Thoughts by Kate Adams
Sprint superstar Jorge Martin started the weekend wonderfully, winning the Saturday sprint in dominant fashion. Success wasn't shown to the Spaniard on Sunday with Martin crashing out of the lead. Teammate Franky Morbidelli continues to pick up pace on his Pramac Ducati, while Sunday did see Morbidelli tangle with Jack Miller, Saturday saw him pick up his best result of the season with a p4 performance.
@Michelin
Vr46 saw zero points for either rider on Saturday with both riders suffering in what was a battle of survival. Sunday saw both riders collect points, Fabio Di Giannantonio crossed the line in seventh place. It was Marco Bezecchi who stole the show in the yellow garage with a front row performance translating into a podium with a third place, breaking the Italians run of poor performances.
Gresini Ducati saw both riders crash on Saturday, Marc Marquez rejoined picking up some points. It was Sunday that saw the sensational racing with both Alex Marquez and Marc Marquez battling at the front of the pack. Alex picked up a fourth place while brother Marc was embroidered in a thrilling tangle with Pecco Bagnaia before settling for second place.
As has been the case in so many years Pecco Bagnaia performed strongly on Sunday taking the top spot of the podium, a much better result than Saturday where an incident between himself, Marco Bezecchi and Brad Binder saw him crash out of the race. Factory Ducati didn't only see Pecco crash on Saturday as teammate Enea Bastinini crashed out in a bizzare crash that saw him crash out with Alex Marquez and Brad Binder when the three riders all crashed out at the same time with no contact between them. The beast picked up a fifth place on Sunday, giving him a nice points haul to add to his championship charge.
@Rob Grey/Polarity Photo via KTM Press
Factory KTM saw wildcard Dani Pedrosa collect a bronze sprint medal after the high attrition rate of the Saturday Sprint. He also benefited from a tire pressure penalty that fell the way of Yamahas Fabio Quartararo. Jack Miller didn't score points this weekend after his tangle with Morbidelli, the Australian could be seen giving the Italian a piece of his mind in the gravel trap after their clash.
A troubled weekend continues a sad start to the season for Tech3 GasGas rider Augusto Fernandez. While he did pick up 3 points in the Sprint he crashed out on Sunday leading him to be out performed yet again by his rookie teammate Pedro Acosta. After qualifying 10th the rookie rider showcased his natural talent on Saturday managing to ride around the chaos caused by the damp patches on track to pick up second place. Sunday wasn't as successful for the Spaniard after a heavy tumble in warm up saw him winded. He was still able to maintain that position and pick up important points.
Aprilia are continuing to lack in consistent form with the factory riders being outshone by their satalite counterparts this weekend. Aleix Espargaró crashed in both races and Maverick Vinales picking up a 9th in the race after a DNF on Saturday.
@Aprilia
Miguel Oliveira took the top Aprilia spot on Saturday and Sunday, a strong result for the rider. He crossed the line in p8 on both days. Raul Fernandez also had a strong weekend with p11 in the race and p12 in the Sprint.
Yamaha had a stronger weekend, benifiting from the misfortune of other riders on Saturday. Fabio Quartararo was able to celebrate crossing the line in third place before tire pressures demoted him to p5. Teammate Alex Rins crashed out on Saturday before rejoining and also picked up a penalty. Sunday saw both riders in the points
Honda continue to struggle with Luca Marini now being the only full time rider on the 2024 grid without points. Hopefully the testing taking place in Jerez will help them make a step forward.
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