Marc Marquez Takes First Factory Ducati Race Win – Tyre Pressure Issues?
Marc Marquez makes it a dream Ducati debut and takes a dominating victory in Buriram ahead of Alex Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia.
Thai Grand Prix race winner Marc Marquez has confirmed he deliberately dropped out of the lead on lap seven of the race after encountering receiving a tyre pressure warning.
The factory Ducati rider dominated the start to the 2025 season, taking pole position, the sprint win and the Grand Prix race win in Buriram all in one go.
Setting out to repeat his dominating Saturday success, Marquez was cruising in the early stages of the race, when he – seemingly out of nowhere – dropped back behind his brother Alex Marquez.
Replays at the time showed the Spaniard deliberately giving up the lead.
After the race Marquez explained the reason for his odd maneuvre – front tyre pressure issues. The Spaniard confirmed he was “three laps from disaster” after receiving a tyre pressure warning early on.
“The feeling was super good in the beginning. But then I realised the tyre pressure was not enough, and then I was looking for a slipstream.”
As per the regulations, riders must stay within the set pressure minimum of 1.8 bar for at least 60% of the race, in this case 16 laps, or they receive a 16-second time penalty to be added at the end of the race.
“I had only three laps of margin until disaster, and for that reason I overtook Alex with only three laps to the end because [then the tyre pressure wouldn’t have mattered anymore].”
“But it was quite critical, because with a penalty it [would have been] a disaster. But we worked together with the team, we’re a team and we did it.”
It was lap 23/26 when Marquez decided it was time to drop the hammer, and drop the hammer he did.
Taking back the lead, the eight-time World Champion quickly established a 1s+ gap that grew to +1.732s until the end of the race.
