After nearly two seasons, Fabio di Giannantonio secured his first MotoGP victory this Sunday. In a solid race at the Qatar GP, he showed no fear and didn’t hesitate to challenge the championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia, achieving a well-deserved triumph… even without a contract for 2024.

Bagnaia (Ducati) had a strong start, overtaking Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) to take the lead. Di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati) positioned himself in third ahead of his teammate Álex Márquez. Yesterday’s winner, Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), had a poor start, dropping to eighth place.

Positions swapped between Di Giannantonio and Márquez in the second lap, with the Spaniard moving up to the podium. However, this situation didn’t last long as the Italian responded and, after five laps, he was already in second place. Marini lost momentum and dropped to fifth, behind Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM).

Bagnaia was leading dominantly, but his advantage was gradually overturned by Di Giannantonio until it was about two-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Binder wasn’t far behind. Di Giannantonio’s progress became more significant in the last ten laps.

Determined to achieve his first win, Di Giannantonio completed the pass four laps from the end. Bagnaia made a serious mistake but managed to hold onto second place thanks to the gap he had over Marini, who had returned to the podium spots. Binder was overtaken by Maverick Viñales (Aprilia).

After taking the lead, Di Giannantonio never looked back, securing his first MotoGP victory. Bagnaia maintained second place, with Marini closing the podium in third. Viñales and Binder completed the top five. Martín had a forgettable race, finishing only in tenth place, dealing a strong blow to his title aspirations.

Results:

O conteúdo Masterful: Fabio di Giannantonio beats champion Bagnaia and proves he deserves a seat in 2024 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The 2023 MotoGP season may have ended for Miguel Oliveira this Saturday. The first-lap crash in the Qatar GP Sprint race left him with a fracture in his right scapula.

The diagnosis was made at the medical center of the Losail circuit. Now, the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider has been taken to an hospital for further examinations.

Declared unfit, Oliveira will miss the main race in Qatar. Given the type of injury, it’s likely that he won’t return to action this season, especially considering that the Valencia GP is scheduled for next week. However, there’s no official indication yet whether the rider will indeed miss the final round of the year.

O conteúdo End of season for Miguel Oliveira? Scapula fracture sends the Portuguese rider to the hospital 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.

Luca Marini will start from pole position in the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix races. The Italian was the strongest in Saturday’s qualifying, setting a new lap record at Losail with 1m51.762s.

After the initial laps, Fabio di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati) led, with Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) 0.164s behind. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) held the third position.

Following a subdued start, Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) climbed to third on his second attempt, pushing Viñales to fourth.

In the final five minutes, Marini and Martín were overtaken by Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda). The Spaniard closely followed the reigning champion’s wheel and took advantage.

However, much changed until the end. Marini claimed the top spot, edging Di Giannantonio by 67 thousandths of a second just ten seconds before the checkered flag. Thus, he secured the pole position ahead of #49, while Álex Márquez obtained third place. Bagnaia will start fourth ahead of Martín, who settled for fifth.

Q2 results:

Overall results of the qualifying:

O conteúdo Luca Marini secures second career pole position with a new lap record in Losail aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The move of Luca Marini to Repsol Honda in MotoGP now seems to be just a matter of an official announcement. The Mooney VR46 Racing Team considers the rider as lost as it is already looking for a replacement at the Moto2 grid.

Uccio Salucci, one of the leaders at VR46, stated to MotoGP.com that a decision will soon be made: ‘We want to recruit a young rider from Moto2. There are some potential candidates. A decision will be made in the next three to four days’.

Thus, Fabio Di Giannantonio is excluded from the list of options, and regardless of the chosen one, Salucci is aware that payment will be necessary: ‘If you lose a rider of Marini’s caliber in November, then you have to buy back riders from the Moto2 teams. We’ve talked to everyone and not just one team, not just [Fermín] Aldeguer. Definitely, we have to pay something, but that’s how it works in our sport’.

Valentino Rossi’s friend also addressed the possibility of Tony Arbolino being the chosen one: ‘I like Tony. He’s a very good rider. He’s very young and Italian. He is one of the candidates. But we’re not just talking about Tony and Fermín. There are other fast riders that I really like. This will become clear in the next few days. We won’t have to wait long’.

O conteúdo VR46 «confirms» Luca Marini at Honda: ‘We want to recruit a young rider from Moto2’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

This afternoon, Jorge Martín led the first free practice session of the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix. Unsurprisingly, Ducati demonstrated its strength at Losail, in a preparation session where lap times weren’t the primary focus.

Aprilia had a good start, with three bikes among the top three in the initial laps. Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team) led, followed by Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and his teammate Miguel Oliveira.

However, Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) soon overtook Fernández with his second fast lap, taking the lead. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) moved up to third. Aleix Espargaró suffered a minor fall, while his teammate Maverick Viñales later secured third place.

In the first quarter of the session, Martín was overtaken by Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and Fabio di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati), who briefly held the top two positions. They were soon surpassed by Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who took the lead after 15 minutes.

The leaderboard remained relatively stable until the last 15 minutes when di Giannantonio was faster than the factory Ducatis to claim first place. In the final ten minutes, Martín moved to second. Several riders were improving, causing changes in the top positions.

