The Pramac Ducati rider comes into the Buriram event 27 points adrift of factory Ducati counterpart Francesco Bagnaia after losing the victory in Australia last week on the final lap.
With under half a second covering the top 18, Martin emerged as fastest of all with a final flying effort of 1m29.826s.
However, he crashed seconds later at the Turn 3 right-handed hairpin, but he walked away unscathed.
The Aprilia duo of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro completed the top three, with Australian GP winner Johann Zarco fourth from VR46 pairing Luca Marini and last year’s poleman Marco Bezzecchi.
Bagnaia arrested his recent run of Friday Q2 exits and ended Friday seventh, ensuring a direct passage into the pole shootout session in qualifying on Saturday.
The championship leader’s sessions got off to a rocky start on Friday afternoon as some brake issues forced him to abandon his number one bike early on.
Source: Autosport