Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team battle for the win in the Thai Sprint for an excellent second-place finish. Francesco Bagnaia finishes in ninth position

The Ducati Lenovo Team had a starring role in the opening Sprint of the season with Marc Márquez, who was second at the flag at the Chang International Circuit. Francesco Bagnaia wrapped up the encounter in ninth position.

Márquez, from second place on the grid, took the lead at turn one, battling first with Bezzecchi in the opening two laps and then with Acosta. In the closing stages, after an overtaking manoeuvre on his opponent at the end of the penultimate lap, Marc had to drop one position following a penalty from Race Direction. Bagnaia made his way up to eighth from row four, crossing the finish line in ninth place.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow morning at 10:40 local time (GMT +7) for the warm up, followed by the Grand Prix of Thailand, which will be contested over 26 laps from 15:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 2nd
“It just went this way. The only thing we can do as riders is to adapt to the limit established by Race Direction. It was very hot today and the conditions were tricky, so when Bezzecchi crashed out, I tried to stay in the lead while keeping a pace I deemed safer. I would have liked to push in the final two laps but I almost lost the rear at turn five. I'm still happy with the result: back in January I would have put my signature on nine points in the first Sprint, but then everything changes when you find yourself battling for the win. We're still not in the perfect place and I need to improve in some areas, and this is why we chose to keep the situation under control today rather than pushing past the limit.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 9th
“At the moment, I'm not able to perform the way I'd like. It's my responsibility, as I'm taking longer than I should to adapt to the situation. Surely, things went better in the Sprint compared to the previous session, so we'll try to use this as a base to keep improving ahead of the race. The conditions should stay the same, meaning very hot but still manageable. The medium tyre option could help us in this regard: still, it'll be important to get a good start, especially considering our grid position, and try to put ourselves in a condition to attack.”