World lead, I’m coming for you! There you have it, Jorge Martín won the Sprint race at the Qatar GP and “cut” the lead in the world championship considerably. Fabio Di Giannantonio had no arguments to take the lead and “help” Pecco Bagnaia who ended up in a “disastrous” fifth place.

Everything was in place for the start of the Sprint at Lusail, with a different first grid than usual: Luca Marini took pole position, Fabio Di Giannantonio was second fastest and Álex Márquez third, with the championship leaders – Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín – fourth and fifth respectively, with Johann Zarco closing the second row.

The start went well for Marini, but Martín soon began to gain positions, as did Bagnaia, with both riders side by side. Martín ended up making a mistake and losing positions, before the first (joint) crash of the race involved three riders: Enea Bastianini, Aleix Espargaró and the unlucky Miguel Oliveira.

Start of the race:

Crash:

Martín didn’t want to waste any time and forced his way past Bagnaia, with A. Márquez also passing briefly for the lead, with Marini responding and retaking the lead. Seconds later it was DiGia’s turn to beat Bagnaia.

After three laps Marini was leading by 0.101s over A. Márquez, with Martín in third at 0.296s off the leader. Bagnaia was fifth at 0.895s.

Of the riders who crashed, only Bastianini remained on the track.

Martín moved up to second place and was provisionally gaining four points on the reigning world champion, who remained in fifth.

Di Giannantonio was in good form and reached the top step of the podium after beating his team-mate, who, it should be remembered, still doesn’t have a confirmed place on the grid for 2024.

Halfway through the race, this was the top ten, just moments before Martín took the race lead!

DiGia was in attack mode, with the #49 rising to second shortly afterwards. Even so, the Gresini rider was 0.494s (!) behind Martín. Bagnaia remained fifth, more than 2s behind the leader.

DiGia was one of the fastest and was starting to gain time on Martín, with the latter now leading by 0.219s. The lead increased again, but it remained in the region of 3 tenths of a second and any mistake, no matter how small, could be crucial.

Going into the final lap Martín and DiGia were 0.171s apart.

The race ended shortly afterwards with Martín confirming the victory!

O conteúdo Jorge Martín wins Sprint and “cuts” Bagnaia’s lead in half; Italian was fifth and sees title decision postponed to Valencia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Álex Márquez secured third place on the grid for the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix. After going through Q1 at Losail, the Gresini rider was in contention for pole position, securing a spot on the front row.

The Spaniard admitted to the official broadcast that, after encountering some difficulties, this result exceeded expectations. He also acknowledged how the pole position slipped away from him:

– Well, this weekend wasn’t really easy until now: two crashes and I would say the feeling on the bike isn’t amazing. But we did some steps this morning. Unfortunately we crashed also in FP2, but in general I’m feeling quite good. We’ve lost the pole on the T1, I did a small mistake into the turn 2. But to be here in the front race was something that I was not expecting, so I’m really happy. The pace, we will see. Everybody is trying a lot with the front tyre and we will see how it is in the end.

O conteúdo ‘I’ve lost the pole position with a mistake into the turn 2’ – Álex Márquez aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Johann Zarco and Álex Márquez secured the last two spots in the second qualifying of the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix. The riders were the fastest in Q1 on Saturday in Losail, with the top four separated by just over a tenth of a second.

After the initial flying laps, Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac/Ducati) led, with Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) in second. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) was third and, at that point, narrowly missed out on making it to Q2.

A crash by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) led to yellow flags, preventing the riders from improving their times on their second flying laps before returning to the pits.

In the last five minutes, there was a turnaround in the timesheet, with Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) moving into the qualifying positions… before Zarco returned to the top with a new record lap (1m52.382s). The Frenchman was 55 thousandths of a second faster than Márquez.

Until the end, the top two positions remained unchanged. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) was just 67 thousandths away from making it to Q2 but ended up in third place.

Results:

O conteúdo Johann Zarco (with a record lap) and Álex Márquez advance to Q2 in Losail aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

It wasn’t yet confirmed officially but it pretty much close to a certainty at this point: Luca Marini will join Repsol Honda Team next season and pair up with Joan Mir, leaving Valentino Rossi’s team and arguably the best bike on the grid to get one that is having many issues.

