Martin claims thrilling Thailand Grand Prix to cut Bagnaia’s lead

Spain’s Jorge Martin won a thrilling Thailand MotoGP race yesterday to close the gap on Francesco Bagnaia to 13 points in the world championship, with three legs of the season to go.Italy’s Bagnaia crossed the line third, behind Brad Binder, but was awarded second place after the South African was penalised one position for exceeding track limits on the final lap.The trio had been involved in a titanic tussle over the closing laps with the lead changing hands before pole-sitter Martin, on a Pramac-Ducati, pipped his rivals and celebrated wildly as he crossed the line."I’m so happy. This feeling is amazing because today I wasn’t better than them," said Martin.The Spaniard managed the race masterfully from pole position, conserving his tyres to leave him with enough grip to withstand the late onslaught from the fast-finishing KTM rider Binder and factory-Ducati pilot Bagnaia. "I had the same tools, same tyres, but I had better pace than them and I had to go more than 100 percent on the last lap to stay in front," added Martin.Bagnaia, attempting to defend his world title, came into the weekend with a 27-point cushion in the championship but saw that slashed by Martin, who also won Saturday’s sprint at the Buriram International Circuit. Bagnaia began to claw his way through the pack and was then gifted third when Alex Marquez crashed his Gresini-Ducati on lap 12, allowing the world champion to close on the leading duo of Martin and Binder. Marco Bezzechi was fourth on a VR-46 Ducati, Aleix Espargaro crossed the line fifth and Fabio Quartararo sixth. Espargaro was later penalised three seconds by stewards, relegating him to eighth, for running with tyre pressures lower than permitted.Saturday specialist Martin had won the last five sprint races but crashed while leading the main race in Indonesia a fortnight ago as Bagnaia snatched the championship lead. back.Then a disastrous gamble on a soft rear tyre last weekend in Australia saw Martin slump to fifth from the lead as his rubber deserted him on the final lap.