Bagnaia Takes Wet Buriram Race Win, Martin Limits the Damage
Francesco Bagnaia closes the gap in the championship with his ninth race win of the season at Buriram. Jorge Martin…
Following their on-track clash at the Thai Grand Prix, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir voiced their frustrations over the incident that left Mir questioning Marquez’s decision-making.
The Gresini rider crashed from second position earlier in the race, had remounted and begun a determined charge back through the field. However, his progress was punctuated by an aggressive attempt to overtake Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir.
The move came under scrutiny when Marquez, braking hard into the corner, forced Mir wide, costing the Honda rider several positions.
😱 @MARCMARQUEZ93 COULDN'T SAVE IT!
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 27, 2024
Just as he was pressuring for the win, it oomes crashing down! 💥#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/4anUYrvFFC
Race Direction intervened with a penalty, handing Marquez a drop-one-position sanction, which he later claimed to have served without acknowledgment from Race Direction.
Reflecting on the incident, Mir didn’t hide his disappointment in his former Honda teammate: “The incident with Marc was unfortunate because I don’t think he needed to do that,” he remarked, hinting that Marquez’s speed advantage on the straights could have allowed for a clean pass.
“With 10km/h more on the straights, you can overtake without any problems. In the end, it was an unfortunate penalisation because I lost a lot more positions than what he was given on the penalty side.”
Marquez offered a different perspective after going on to finish the race 11th. The Spaniard, although the results for Joan Mir were unintentional, defended his on-track behaviour.
“The problem with Joan is he needs to realise that I was faster,” Marquez stated directly. “If you check the image, it looks like I hit him from behind. But when we arrived at the brake point, I was completely parallel or maybe even in front.”
“He knew that there was somebody on his inside, but he decided to release the brakes and go in.”
Marquez went on to clarify: “I was unable to stop the bike, and even like this his finish position was the same because he was super slow. I was given the drop-one-place penalty, and I did it with Nakagami, but the Race Direction did not see it.”
“I overtook Nakagami on the brakes at Turn 3, let him pass, and took him again before Turn 4. I did it, and I agree with the penalty because in the end, I took Mir out, so I agree.”
