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Practice report

Thailand MotoGP: Vinales tops FP1, hard crash for Marquez

Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales topped the opening MotoGP practice at Buriram, as champion-elect Marc Marquez suffered a huge crash.

Maverick Vinales, Yamaha Factory Racing

Maverick Vinales, Yamaha Factory Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez, who needs to outscore Andrea Dovizioso by two points to seal the title this weekend, was thrown off his Honda at the Turn 7 right-hander on an out-lap late in the session.

The impact with the ground ripped the rear wheel off Marquez's RC213V and left the rider himself needing the better part of a minute to get up off his knees.

He limped off the site of the crash with the aid of track workers, and climbed into the track ambulance, which took him to the medical centre.

After a check-up there, he was taken to the local Buriram Hospital for further examinations.

Marquez had immediately taken over out front at the very start of the session, and was over a second in the clear after the opening salvo of laps.

And while the gap was reduced shortly afterwards, nearest rival Valentino Rossi was still over eight tenths off Marquez's 1m31.187s effort.

As the 45-minute session passed its halfway point, Vinales closed to within half a second of Marquez. Dovizioso then followed Vinales on a flying lap to further reduce the gap to the championship leader.

Soon after Marquez's heavy crash, Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo - who like Dovizioso had equipped a soft rear tyre - usurped the Honda man by posting a 1m31.170s.

But he was then eclipsed by factory counterpart Vinales at the chequered flag, the Spaniard ending the session two tenths clear courtesy of a 1m30.979s.

Despite the crash, Marquez ended FP1 in third, narrowly ahead of the two Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller.

Rossi ended up sixth, one place ahead of Quartararo's Petronas teammate Franco Morbidelli, who made it four Yamahas in the top seven.

Dovizioso's works Ducati teammate Danilo Petrucci was eighth, ahead of the lead Suzuki of Joan Mir and Miller's Pramac squadmate Francesco Bagnaia.

Suzuki's other rider Alex Rins had his bike cut out on the main straight in the closing stages of the session, and was towed back to the paddock. He ended up 11th, ahead of the Espargaro brothers Aleix and Pol.

The latter was the comfortably the fastest KTM rider, despite continuing to nurse the left wrist injury he sustained in a crash at Aragon.

Tech 3 KTM rookie Miguel Oliveira had crashed at the same corner as Marquez at the very start of the session, but rejoined soon and ended up 17th.

Takaaki Nakagami in 14th was the next-best Honda behind Marquez, while the two 2019-spec RC213Vs of Nakagami's LCR teammate Cal Crutchlow and works rider Jorge Lorenzo could only muster 18th and 19th respectively.

Session results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 12 Spain Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'30.979
2 20 France Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'31.170 0.191
3 93 Spain Marc Marquez
Honda 1'31.187 0.208
4 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati 1'31.205 0.226
5 43 Australia Jack Miller
Ducati 1'31.227 0.248
6 46 Italy Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'31.482 0.503
7 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'31.569 0.590
8 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci
Ducati 1'31.593 0.614
9 36 Spain Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'31.753 0.774
10 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'31.799 0.820
11 42 Spain Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'31.847 0.868
12 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'31.865 0.886
13 44 Spain Pol Espargaro
KTM 1'31.895 0.916
14 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'31.947 0.968
15 29 Italy Andrea Iannone
Aprilia 1'32.239 1.260
16 53 Spain Tito Rabat
Ducati 1'32.280 1.301
17 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'32.524 1.545
18 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow
Honda 1'32.554 1.575
19 99 Spain Jorge Lorenzo
Honda 1'32.838 1.859
20 82 Finland Mika Kallio
KTM 1'32.877 1.898
21 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin
KTM 1'33.033 2.054
22 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham
Ducati 1'33.129 2.150

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