Marco Bezzecchi put his Gresini Ducati GP23 on top of the timesheets by just 0.038s f⛎rom title leader Jorge Martin during opening practice for the Thai MotoGP﷽ at Buriram.

The VR4ꦇ6 rider stuck with same soft front and hard rear tyres for the 45-minute session, setting a best of 1m 30.492s on his 7th of 20 laps.

That kept Bez🍌zecchi on top from the eleventh minute onwards.

Martin also began on the soft front-hard rear rubber, with which he set his best lap of the session before switching over to the medium⛦ rear for his final run.

Perhaps significantly, Martin’s pace on the new medium rear was only a tenth or two faster than the Pramac rider and ♍Bezzecchi were able to set on the old hard rear.

Reigning double champion Francesco Bagnaia, who starts this weekend 20-points behind defending Buriram winner Martin, was only 0.2s from Bezzecchi in t✅erms of best lap time.

However, unlike the pair ahead, the factory star dropped out of th🎀e 1m 30s and into the 1m 31s after his 15th lap on the soft front/hard rear tyres.

Bezzecchi had set a 1m 30.921s on his 20th lap and Martin a 1m 30.876s on his 17th l💖ap, with those tyres. Bagnaia’s 16th lap was a 1m 31.002s (he made a mistake on his 17th) and his 20th a 1m 31.095s.

Phillip Island winner Marc Marquez bucked the tyre trend by starting on the hard front (with the hard rear), a combination he kept throughout with his ဣbest time (+0.259s) on lap 14.

Meanwhile, Gresini team-mate and younger brother Alex did find performance a♔fter switching to the medium rear on his final run, climbing to fifth, just behind Marc.

Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini was sixth, with KTM rookie Pedro Acosta ma🃏king a strong return from injury by featurin🅠g in sixth for much of the session and finishing 0.4s from Bezzecchi.

Jack Miller also made a encouraging start to the weekend for the Red Bull team in eighth, while Brad Binder – a🤡 victory contender at Buriram a year ago – lost time due toಞ early technical issues before rising to 11th.

Between Miller and team-mate Binder was top Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami and leading Yamaha rider Fabio Quartar�൲�aro.

Aprilia’s top ri🦋der was Maverick Vinales, in only 15th place, with factory team-mate Aleix Espargaro suffering an early fall at the final corner a๊nd not returning.

A team update stated: “Foll♎owing the fall involving Aleix Espargaro, the rider underwent examinations and no clinically significant injuries were found. He only sustained a minor trauma.”