We are in 2024, but it would seem like we are still in 2023, because the first weekend of the MotoGP season, that of the Qatar Grand Prix, retraced last year's leitmotif, with Jorge Martin making the difference on Saturday in the Sprint and Pecco Bagnaia ready to place the answer in the long race.
After the difficulties he encountered in yesterday's short race, perhaps few would have bet on a breakthrough from the world champion, but once again the Ducati rider has shown that there is a reason why he has been sitting firmly on the world champion throne, placing his flag on a track on which he had not yet established himself in MotoGP.
At the start he got off to a great start from the second row, immediately taking third and then at turn 2 he viciously overtook Brad Binder's KTM and two corners later he did the same thing with “Martinator”, taking a lead that he never gave up until at the checkered flag, when he achieved his 19th victory in the premier class. And he probably started off so loaded to prevent his tire pressures from rising, which had generated some annoying vibrations yesterday.
If it was reasonable to expect a management competition, Pecco instead immediately took to an infernal pace, lapping between the high 1'52″ and the low 1'53″ for practically the entire race. At the beginning Binder and Martin tried to stay on the hook, but then the duel between his two pursuers, who overtook each other several times, allowed him to open a small gap of just under second.
A gap which he then managed with skill, running a race like a true metronome, which allowed him to immediately take the world championship lead from Martin, even if his direct pursuer at the moment is Binder, who in the end prevailed on the standard bearer of Prima Pramac Racing in the fight for second place.
For the South African and for KTM it is therefore a great start to the World Championship, given that two second places were achieved in this first round. Results that confirm the growth of RC16. Despite not being able to repeat the success of the Sprint, Martin also showed himself smiling before getting on the podium, because in any case his gap on Bagnaia is only 3 points and it is certainly a positive start for him too.
At the foot of the podium is Marc Marquez, who therefore confirmed that he can compete with the best even in the long race with his Gresini Racing Ducati. Indeed, in the final, thanks to a couple of laps again under 1'53″, he even tried to attack Martin's third position. But then he ended up being separated by the Madrilenian in the last two laps. fourth place today, however, must be seen as a step forward in the growth of the feeling with the GP23.
Completing the top 5 is Enea Bastianini, who today more or less repeated the performance he showed in the Sprint, failing to keep up with the best. At the end, if nothing else, you took fifth position with a nice overtaking move against Alex Marquez. The Ducati party, with six Desmosecici GPs in the top seven positions, then continues with seventh place for Fabio Di Giannantonio in the first race with the Pertamina Enduro VR46.
Under disappointments for today's race we can definitely include Aleix Espargaro, because the pace shown yesterday when the tires started to drop had led to the illusion that the Aprilia rider could be the big favorite today. The Spaniard, however, always remained on the fringes of the top 10, having to settle for an eighth place, over 11″ behind the winner and just a couple ahead of his teammate Maverick Vinales, who ended up tenth.
Between the two Aprilias there is Pedro Acosta, but ninth place doesn't say much about the great performance of the GasGas Tech3 rookie. In fact, up to 8 laps from the end, he had even entered the battle for the podium and was in Martin's tail, after also being the protagonist of overtaking worthy of a veteran. Then he suffered a sudden decline, probably due to a tire drop, but the Moto2 world champion has already made it clear that we will have to deal with him soon enough.
You have to go down to 11th place to find the first of the Japanese bikes, which is Fabio Quartararo's Yamaha. The 17″ gap from Bagnaia says that there is still a lot of work to be done on the M1, as well as what Honda needs to get back on top, because the RC213Vs of Johann Zarco and Joan Mir closed immediately in its wake. Almost like that of Japanese motorbikes was a sort of “MotoGP B”
Marco Bezzecchi's race was also disappointing, as he was the only Ducati rider to have raced at the back, finishing 14th, obviously if we don't count Franco Morbidelli, who cannot yet be evaluated having been forced to miss all the winter tests due to a trauma cranial. Luca Marini's debut with Honda was also uphill, as the Italian rider didn't go beyond 20th place. However, what weighs most is the gap of around 25″ on Zarco and Mir.
It should be noted that the race lasted a lap less than expected, because a double starting procedure was necessary due to Raul Fernandez, who turned off his Aprilia and was then forced to restart from the back of the grid.
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