Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi secured pole position for the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix. Despite crashing at the end of qualifying in Buriram, his earlier lap was sufficient to hold off reigning champion Marc Marquez by 0.035 seconds. Bezzecchi, who was fastest in pre-season testing, expressed confidence despite some pain from his airbag deployment, stating his time was good enough and he intends to fight with the top riders.
Marquez secured a late second place for Ducati, improving significantly on his second tire run. "I felt much better on the second one and then I attacked," Marquez commented. Completing the front row was Trackhouse's Raul Fernandez.
Fabio Di Giannantonio, Jorge Martin, and Pedro Acosta qualified in fourth to sixth positions. Alex Marquez will start seventh, while his Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia failed to advance from the first qualifying session and will start 13th.