By Kate Adams
After what seems like the longest winter break in history, bikes were finally racing this weekend in Qatar. Although we have a grueling 21-race calendar this year (after the cancellation of the Argentinian GP), totaling 42 races, I have to admit, I'm looking forward to each and every one of them.
Coming into the weekend, it was announced that they would change the controversial tire pressure rules. The minimum pressure has been changed to 1.80 bar from 1.88 bar, which the riders seem to have positive view of the change. They also brought in a last-minute change regarding how they would penalize pressure violations. Prior to the season starting, they said they'd be disqualifying riders, this has now changed to an eight-second time penalty in sprint races and sixteen seconds in Grand Prix races. While removing the disqualification for the infringement is a positive step, the harsh time penalties could still cause chaos for the World Championship standings.
This year, Qatar took back its spot for the opening race after resurfacing works led to it being pushed to later in the season last year. The effect of this is that we only raced in Qatar less than 3 months ago.
The 2023 Qatar race saw Fabio DiGiannantonio collect his maiden win at a time when he didn't even have a seat on the grid for the 2024 season. Fortunately, Digia is on the grid sporting bright new colors this year. DiGia's form from last season didn't translate in the sprint, with the Italian rider having a scary crash that saw him land in the middle of the track. Fortunately, the rest of the grid was able to avoid him. Sunday saw Digi show his form with a comfortable P7. VR46 didn't have any luck on the other side of the garage, with VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi having a forgetful weekend. Bezzecchi qualified down in P15 and translated that into a P11 in the sprint and collected only a couple of points with a P14 in the Grand Prix.
Among those having a weekend to forget was the Yamaha boys. Neither collected points in the sprint, and notably neither rider got out of Q1. A similar fate fell upon the other Japanese manufacturer Honda, with no riders in Q2 and no points in the sprint. With the Sunday Grand Prix race giving points down to 15th place, Quartararo, Zarco, and Mir picked up single-digit points. The next few races will be critical for judging how much Honda and Yamaha can utilize the new concession system.
Aprilia was unable to avoid yet more technical issues, with Maverick Vinales being the victim. His bike showed smoking, forcing the rider off track. The Spaniard was still able to pick up a point in the sprint and a P6 in the Grand Prix. It was teammate Aleix Espargaro who was the top in the box. Aleix's weekend started strong after he put himself in the middle of the front row on the starting grid. He managed to turn this into a podium in the Sprint; unfortunately, his Sunday wasn't as strong with only a P8 finish.
Satellite Aprilia saw mixed fortunes. Miguel Oliveira just missed out on getting into Q2, and this bad luck seemed to follow him. While Miguel was able to come out of this weekend injury-free, he was only able to collect a single point with a P15 in the Sprint. Teammate Raul Fernandez was also pointless in the Sprint. It was Sunday that saw the Trackhouse Racing rider waving his arms on the starting grid, bringing out red flags before the lights had even gone out. Fernandez then started from the back of the grid but found his weekend getting worse when he retired from the race with just 4 laps remaining.
Martin came out swinging with Saturday success, seeing him secure Pole position and a Sprint win. Sunday saw Martin pick up another podium with a P3 performance, continuing his theme of being stronger in the Sprints than the longer races. Unfortunately, on the other side of the Pramac garage, Franco Morbidelli showed signs that he is suffering from the fact he had no testing or training due to a preseason injury. He finished the Sprint among the Japanese bikes with a P20 and a P18 in the Grand Prix.
While Jorge Martin dominated the Saturday Sprint it was perfect Pecco in the Sunday Grand Prix. The world champion may have only picked up a p4 in the Sprint, on Sunday he powered away from the second row to pick up the top podium spot comfortably, showing the Lorenzo-esque form he often shows glimpses of. Fellow factory Ducati rider Enea Bastinini started this season with a p6 in the Sprint and a p5 on the Grand Prix, the beast may well take this as a strong start after his 2023 season.
Bastinini isn't the only one who's stated this season in a stronger fashion than their 2023 season showed, in his Ducati debut Marc Marquez finished the sprint just a place behind the current world champion Pecco Bagnaia. He looked even stronger on Sunday finishing only 3.4 seconds behind first place, crossing the line in fourth. The eight times world champion was seen sporting another smile and I think we will not be far away from seeing him take that top spot. Brother and teammate Alex Marquez was two places behind in both races with a P7 in the Sprint and p6 in the Grand Prix, could a dual Marquez podium be on the cards for a race this year?
Factory KTM saw rocket ship starts from both Brad Binder and Jack Miller, while Miller was unable to capitalize on this in the sprint finishing just outside the points in P10 and his weekend got worse on the Sunday with Miller loosing the front and crashing out before remounting and bringing it home on P21. Brad Binder was able to pick up a pair of p2s, putting him perfectly placed for a fight for the championship.
Pedro Acosta did absolutely nothing to dampen the hype surrounding the rookie rider. Qualifying P and picking up points in his first ever Sprint was just the start of the successful weekend for the Spaniard who finished within the top 10 in his debut MotoGP Grand Prix with a p9. Unfortunately these results only heightened the disappointing results of teammate Augusto Fernandez who seems still unable to find single lap pace he ended up on the starting grid in P18 and gained no places in the Sprint and single place on Sunday with a p17.
Results:
Sprint | Grand Prix | |
1 | J. Martin | F. Bagnaia |
2 | B. Binder | B. Binder |
3 | A. Espargaro | J. Martin |
4 | F. Bagnaia | M. Marquez |
5 | M. Marquez | E. Bastianini |
6 | E. Bastianini | A. Marquez |
7 | A. Marquez | F. Di Giannantonio |
8 | P. Acosta | A. Espargaro |
9 | M. Vinales | P. Acosta |
10 | J. Miller | M. Vinales |
11 | M. Bezzecchi | F. Quartararo |
12 | F. Quartararo | J. Zarco |
13 | M. Oliveira | J. Mir |
14 | R. Fernandez | M. Bezzecchi |
15 | J. Mir | M. Oliveira |
16 | J. Zarco | A. Rins |
17 | A. Rins | A. Fernandez |
18 | A. Fernandez | F. Morbidelli |
19 | T. Nakagami | T. Nakagami |
20 | F. Morbidelli | L. Marini |
21 | L. Marini | J. Miller |
22 | DNF - F. Di Giannantonio | DNF - R. Fernandez |
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