These are not easy times for Yamaha either. Like Honda, the brand with the three tuning forks has had problems for two years and at least in this first race, its two official drivers start very late, with Fabio Quartararo in 16th position on the starting grid and Alex Rins in 20th.
Luca Marini, who makes his debut with Honda this season taking Marc Márquez's place, achieved in the last Qatar Grand Prix the second of the two podiums achieved so far in MotoGP (56 Grand Prix).
JOAN MIR, IT IS ESSENTIAL TO GAIN RELIABILITY. The Balearic rider has retired in 15 of his last 27 MotoGP races (55.6%). In 2023 he retired nine times, making it his worst season in the top flight in this regard and the worst of any driver since Lukas Pesek in 2013 (11). However, he has finished in the points zone in all four of his previous appearances at the Qatar Grand Prix in the premier class.
Another of the great unknowns lies in seeing the capacity for improvement that Honda may have after recent years in which the results have not been anywhere near the height of its history and even more so this season in which Marc Márquez, its flagship In the last campaigns, he decided to abandon ship. This year the official team, Repsol Honda, is formed by Joan Mir and Luca Marini, which debuts with the golden wing brand.
Today Jorge Martín starts from the pole. This is the 14th in his career in the top category. Aleix Espargaró and Enea Bastianini, for their part, complete the first line.
Brad Binder, for his part, has finished on the podium in two of his last four races. In 2023, the South African driver climbed the box five times, the same as in his first three seasons in the top category.
ALEIX ESPARGARÓ, THE MOST EXPERIENCED DRIVER ON THE GRILL. The Aprilia rider begins the 2024 season being the active rider with the most Grand Prix contested so far (237) and the fourth in history in 500cc/MotoGP after Valentino Rossi (372), Andrea Dovizioso (248) and Alex Barros ( 245).
And also a great start to the season for both Brad Binder and Aleix Espargaró. KTM and Aprilia already demonstrated last year that they have the ability to present themselves as an alternative to Ducati's overwhelming dominance in recent seasons. The South African driver was second yesterday in the Sprint, while the one from Granollers took third place.
Thus, Jorge Martín becomes the first leader of the season by adding the 12 points awarded to the Sprint winner and it will be necessary to see if he manages to maintain that privileged position after the long race. Last year he was already the leader of the drivers' classification after winning a Sprint, but he later lost it on Sunday.
JORGE MARTÍN, KING OF SPRINT. The Prima Pramac Racing driver, last year's runner-up, won the Sprint and confirmed once again that he is the king of 'short races'. In fact, the Madrid driver won nine of the 19 contested last year, more than any other and this season he also managed to score the first of the season.
'Pecco' Bagnaia has finished on the podium in his last seven races, his best streak so far in MotoGP.
FRANCESCO BAGNAIA IS THE RIVAL TO BEAT. However, Francesco Bagnaia is the dominant driver in the last two seasons. The Italian has won the MotoGP title in the last two seasons and aspires to be the first rider to win three consecutive crowns since Marc Márquez (four between 2016 and 2019) and the first Italian since Valentino Rossi (five between 2001 and 2005).
Both Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta completed their first test in the MotoGP Sprint yesterday with flying colors, finishing in 5th and 8th place respectively.
PEDRO ACOSTA, A ROOKIE WHO COMES TO BREAK DOWN THE DOOR. There is also a lot of expectation to see Pedro Acosta's performance. The Murcian rider makes his debut in the top category with GasGas, being the only debutant rider this year in MotoGP. He is the first rider to reach MotoGP after having won the titles in Moto3 and Moto2 since Alex Márquez in 2020.
MARQUEZ, BAPTISM OF FIRE WITH DUCATI. This season starts with many changes and many unknowns. The main one will be to see the evolution of Marc Márquez after signing for Ducati, specifically in the Gresini Racing team. He will compete in his first race with Ducati after 11 seasons at Honda. He competed in 169 Grand Prix, winning six titles, 59 victories, 101 podiums and 64 pole positions with the Japanese brand in MotoGP.
QATAR, TRADITIONAL START OF THE SEASON. This will be the 16th time that the MotoGP Motorcycle World Championship starts in Qatar. On no other track has the championship started more times.
After the victories of David Alonso in Moto3 and Alonso López in Moto2, we are now focusing on everything that can happen in a few moments in the highlight of this first day of the World Motorcycle Championship, the MotoGP race.
Good afternoon !! Welcome to the live broadcast of the MotoGP race of the Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix, the first round of the 2024 season. Ready? We begin…
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