Alex Marquez, who took the step in the other way around, leaving LCR Honda to join Gresini, with his results getting a lot better overall after doing so, spoke about the so called Marini’s move while still in Sepang, recalling also Johann Zarco:

– Zarco is obliged, but Marini changes team because he wants to. It’s something that I find surprising, especially because you are in a team that ‘is yours’. It’s a bit of an unnatural step. It’s a team that started with you in MotoGP, where the owner is your brother, and he goes to a project that is struggling right now… It can be interpreted as a separation from your brother’s influence.

O conteúdo Alex Marquez stunned with Marini’s decision to join Honda: ‘I find it surprising, it’s an unnatural step’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After having a very very positive weekend that marked the second win of the season for Alex Marquez, the rider is now looking forward to be more consistent and sees this as an objective more than anything else.

‘We are very confident, it’s been a dream weekend, Thailand, the Sprint, this sunday’s second place’, the youngest of the Marquez brothers said before speaking of what is his main wish for the moment:

– But our goal is to settle in the top 5, because if we want to improve and race more we can have problems. The most important thing right now is to look for that consistency.

Up until now, the Gresini rider has two wins and two podiums as best results.

O conteúdo Alex Marquez looking for ‘consistency’ after ‘dream weekend’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After the Malaysian GP where he was in top form, Alex Marquez went one step further and called it his best so far before admitting that he expects ‘something similar’ at the next GP in a week’s time.

After the round on Malaysian soil, the Gresini rider was very happy with his performance: ‘It was my best weekend in MotoGP. I think it can be compared to Aragon 2020. This sunday I wanted to «dance» with the bike, but I could only do it for the first few laps, then it said no, that it was better to stay still’.

The spaniard then turned his attention to the next round at Losail, where he admitted that he wants (and expects) a similar performance, as well as some doubts… due to the asphalt:

– In Qatar, I think we can expect something similar. But I don’t know, because it’s a new tarmac, a dirty track and a time when we don’t normally go there. You have to understand a lot of things, but something strange always happens.

O conteúdo ‘Sepang was my best weekend; In Qatar we can expect something similar, but with new tarmac…’ – Alex Marquez aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Álex Márquez was one of the leading figures at the Malaysian GP, where he took victory and second place. One of the best at Sepang, he praised the winner of the long race, and how this race wasn’t the most interesting for fans of the sport.

Analysing his round, the rider began by saying: ‘It was a very positive weekend. We’ve been working hard to get these front positions, as we’ve seen these weekends. The results have been there, both with Fabio [Quartararo] last week and this weekend, we’re there’.

However, the spaniard didn’t have the pace to beat Enea Bastianini, whom he praised, also admitting that he still «lacks», as well as a curiosity about the fight for the podium in the Sprint: ‘I tried with Enea, because at the front it goes better, at the back the tyre heats up and being at 0’5 is fighting against a wall, because suddenly you go to 0’7, 0’8 and back to 0’5. We can’t complain about a second, we’re still a bit short of fighting for the win. But this weekend has given us wings to keep fighting. I knew Enea was going to be dangerous today, he’s a rider who goes for the feeling a lot. If he does a good lap, the race will go well for him. I also met him at the clinic and asked him straight away if he was going to fight, he laughed and that told me everything. On saturday, in the Sprint, he admitted that he didn’t attack Pecco Bagnaia in case there was a problem’.

Regarding the race itself on sunday, he admitted that it wasn’t necessarily the most exciting: ‘From the outside, it looked like a slow and boring race, a train race. But when it’s so hot, you have to manage everything very well, because a mistake becomes a mistake and you ruin everything. For me, there were two laps too many. But that made up for the Sprint, which is much more fun’.

O conteúdo Álex Márquez praised Bastianini and admits that the italian didn’t «attack» Bagnaia in the Sprint ‘in case there was a problem’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Álex Márquez was one Enea Bastianini away from taking two MotoGP victories in Malaysia, and only the Italian was able to prevent that. That’s why the Gresini rider congratulated his opponent, accepted his victory and showed his desire to keep up his high performance until the end of the year.

Here’s #73’s reaction to the MotoGP microphones in park ferme:

– I tried, I tried everything I had in my pocket and physically I’m at the limit now, I can’t talk much but I’m very grateful to the team for the whole weekend we did. They gave me the perfect bike, they deserved the win today but Enea [Bastianini] was better than us and we have to accept that and improve for the future but the level we’re at now is very good and we have to maintain it until Valencia.

