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 VR46 rider stuck with same soft front and hard rear tyres for the 45-minute 🌌sessio꧋n, setting a best of 1m 30.492s on his 7th of 20 laps.

That ke💙pt Bezzecchi on top from the eleventh minute onwards.

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

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

Reigning double champion Francesco Bagnaia, wh꧙o starts this weekend 20-points behind defending Buriram winner Martin, was only 0.2s from Bezzecchi in terms of best lap time.

However, unlike the pair ahead, the factory star dropped out of t🦂he 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 17🐻th lap, 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 bestﷺ time (+0.259s) on lap 14.

Meanwhi💫le, Gresini team-mate and younger brother Alex did fin𓃲d performance after 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 making a strong return from injury by featuring in sixth for much o🎃f 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 to early technical issues befor🍸e rising to 11th.

Between Miller and team-mate Binder was♔ top Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami and leading Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo🅺.

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

A team update stated: “Following th✤e fall involving Aleix Espargaro, the rider underwent exa𝐆minations and no clinically significant injuries were found. He only sustained a minor trauma.”