Marc Marquez is adamant he would have come away with a second MotoGP win in eight days but for the costly crash that ended his hopes in a wet Thailand Grand Prix.

The Gresini Ducati rider endured a low-speed fall coming around turn nine on lap 12 while fighting for the lead in tricky wet conditions against Francesco Bagnaia.

Though he would go on to remount and claw back ground to score points for 11th place, Marquez was frustrated by another race day error had cost him a shot at back-to-back victories, claiming he had the measure of Bagnaia in terms of pace.

“We were the fastest today but now after the race, maybe we weren’t patient enough in that moment of the race,” he declared after the race.

“It’s true that it was super-tricky because I wasn’t able to overtake in a clear way against Bagnaia. I was always planning a very clear overtake, because I had the speed and I said ‘We will have more chances’.

“Always, I was trying to push, attack; then, when it was not possible, to cool down the front tyre, [then] attack again. 

“I was doing always a bit the ‘elastic’ during the race, and on that second attack I saw that I was much faster.

“I tried to not give up and I tried to follow him, and just one-and-a-half degrees more in that corner [turn eight] and I lost the front and I couldn’t save — it was very close.

“We are humans, we make mistakes, and today it was my turn.”

Despite the lower returns on his weekend, Marquez continues to hold down third place in the overall standings ahead of Enea Bastianini with two rounds of the season remaining.

NBA legend Michael Jordan is a longtime NASCAR fan, but he only became an owner in 2021. Since then, the team known as 23XI Racing has won Cup races with Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, and Tyler Reddick.

But they’ve never been part of the Championship 4 — until now. Jordan was in attendance on Sunday, watching on nervously as Reddick charged from third to first over the course of the final lap, stunning his rivals and securing the victory.

As MJ headed over to the finish line to celebrate with his driver, he praised the crew chief for the aggressive call that put Reddick in position to win the race. Reddick had run longer than any other driver on fuel, pitting with 15 laps to go. Within three laps, the caution flew when the leaders tangled and Reddick stayed out on slightly older tires. Somehow, he made it work.

Race winner Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry

Photo by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Images

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“Billy [Scott] made a call,” said Jordan. “Looked a little scared because we were going to run out of gas. Anything could happen. As you could see, Denny [Hamlin] was up there. Little kid [Reddick] drove his ass off. I’m proud of him.”

And his thoughts on that last-lap charge? “Oh, man, he just let go. He just went for it and I’m glad. We needed it. We needed it.”

MJ finally caught up to Reddick mid-interview, lifting him up off the ground as they embraced. “Yeah baby! Good job, kid,” he exclaimed.

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry, Michael Jordan

Photo by: NASCAR Media

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Reddick has never won a Cup title before and now he’ll get the chance to race for one with the full backing of one of the biggest stars in sports. “It’s special, man,” said Reddick. “He’s dedicated a lot of his time, his efforts, his money into elevating 23XI to where it is right now. He’s fully committed to this team, to our organization.

“To be able to reward him with the days like we had today, it’s a true honor. It was really cool to see how happy he was. We’re all very happy about it.

“He believed in me. He believes in this team. The people, him, Denny, everybody else, has put together to create what 23XI is. He’s put a lot towards it. It’s really cool in these critical moments to be able to deliver for him and for everybody else that’s a part of the team.

Reddick has now delivered the basketball icon five of his eight NASCAR Cup wins as an owner since joining the team at the beginning of last year, but now, he’ll have the opportunity to get MJ the biggest prize of them all — the Bill France Cup.

Williams driver Franco Colapinto has dismissed rumours he is in the frame for a seat at Red Bull’s RB Formula 1 team, suggesting he will be on the sidelines in 2025.

Colapinto wowed the F1 paddock with his strong performances and calm attitude as a mid-season replacement for Logan Sargeant at Williams. In his five races thus far, the Argentinian scored five points and never finished lower than 12th, with another combative display at Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix going unrewarded.

