Acosta wins season-opening MotoGP sprint after Marquez penalty

Defending MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez said he had no complaints after a final-lap penalty cost him victory in Saturday’s season-opening sprint in Thailand, with Pedro Acosta taking the win.

Ducati’s Marquez is launching his bid for a record-equalling eighth world title but he had to settle for second in Buriram after being forced to drop a place for an illegal move.

The decision gave KTM’s Acosta his first sprint win, in a 13-lap race that saw pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi crash out on the second lap.

Marquez, who started from second on the grid, shook hands with his fellow Spaniard Acosta after the race and said he would accept the decision.

“In my opinion the race direction decides, so just I follow the rules,” said Marquez.

Acosta finished 0.108sec ahead of Marquez, with Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez taking third.

Marquez said earlier this week that he was still feeling the lingering effects of a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the final four races of last season.

But he looked back to his usual aggressive self as he battled back and forth with Acosta.

“Every time Pedro went to me, I went to get straight away on the next corner,” said the 33-year-old Marquez.

“Unfortunately I got that penalty but nine points, fair race, after an injury, not bad. I’m happy.”

Acosta started from sixth on the grid and quickly emerged as Marquez’s biggest challenger after Bezzecchi wiped out early.

The 21-year-old Acosta said it was “super-cool to make a sprint like this versus Marc”.

“It’s true that maybe I don’t feel like a winner because he let me pass, but anyway we have an opportunity tomorrow,” he added.

Bezzecchi went into the sprint in red-hot form, having topped the timesheets in all three practices and finishing first in qualifying.

But there had also been warning signs, with the Italian suffering a heavy crash at the end of qualifying.

Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura finished the sprint fourth, with Aprilia’s Jorge Martin fifth and KTM’s Brad Binder sixth.