In Buriram, the city of happiness in Thailand, Pecco Bagnaia smiled more than anyone, capable of prolonging his title defense against Jorge Martín with a surgical victory. While the rest of the drivers battled against the slippery asphalt in the rain, making mistakes with a shovel, he drew his line and barely blinked an eye to win ahead of the competition leader and rookie Pedro Acosta (GasGas). The masterful triumph of Ducati’s flagship once again reduced its disadvantage in the infinite duel for the title from 22 to 17 points, with the Spaniard minimizing damage in a second position that is all he needs from now on to take the toast .
The Italian’s furious celebration, however, reflected the new moral blow dealt by the current world championwho was undaunted by the mounting pressure and saw his rival make several major mistakes before settling for minimizing damage. Even though Martín made a better start to place himself first from third place on the grid and then put his elbows out to keep Bagnaia at bay in the opening stages, the Pramac rider from Madrid pulled so hard that he overbraked and opened the door to the from Turin and a Marc Márquez wanting to fish in troubled rivers.
A scare on the fourth lap preceded leaving the track in the third corner of the track on the next lap. Although he tried to rejoin the lead of the race, Martín ended up settling just after the halfway point of the race. Several scares during his chase and a narrow save when Márquez fell in front of him on lap 14 were enough to end his hopes of a comeback. “When Marc fell, I saw that it was impossible to catch Pecco and I preferred to consolidate second place. “I’m sure that Ganesh has helped me this weekend,” he commented with a wink to the Thai fans who have supported him remarkably these days, also recognizing how hard he drove to the limit this Sunday, almost a miracle to have saved the fall.
The Catalan from Gresini did the rest and tried to overtake Bagnaia on two occasions, first in the ninth lap and then in the thirteenth, both in the last corner of the track. The reigning champion responded with pride and nerves of steel, without giving a single centimeter against a rival who had nothing more than victory at stake. One lap later, chasing his fourth victory of the course, Márquez fell in the second corner of the track. The crash of 93 allowed his next teammate to breathe easy, with a cushion of a couple of seconds over the leader of the competition, an ideal situation to navigate the final stretch of the race with tact and celebrate a balmy victory after chaining several followed setbacks in the fight for the title.
“I am super happy, and I dedicate it to mine. I want to thank my team, because the step we have taken today would have been impossible without their help. On a mental level, this victory was very important for either of us,” said the number one, who has nine wins this season, but had never won on wet asphalt. The head of Ducati was very satisfied with the performance demonstrated by the factory prop. “This is the character of a true champion, and these are the races that we must do until the end to be able to fight for the title,” said Gigi Dall’Igna from the parc ferme.
As if there were not enough ingredients in the head-to-head fight for the championship, the rain added more spice to the matter in a race with 11 falls. Bagnaia complied and Martín, deep down, too. It is enough for the Spaniard to finish just behind his rival for the remainder of the year to be champion, although he does not want to think about mathematics yet. The data, despite the bite of his pursuer in the table, say that the 26-year-old driver from Madrid will have a match point in the Malaysian GP. To do this he would need an inappropriate blunder, and even more so at this point in the championship, from the three-time Italian champion. If the script is maintained in the two remaining tests, everything indicates that the resolution of the title will reach the finish line on Sunday at the Valencia GP, three weeks from now.