There is no room for Colapinto as a regular driver at Williams next year, with the team having already signed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who won Sunday’s grand prix, to slot in alongside Alex Albon.

But the 21-year-old’s form has turned enough heads for him to be considered at Sauber and at Red Bull, which may have a slot at its RB team for Colapinto to slot into.

But while there have been casual talks between Williams and Red Bull, with Williams team boss James Vowles willing to loan his reserve driver out, Colapinto has dismissed suggestions he could be on the F1 grid next year.

“No, at the moment, I don’t understand much of what they are talking about. I don’t know from where it came from,” Colapinto told F1 TV.

“I don’t have any seat for next year, and at the moment, I’m not racing Formula 1. I’m probably going to be racing somewhere else.

“So look, it’s going to be maybe a year that I’m not going to be here, but I hope to be showing that I deserve a seat here enough to come back in ’26 or ’27. It is my goal, and it’s why I’m doing what I can race after race.

Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“That’s why [after qualifying] I was disappointed with the result and just trying to do my best session after session to try and show I deserve to be here.”

While Red Bull is understood to have some interest in Colapinto, driver advisor Helmut Marko suggested the team is not keen on taking outside drivers on loan when it has its own junior programme, with F2 frontrunner Isack Hadjar also waiting in the wings.

“The problem with him is that he has a long-term contract with Williams,” the Austrian told the Kleine Zeitung. “[Taking him on loan] is not interesting for any team. You do not want to train a driver for another team.”

On the subject of potentially loaning Colapinto to RB, Vowles added: “I think in all of these things at the moment, let’s start with the basics.

“He has earned his place on the grid, and what we want to help with that is finding him a place in that regard.

“What it looks like, I can’t tell you at the moment, because A, it’s very sensitive, and B, there’s really not a lot to discuss right now. “

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur believes that Formula 1’s backmarkers disobeying blue flags ultimately cost Charles Leclerc second in the Mexico Grand Prix.

Leclerc had a gap of over three seconds to Lando Norris going into the final 15 laps of the 71-lap affair at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but had to watch his advantage dissipate when the two started to lap traffic – encountering Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto.

The Monegasque then cleared the now-lapped with about half of that initial advantage, which Norris was able to close down and begin applying pressure. Leclerc then went wide at the Peraltada at the end of lap 62 and saved his Ferrari from succumbing to a snap of oversteer – which let Norris through.

Vasseur disagreed with an assessment that Norris was faster in the closing stages, stating that Leclerc lost time and tyre temperature wrangling with the traffic – particularly Stroll, behind whom Leclerc lost most of his advantage.

“It’s your analysis [Norris was faster] but I’m not really aligned. I think that Charles had good pace, but we lost three seconds with the guys who were blue-flagged,” Vasseur explained.

“And we also lost a lot of temperature in the tyres at this stage and he made a mistake, but I think from the beginning, the race was under control.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“Charles was not happy yesterday with P3 or P4, but still today he did a good race. I’m a bit upset with the story with the blue flag, it cost us P2. But at the end of the day, it is like it is, but we have to be focused now on the next one and forget this one.

“When you do five corners when the guy has a solid blue, it’s not unfortunate. It’s a mistake of the guy.”

Elaborating further when speaking to Sky Sports F1, Vasseur stated that “[Leclerc] lost three or four seconds into the traffic with some idiots. Norris came back, Charles pushed a bit too much. Perhaps he lost also a little bit of temperature in the tyres when he was with these guys.

“Honestly, they have to respect the blue flag and I don’t understand why the FIA didn’t give them a penalty. We had four seconds on Norris. And after the three guys, we were 1.2 or 1.3 ahead.”

Leclerc suggested that he had “no chance” of beating Norris when the McLaren driver began to close, stating that his clash with Max Verstappen had helped Ferrari build something of a buffer.

“Lando was flying, and I think as a team, we’ve been pretty lucky that whatever happened with Max and Lando at the beginning of the race, slowed him down massively.

“His second stint was very, very impressive. On my side, there was no way that I could stay in front. I knew that it would be very difficult.

