Martin wins thrilling Thailand GP to cut Bagnaia's championship lead

BURIRAM, Thailand :Pramac Racing's Jorge Martin made it a perfect weekend at the Thailand Grand Prix when the pole sitter and sprint winner won a thrilling race on Sunday, cutting the gap to championship leader Francesco Bagnaia to 13 points.

Martin finished ahead of KTM's Brad Binder and Ducati's Bagnaia after an intense battle for the top three spots where they constantly swapped positions in the last two laps.

But Binder was demoted a position for exceeding track limits on the final lap, putting him third, behind Bagnaia.

The battle for podium spots was the fourth-closest finish in premier class history as the top three finished within 0.253 seconds of each other.

"I'm so happy, this feeling is amazing. Today I didn't have better pace than them. I had to put in more than 100 per cent," Martin said in a post-race interview.

"The pace was great, tyre management was great. The hard moments are tough but they make you stronger."

Martin set a lap record when he secured pole on Saturday and led from start to finish, claiming his fifth straight sprint victory of the season.

Just as in the sprint, Martin kept Luca Marini at bay going into turn one as both Ducatis shot off the line.

Bagnaia, starting sixth on the grid, struggled to find a way past early on. He had his hands full with Honda's Marc Marquez, who pushed the world champion down to seventh.

Binder finished second in the sprint and the South African soon found the pace to move up and sit behind Martin as the pair slowly pulled away from the pack while Gresini Ducati's Alex Marquez slotted in at third.

FASTEST LAPS

Bagnaia then found his groove and set the race's fastest laps, picking his way through to move up to fourth. The Italian was gifted third place when Alex slid off at