O conteúdo ‘Bastianini was better than us, we have to accept that and improve in the future’ – Álex Márquez aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Enea Bastianini is back! The dark days are over and the “Beast” is back winning in MotoGP, and with a great performance at the Malaysian GP, with the Italian on the factory Ducati taking the lead on the first lap and beating a highly motivated Álex Márquez and the duo of title contenders, Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín.

One more race, 11 points separating Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín and one more “take” in the fight for the championship. All set for the start in Sepang!

Martín got off to a good start and in the first corner looked to be the leader, but it was Enea Bastianini who took the lead, with Álex Márquez coming in second, Bagnaia and Martín in third and fourth respectively. Marco Bezzecchi was fifth, with Jack Miller in sixth being the fastest of the Ducati riders, with Fabio Quartararo in seventh.

At the end of the second lap there was the first real glimpse of the most anticipated duel, with Martín briefly reaching the podium places by beating Bagnaia, who responded immediately and returned to his fight.

And it was here that the fight for the title came to a head, with Martín repeating his attack shortly afterwards, with the result being the same: Bagnaia was leading on two occasions.

Meanwhile, on the following lap, Joan Mir “led” Honda to a record 50 crashes in one year, with the #36 having its 23rd in 2023. Despite the crash, Mir looked physically fine.

The race was approaching its first third and Bastianini was leading by 0.7s over A. Márquez. Bagnaia was 2.090s behind and Martín, who had lost a lot of time to the Italian, was 3.002s off the front.

Miguel Oliveira was the next to fall, with five laps completed, and Raúl Fernández soon followed. Total disaster for the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team.

With 12 laps to go, this was the top ten:

And don’t think Aprilia’s nightmare could end there! Aleix Espargaró had his third crash of the weekend and went down, but he got back on his bike and into the race and quickly put wildcard Álvaro Bautista – 19th – under the microscope… for a short time. The spaniard even finished the race soon afterwards and there were three Aprilia riders out of four who retred in total.

With the race officially halfway over, Bastianini led by 1s over A. Márquez, with the top five unchanged. Among the non-Ducati bikes, Jack Miller was still ahead of Quartararo, who was threatening to move up to sixth at any moment.

About a minute later, KTM suffered a setback: Quartararo beat Miller and Brad Binder crashed at turn 12.

The race was in a tricky phase, with some riders making crucial mistakes: now it was Takaaki Nakagami who crashed.

With six laps to go, 1.336s was the gap between Bastianini and Márquez. With the top four separated by 6.025s, eyes focussed on one of the “new” battles on track, with Bezzecchi having 0.4s on Quartararo, who quickly brought the gap down to 0.1s.

Quartararo had climbed into the top five: the French Yamaha rider was also joined by Franco Morbidelli, ninth, in the top ten.

Four laps to go and the feeling was that little could change: Bastianini was 1.412s ahead of A. Márquez, while Bagnaia was 1.807s ahead of Martín.

Confirmation was soon forthcoming and Bastianini was back to great results in MotoGP: it was the Italian’s first win as a factory rider.

As for the championship battle, there are now 14 points between Bagnaia and Martín.

O conteúdo Blood, sweat and tears at Sepang! The nightmare is over and Enea Bastianini is back to wins at MotoGP aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Alex Marquez won the Sprint race today and he believes that the key to his performance was the fluid way he drove the Desmosedici around the track at Sepang, even considering the race to be practically mistake free.

Speaking to the press, the Gresini rider recalled how the race went so smoothly: ‘The race was the perfect situation for me from start to finish. I had a small mistake trying to overtake Pecco at turn 13′, he began, before talking about the battle with Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin:

– It’s difficult, we were always on the limit and you never have a margin when you overtake someone, so I tried to overtake them in corners where I know that if I make a mistake I can let off the brakes and go a bit wide, like in 15 where I tried to overtake Pecco. In that corner I might have been able to go in, brake the bike and go around the inside, but it was too risky for the way it was coming back, so I preferred to go a little straighter. It’s not easy, as I said, I’ve been on the other side fighting for the Moto3 and Moto2 world championships and it’s not good for an outsider to come along and put the brakes on a bit…

As to whether it was precisely in braking that he managed to have an advantage over the others, the youngest of the Marquez clan concluded: ‘Hmm… maybe it could be, but more in flowing to always have speed. Letting it flow and always having speed was key this weekend and it’s something good that we also had in Thailand. Having that speed and everything was the most positive thing today’.

O conteúdo Alex Marquez calls today’s Sprint race ‘perfect from start to finish’ and reveals ‘secret’: ‘The way the bike flowed was the most positive’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.