Francesco Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team have scored an important win in the 26-lap, Thai Grand Prix race, which took place in wet conditions at the Chang International Circuit. Enea Bastianini made it to the chequered flag in fourteenth place, after crashing out in the first half of the encounter.
Bagnaia had a good start from pole, before bridging the gap to the then-leader Martín and taking the lead on lap five, as the rival went wide. Pecco had then to defend his position from a resurging Marc Marquez, with the latter crashing out with thirteen laps left. From then on, the reigning world champion managed perfectly his margin over the following riders as, ultimately crossing the line a lonely winner.
Bastianini lost several positions at the start due to a coming together with an opponent at turn one. After finding himself outside the top ten, Enea managed to make his way back to sixth place, before tucking the front at turn eight during the ninth lap. He managed to re-join the encounter and to return inside the top 15 to finish fourteenth.
As the eighteenth Grand Prix of the season draws to a close, Bagnaia is still second in the championship standings, albeit now with a 17-point gap to Martín. Bastianini is fourth,108 points in arrears, and mathematically out of contention for the title. After Ducati’s Constructors’ championship title win, the Ducati Lenovo Team secures the 2024 Team World Championship title.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action on Friday at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, for the penultimate event of the season.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“This morning, after the warm-up, I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t worried, though, because I knew we had the potential to do well, but we had to fix something in terms of bike behaviour under braking: we managed to do so, and I felt better straight away. When Jorge tried to pull away early on, I chose to wait a couple of laps as I had noticed that he was taking many risks. The battle with Marc (Márquez) was really good and before his crash, we were really lapping at an incredible pace. I’d like to dedicate this win to the team, because as usual they have done a fantastic job.”
Luigi Dall’Igna – Ducati Corse General Manager
“It was a challenging race. It’s easy to make a mistake in these conditions: you must give it all in order to win but be careful at the same time, because a mistake is always around the corner. I must congratulate Pecco and Jorge for today’s incredible performance. It is now officially a two-way battle for the title, on equal terms. Our goal is to give them all the information so that they can get the set-up out of their bikes and may the best win. We’lll have to suffer until the end, but I’m sure they’ll deliver plenty of more excitement to us as well as to all the Ducatisti.”
