By Joe Tatulli
MotoGP Update
It’s all over but…
Some seasons the winner is crowned in Asia. But this year it will take the last couple of races and maybe even the final race of the year in Barcelona, SP to find out who will be crowned MotoGP World Champion for 2024. Typically the last race of the year is in Valencia, SP, but with the recent loss of life and property due to severe flooding in the area, MotoGP authorities have moved the November finale to Barcelona, and are dedicating the entire event (Motul Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona) to the people of Valencia.
Jorge Martin (89-Prima Pramac Racing Ducati) went into Phillip Island and the Australian Grand Prix ahead by only ten points to rival and current World Champ Pecco Bagnaia (1-Ducati Lenovo Factory Team), and things continued to go very well for Martin in some crazy and wild conditions.
The Free Practice on Friday saw sporadic rain and very cool and windy conditions for all riders with temperatures in the mid 50s and track temps in the 60s. Typical conditions across all circuits have temps in the 80s to 90s and track temps well over 100°. The Michelin tires are pretty sticky under most conditions but the cooler track conditions make for some hard decisions when choosing both front and rear tires for practice and qualifying. The result for most riders (if conditions are better for racing on Saturday and Sunday) is to go into racing mode without ever having pushed as hard as will be required to keep pace on race day. Bottom line: all that practice under less than ideal conditions doesn’t really help as much as it could come race day.
So here’s how it went in Australia. Martin was on pole with a record breaking all-time fastest lap of 1:27.246. Bagnaia finished in fifth position, and on the second row of the grid. Martin won the Sprint with Bagnaia coming in fourth after Marquez (93-Gresini Ducati) and Bastianini (23-Ducati Lenovo Factory Team) in second and third respectively. On Sunday for the full 27 lap Grand Prix Marquez was able to upset Martin, who was running in first for 23 laps, by taking the lead on lap 24 and the checked flag a second ahead of martin and a full ten seconds ahead of Bagnaia who finished in third. This was a big weekend for Martin who left Australia for (the next race in) Thailand with a twenty point lead over Bagnaia, double what he lead by before the weekend started.
There was a scary moment during the Sprint Race when Maverick Vinales passed Marco Bezzecchi near the end of the race. Bezzecchi tried to return the favor seconds later on the start/finish straight but he seemed to get sucked into the slip stream and both riders went down at high speed when Bezz rear ended Vinales. You can see the video of the crash by clicking here. Both riders survived the racing incident and both started and finished the Grand Prix on Sunday.
After Australia MotoGP headed to Thailand for the PT Grand Prix of Thailand 2024 at the Chang International Circuit. Qualifying saw Bagnaia take pole, with Martin in slot three on the front row. The Sprint was won by Enea Bastianini (23) riding the factory Ducati GP24 from second on the grid, with Martin taking second and Bagnaia third. On Sunday Bagnaia was able to flip things in his favor taking over first position on lap five and holding off Martin the rest of the way to take the victory. At the end of the Thai weekend Bagnaia had shaved three points off of Martin’s lead that now stood at seventeen.
Next up, and the nineteenth race of the twenty race season, was the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia 2024, at the Sepang International Circuit, one of the longer circuits on the tour.
Bagnaia topped all qualifiers, gaining pole position for the Sprint and Grand Prix, with a world record breaking lap time of 01:56.337, a full two tenths faster than rival Martin who was second on the grid. During Q2 Martin, who had just been the first rider to ever break the 01:56 barrier at Sepang with a fastest ever lap time of 01:56.553, was about to be bested by Bagnaia only moments later with his amazing 01:56.337. No other rider was able to break the 01:56 barrier but the current champ and his 2024 championship leading rival Martin.
Unfortunately everything went up in smoke when Bagnaia made a huge mistake and crashed on lap 2 of the ten lap Sprint on Saturday. Martin went on to win the Sprint adding twelve more points to his seventeen point lead coming in to the Saturday event, and went in to Sunday’s big race with an opportunity to take the World Championship for 2024. If he could beat Bagnaia and increase his lead by nine points or more the 2024 Championship would be his.
But it was not meant to be. Bagnaia was perfect on Sunday in a race that saw a red flag on the first corner of lap one. The crash took out Fabio Quartararo (20-Factory Yamaha), Brad Binder (33-Factory KTM) and Jack Miller (43-Factory KTM), and the stewards called for a restart. Miller was taken in for a medical exam but was released with no major injuries. Both he and Binder sat out the shortened nineteen lap race. After a quick break the restart saw Bagnaia pull off a perfect start into first place where he stayed for the entire race finishing in first, with Martin finishing second about three seconds behind.
As it stands Martin is in first place with 485 points with Bagnaia in second at 461, twenty-four points behind. The champ still has a shot, but it will take an epic effort on his part and a major mistake by Martin to overcome what is a significant deficit and hold on to what would be a third consecutive championship, a feat accomplished by only four other MotoGP riders in the modern era (since 1990) Wayne Rainey (3), Mick Doohan (5), Valentino Rossi (5), and most recently Marc Marquez (4). Stay tuned. Film at 11. See you in December for the final report for 2024.