier gearbox to use in season 2025. The sequence of the gears has been changed, so neutral now sits at the top of the order, removing the need to pass through neutral while racing.  Triumph has achieved this by a comprehensive redesign, introducing a new selector drum with revised tracks that allow the gears to engage in their new positions. Billet machined to achieve the optimum design geometry, mass and inertia, this bspoke design also accommodates the new mechanical neutral lockout, which can only be activated by the rider, giving riders the freedom to engage between 1st to 6th gear without passing neutral when racing, negating the risk of a false-neutral. When riders need neutral in the pitlane or on the start-line, they can select neutral only by manually deactivating the lockout via a lever on the bars.

The track temperature was only in the mid-40s during FP1 but was ten-degrees warmer when riders took to the track for the important FP2 session.  In a change for 2025, the top 14 in the Friday afternoon session now earn automatic graduation to Q2 on Saturday.  With that in mind some caution was thrown to the wind in the dying minutes of the FP2 session as riders tried valiantly to ensure they ended the day inside that cut-off.

Senna Agius was comfortably outside the danger zone throughout the 40-minute FP2 session, lying fifth for the majority of the time before the Australian slipped to ninth in the final flurry of fast laps that came in during the final lap of the session.

RelatedPosts

O’Halloran to replace Rea at Portimao after Fernandez gets MotoGP call-up

March 21, 2025

MotoGP Riders and Team Managers reflect on the MotoGP of Argentina

March 17, 2025

Diogo Moreira topping the session ahead of Gonzalez and Oncu.  Four-tenths covered the top 12 riders.

Moto2 Practice Times

Moto3 Practice

The top 14 in the Friday afternoon session earn automatic graduation to Q2 on Saturday which is going to make Friday afternoon’s in Moto3 this year more frenetic than ever before. That led to many riders stepping a little too far outside the envelope in this session and going down the road or running off.

Matteo Bertelle topped proceedings ahead of Stefano Nepa and Jose Rueda.

Joel Kelso was inside the cut at 12th so can breathe a little easier this evening and work on his race package tomorrow ahead of Q2.

Eddie O’Shea didn’t record a time in FP2 due to some sort of problem.

Moto3 Practice Times

2025 MotoGP Calendar