“I knew that I had to have an incredible exit out of the last corner, so I tried to put everything to have a really good exit, went over the limit, lost the car and lost the position, but I felt it was a question of laps or corners before I lost that position.”

As the curtain twitches in readiness for it being brought down on another season of MotoGP action, even with two rounds remaining it certainly isn’t premature to brand Pedro Acosta’s rookie campaign a roaring success.

It’s a statement that could justly hang on the strength of results alone, his five trips to the grand prix podium, four sprint top-three finishes and Japanese GP pole position at the very least ensuring some TV time for those sponsors that didn’t default to Ducati – thoughts and prayers to the others that sided with Honda and Yamaha.

More than that though, while he may be the only fresh face on the grid this year, in some ways it feels as though he has been around for much longer.

Granted this could be a trick of the mind permeated by that fresh face having received plenty of attention prior to his MotoGP graduation or because it’s easy to mistake his GasGas KTM Tech3 machine for a Ducati from a certain distance, but it’s also primarily a measure of how at home he has appeared in MotoGP since day one. Indeed, some quick turns out of the box in pre-season testing was enough for Acosta to skip the recipe instructions and get stuck into the mix.

The same was on show in Thailand where, in his first fully wet MotoGP race, Acosta learnt on the job to power to the podium only behind title fighters Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

“I was struggling a lot to warm up the brake disks and, I don’t know why but since I am in MotoGP, it is taking me a bit more time compared to, for example, Jack and Brad,” Acosta said after the race. “Also I was not having the best feeling with the rear tyre, out of Turns 5 and 6 I was spinning a lot and it was like riding on ice. It was quite tough to analyse in my head.

Acosta’s late-race charge in Thailand saw him return to the podium

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I started to push to take out everything and it was quite tough at the beginning, also I ran wide at Turn 3 and Turn 1, but it is true that with five or six laps to go it was like I pulled a switch and I started to go fast. It is difficult to understand, but we were in the right direction.”

It’s therefore little wonder Acosta will graduate to full factory orange for 2025 as part of KTM’s line-up alongside Brad Binder, though the jury is perhaps still out on whether the promotion is more symbolic than reward in performance terms.

At the very least, Acosta’s switch will give KTM pride – and possibly a touch of smugness – at seeing the fruits of its investment in the youngster reap rewards, not least because it puts some faith back into the firm’s esteemed junior development after misfiring with Remy Gardner, Raul Fernandez and Augusto Fernandez in recent seasons. But next season will see a turning of the tables that will shift the onus back towards KTM to reward Acosta with his investment in the manufacturer for taking him onto the next step, or more accurately the top step of the podium.

While KTM has provided the platform to get Acosta to MotoGP, it is now up to the manufacturer to springboard him towards race victories he is evidently capable of achieving

Acosta has also conceded he has to “bite my tongue” and bank finishes in order to gain race data and experience with an eye on the future – having crashed out of the Thailand sprint race to go alongside his two grands prix crashes at each Misano round, the Japanese GP main race and the Australian GP sprint which ruled him out of the next day’s full-distance event.

“I have to focus on finishing races even if I have to bite my tongue and finish fifth,” Acosta said after crashing out of the Thailand sprint on Saturday. “Many times we are at a point where we push and we don’t crash because that’s the way it goes, and many other days we push to be with them [Ducati] and we crash. Now the goal is to finish races, which will be important to start well next year.”

It’s by no means a foregone conclusion either. While KTM has readily earmarked itself as a familiar frontrunner ever since its breakthrough season in 2020, it hasn’t been matched with so much race-winning silverware.

KTM’s last grand prix win came two years ago in Thailand

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Miguel Oliveira brought about its most recent win at the 2022 Thailand GP, this weekend marking an unhappy two-year anniversary, and while he achieved four of KTM’s six victories to date, his form elsewhere was patchy. Binder on the other hand – winner of the other two – has established himself as a steadfast racer rather than an out-and-out contender for victories each weekend.

