ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 2, 2025
CHANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / BURIRAM PROVINCE, THAILAND
P90
MAKING IT LOOK EASY
Marc Marquez cruised to a much-
expected Sprint success after
claiming pole position then lead-
ing all 13 laps. "It was the perfect
Saturday," he said. It appeared
the eight-time World Champion
never had to get out of second
gear as he comfortably held a
challenge from brother Alex at
bay. He leads the World Cham-
pionship for the first time in 1931
days. On this evidence he won't
be topped anytime soon. Mar-
quez admitted he still had plenty
in reserve afterward. "When you
push at your 100 percent, then
you start to do some mistakes,"
he said. "But I try to manage the
distance between me and the
second rider. What I understood
during all the years I've been
here in MotoGP, it doesn't matter
to win by one second or three
seconds. So today, I tried to man-
age that gap."
OGURA SHINES
Marquez was the victor, but Ai
Ogura was the star of the week-
end. The reigning Moto2 champ
stunned onlookers by qualifying
fifth and then finishing fourth in
the Sprint and fifth in the Sunday
GP. The Japanese rider said
his performance was "a big,
big surprise" and explained his
late-braking prowess in his typi-
cal understated manner. "From
Friday during the session, I went
a little more, a little more, and
well, in the qualifying I was gain-
ing the lap time in the braking,
then I did quite a good lap. So
just improved a little bit. [Being]
smooth. I think that's exactly what
I learned from Pecco. I was just
Briefly...
ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
