Today’s Sprint race in Qatar had a first lap marked by a crash that ended with three riders on the ground, two of them with fractures. Enea Bastianini was the only one to emerge unscathed and continue into the race, and he spoke about what led to everyone’s fall.

After the race, the Ducati rider spoke about what could have caused the accident… with the Portuguese rider in his sights: ‘What happened… Miguel braked hard and the riders in front of us didn’t. Miguel was going a bit on the outside and I didn’t see him. Miguel was going a bit on the outside and bring Aleix [down] and me also bring Aleix. It was impossible not to jump’.

Soon after the incident, Bastianini took a while to recover but eventually returned to the race: ‘My bike was ready to return to the race straight away, not me. It was an unfortunate day for me, but something positive for me was that I rode my bike without a wing and I did a pace within the second 53 and the 54 and that was good’.

Note the injuries to Miguel Oliveira and Aleix Espargaro, with the Portuguese rider likely to end his participation in this year’s World Championship, while A. Espargaro was also in doubt for tomorrow’s long race.

O conteúdo Enea Bastianini and the joint crash with Miguel Oliveira and Aleix Espargaro: ‘Miguel braked hard and those in front didn’t’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Early in the first lap of the MotoGP Qatar GP Sprint race, two riders were forced to retire in an incident involving a total of four bikes. The situation is under review by the race stewards.

Available footage shows Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) being hit from behind and sent flying, with Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) being the one making contact.

Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) were also in that area and caught up in the incident. Bastianini fell but managed to continue the race. Currently, the incident is being examined by the stewards, and it’s possible that penalties may result for one or more of those involved.

O conteúdo First-lap incident in the Qatar GP Sprint race under review by race stewards aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

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.

Two riders didn’t finish the first lap of the MotoGP Qatar GP: Aleix Espargaró and Miguel Oliveira, due to an incident in which Enea Bastianini was also involved.

It all happened at the turn six of the Losail circuit. Apparently, Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) touched Espargaró’s Aprilia, causing the Spaniard to lose control of his bike and crash. Both riders had to retire.

Running closely, Bastianini (Ducati) couldn’t avoid being caught in the incident and also crashed. However, he managed to continue the race.

You can watch or rewatch the final part of the incident in the following video.

O conteúdo Video: Crash takes Aleix Espargaró and Miguel Oliveira out in the first lap of the Qatar GP aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After several challenging months due to injuries, Enea Bastianini seems to be back to his best performances, having won the MotoGP Malaysian GP. Meanwhile, the other Ducati rider, Francesco Bagnaia, is contending for the title, and with Bastianini performing at the top, he might provide assistance in gaining points over his rival Jorge Martín (Pramac Racing/Ducati).

When asked in a press conference whether his teammate could be of help in this final phase of the season, the defending champion replied:

– It’s difficult to know. I was quite clear with the team and I will always say that if he has a possibility to win, he is in a situation that he needs to push. So let’s see. But for sure it will be OK to work together during the sessions maybe. I always prefer to be alone, but maybe it’s the time to do something together.

O conteúdo Francesco Bagnaia admits to working together with Enea Bastianini: ‘Maybe it’s time…’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After securing his first win in 2023 in Malaysia, Enea Bastianini now faces the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix at Losail. It’s a special circuit where he claimed his first victory in the premier class, in 2022.

The Ducati rider admitted to feeling relieved with the Sepang result last weekend and now sets his sights on Qatar with the goal of trying to finish once again at the top of the podium:

– Last week at Sepang I finally got a weight off my chest and now I feel freer! I’m back to having fun on the bike and consequently being fast. This weekend we will race in Qatar, another track where I have been competitive in the past and where I won my first MotoGP race last year! I don’t know if I can repeat myself again, but I definitely want to try!

O conteúdo Enea Bastianini aims to repeat Losail’s victory aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Enea Bastianini’s first season with Ducati was challenging, marked by several injuries that hindered his desired adaptation and progress. Nonetheless, the rider confirmed his potential by winning at the MotoGP Malaysian GP last Sunday, amid rumors of a possible swap with Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati). The Spaniard is fighting for the championship against Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).

Quoted by Motorsport.com, the defending champion argued that Bastianini deserves another chance given the challenges he faced throughout the season:

– I feel that Enea deserves another opportunity for what he went through all season. He never had the chance to fully understand this bike, and when he was starting to get it, he crashed again in Barcelona. So, for me, everyone needs another chance. Considering the results that Jorge is having in Pramac, which is a factory team with different colors, I don’t see the reason for this change.

Furthermore, Bagnaia believes that Bastianini’s continuity is the best for Ducati: ‘I think that the best for Enea and also for the team is for him to continue with the same team. Right away, Jorge is doing an extraordinary job, but I think that Enea deserves another opportunity’.

O conteúdo ‘Enea Bastianini deserves another opportunity; him continuing is the best for the team’ – Francesco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After a very complicated start of the season, with an injury that left him off for several rounds, Enea Bastianini has finally showed a bit of what made him earn his jump to Ducati factory this last weekend at Sepang, earning then a lot of nice words from Gigi Dall’Igna.

The General Manager of Ducati Corse looked at this weekend, praising the italian on his Linkedin account: ‘At last, Enea! A wonderful win, a moment of sheer joy for the whole Team! The best way to make his mark after a season troubled by both physical and technical difficulties: a phenomenal race such as he knows how to turn out and of which we all have always been certain, even at the most complicated of times’.

Bastianini’s performance earned more nice words for the italian manager: ‘With all his will to return to being a key protagonist among protagonists, with all the power and determination to immediately take the race’s lead and to impose a fast pace, to then extend that lead, managing it as a consummate champion: I’m happy for him. A sheer talent, that overwhelmingly returns to the fore and dominates a GP more difficult than it may have seemed, with the heat that imposed its gruelling conditions’. 

The #23 is 15th in the championship with 76 points added so far.

O conteúdo Gigi Dall’Igna praised «the return» of Bastianini to the wins: ‘He managed the race as a consummate champion!’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Enea Bastianini’s first season as a factory rider in MotoGP proved to be a true challenge. Injuries prevented him from participating in several Grand Prixes, hampered his progress, and kept him away from the top positions… until his victory this Sunday at the Malaysian GP.

The Ducati Italian rider spoke about the adversities he faced in 2023 during a press conference: ‘I think it wasn’t difficult; it has been a disastrous season because I had many injuries – two injuries. And also a lot of pain, especially after the first injury it was impossible to me to train. I was three months without training. I was in the gym only to work a little bit the legs, but you also have to work the other parts [of the body] if you want to be fast on a MotoGP [bike]’.

According to Bastianini, the fourth-place finish in the Sprint race in Sepang gave him the confidence that he could do even better in the main race: ‘It’s an incredible feeling now. It was a great race, because I saw after the Sprint race that with my pace I could try to do something more in the main race. And I needed the right mentality to be first in the first corner. […]. It’s fantastic because the team worked very well from the start. We’ve tried many solutions this weekend’.

O conteúdo ‘It has been a disastrous season; it’s an incredible feeling now’ – Enea Bastianini 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.