Of greater concern however is that while KTM has avoided the slump in competitiveness experienced by Honda and Yamaha, it has made only modest progress over the past four seasons amid a deluge of well proven Ducati bikes.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed, of course, with the big axe being wielded at a senior level to remove Francesco Guidotti a year before his contract expires. In his place comes Aki Ajo, a shrewd choice with impressive credentials cultivated by his eponymous team’s success in Moto2 and Moto3. More importantly, however, he is someone who shared KTM’s vision for Acosta long before he reached the heady heights of MotoGP.

Even so, while KTM has provided the platform to get Acosta to MotoGP, it is now up to the manufacturer to springboard him towards race victories he is evidently capable of achieving.

This brings us to another more engaging trait of Acosta’s: His ambition. Indeed, for all of his confident swagger on track, Acosta exerts similarly bolshie determination off it.

For a manufacturer not adverse to the odd contractual bungle, credit then to Acosta for being the one to issue the ultimatum of a guaranteed KTM seat in 2024 or he’d head elsewhere. While KTM sensibly bowed to his demand, it’s indicative of the issues it may face in the future in retaining him if it can’t find those precious few tenths that will make the difference between victory and making up the numbers in MotoGP.

For the most part though, KTM isn’t prepared to rest on its laurels for 2025. In addition to Ajo’s appointment, there is talk Dani Pedrosa will assume a more senior management role in addition to continuing to provide his invaluable development intel.

Can Acosta reuniting with team boss Ajo provide KTM a spark to reignite its MotoGP form?

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Plus, while Tech3’s new line-up of Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini is at odds with KTM’s desire to promote young talent, their experience and success with other manufacturers ensures the Austrian firm has arguably the most intriguing rider line-up among its four riders.

No rider is bigger than the team it races for but in this case, KTM is very aware of the potential it has racing with Acosta.

As for whether KTM has the ability to realise Acosta’s full potential? That remains the lingering question mark…

Can KTM provide Acosta and co with the bike to fight Ducati in 2025?

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Toyota will fight for the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ crown at Rally Japan season decider without Kalle Rovanpera.

Rally Japan has released its entry list for next month’s (21-24 November) title decider confirming that Toyota will field three GR Yaris Rally1 entries.

Toyota’s bid to overhaul Hyundai and claim a fourth consecutive WRC manufacturers’ crown will be led by full-time drivers Elfyn Evans and home hero Takamoto Katsuta, while the third car will be piloted by eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier.

Two-time world champion Rovanpera will be absent from the Japanese team’s roster at its home event as the Finn has completed the half-season of events he was contracted to contest this year.

After claiming back-to-back world titles last year, the Finn opted to scale back to a partial campaign this year ahead of a full-time return in 2025. Rovanpera has contested seven of the 13 events this season, taking four wins in Kenya, Poland, Latvia and Chile to boost Toyota’s championship hopes.

Toyota will head to Japan facing a 15-point deficit to rivals Hyundai as the Korean marque aims to seal its first manufacturers’ crowns since 2020.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Hyundai will also field its customary three i20 N Rally1 entries driven by Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, who will contest the drivers’ title, with the former holding a 25-point lead.

The third car will be driven by Andreas Mikkelsen in what will be his fifth event of the season.

M-Sport-Ford will field a pair of Puma Rally1 cars for Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster.

A total of 44 cars will tackle the event which will also decide the WRC2 title. Toyota’s Sami Pajari needed to finish first or second to beat current points leader Oliver Solberg to the crown.

World champion Auriol to make WRC return

Japan will also mark the return of 1994 world champion Didier Auriol, who will compete in a WRC event for the first time since the 2005 Monte Carlo Rally.

Auriol will drive a modified road-going Toyota GR Yaris prepared by Japanese team Fit-Easy Racing and will compete in the national class, driving alongside long-time co-driver Denis Giraudet.

The Frenchman’s WRC return arrives 30 years after he guided a Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 to the 1994 WRC title with co-driver Bernard Occelli.