With five minutes left, Martín regained the lead, followed by Morbidelli, di Giannantonio, and Viñales. Augusto Fernández (GasGas Tech3/KTM) crashed, ending his session prematurely.

Martín kept his lead until the end of the practice session. His teammate, Johann Zarco, climbed to second place, trailing by 0.172s. Bagnaia followed in third, with Raúl Fernández and Morbidelli completing the top five.

Timesheet:

O conteúdo Jorge Martín and Pramac lead in FP1 at the Qatar GP aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Currently dominating the MotoGP World Championship, Ducati will have limitations next season to level the playing field. In contrast, Honda and Yamaha will receive concessions to try to narrow the gap with their European rivals.

According to Motorsport.com, MotoGP Sporting Director Carlos Ezpeleta presented the outline of these steps to manufacturers last Friday. Aprilia and KTM are pushing for more restrictions on Ducati, but the Borgo Panigale manufacturer is reportedly unwilling to accept such a scenario.

The idea is to allocate concessions based on points earned in the Constructors’ World Championship – the more points, the greater the limitations will be. In this scenario, Ducati would have 170 tyres available for the season (tests and Grand Prix), compared to the current 200 for all teams. On the other hand, Honda and Yamaha would have 230 tyres.

While there are no changes to the allowed private tests, having fewer tyres will inevitably limit the teams’ activities. This is where the disagreement lies: Ducati accepts these scenario, but Aprilia and KTM want the Italian manufacturer to have only 140 tyres per year, a proposal reportedly rejected by Borgo Panigale.

Regarding wildcards, Ducati would be unable to have it, while Honda and Yamaha would have a higher number of wildcard entries. In terms of engines, currently, those without concessions are allowed to use seven per rider during a season. However, the quantity under the new system that is being considered is not yet known.

O conteúdo Ducati will face restrictions on tyres, wildcards, and engines in MotoGP in 2024 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.

Pedro Acosta is the new Moto2 World Champion. Second place was more than enough for him to clinch the title this Sunday in a race completely dominated by Fermín Aldeguer.

Manuel González (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team/Kalex) had a good start and even took the lead but crashed in turn two after a contact with Fermín Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro). Almost miraculously, he escaped without any harm. Aldeguer took the lead ahead of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex).

In third place was Marcos Ramírez (OnlyFans American Racing/Kalex). Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) needed at least a top-three finish to stay in the title fight and was in a distant seventh place. The Italian faced even more challenges on the second lap when he went off track and dropped down the pack.

Meanwhile, there was a notification that the incident between Aldeguer and González was under investigation. Indifferent to that, Aldeguer continued to lead solidly and by the fourth lap had almost a three-second lead over Acosta. In a race with little drama for the top positions, Aldeguer continued to distance himself from Acosta, who, in turn, was also isolated, not giving Ramírez any chance to close the gap.

In fourth place was Alonso López (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro), with Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex) in fifth. Some riders who were fighting in the top five fell due to crashes, such as Arón Canet (Pons Wegow Los40/Kalex), Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing/Kalex), and Izan Guevara (Inde GasGas Aspar/Kalex). In the podium positions, nothing changed until the end, although Ogura finished pressuring the third-placed rider.

Aldeguer continued to extend his lead and won with a margin of 7.128s over Acosta, who thus became the champion. Ramírez completed the top three, holding off Ogura by just 0.434s. Jake Dixon (Inde GasGas Aspar/Kalex) finished fifth. López plummeted in the standings on the last lap, finishing in 22nd place. As for Arbolino, he concluded in tenth.

Results:

O conteúdo Pedro Acosta conquers the Moto2 title overshadowing Fermín Aldeguer’s dominating win at the Malaysian GP aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Álex Márquez was the big winner of the Sprint race in Sepang! Yes, you read that right. This late morning’s race had an unexpected winner, but the truth is that the Gresini Racing rider was on top form and showed a highly competitive pace right from the start. In one lap, Francesco Bagnaia lost the lead and the second place in the race to his “worst rival”, Jorge Martín.

Everything was in place for the start of the Sprint race at Sepang, with Francesco Bagnaia starting from pole position, ahead of Jorge Martín and with Enea Bastianini on the front row. Brad Binder in seventh was the best non-Ducati rider, ahead of two others, Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Viñales.

The start went well for Bagnaia, who had “help” from Bastianini and Álex Márquez, relegating Martín to fourth. Jack Miller was one of the highlights and went from tenth to fourth at an early stage, before Mártin – still on the first lap – moved up to third.

The second lap brought more changes and Martín beat A. Márquez to take second place, but the Gresini rider returned the manoeuvre and retook second place. Who was benefiting from these battles? Bagnaia, who was already leading by 0.529s. Note the KTMs of Miller and Binder, in fourth and fifth.

Meanwhile, the first crash of the race came from Marc Márquez, with the Repsol Honda Team rider going down in 14th: it was the 27th time this season that the #93 had gone down.

And… Honda’s bad luck didn’t stop there, as Joan Mir also crashed shortly afterwards.

Back in the race, Bagnaia was leading but would probably soon have to deal with Álex Márquez. Just 0.174s separated the former from the latter, and the Spaniard had just set the fastest lap of the race so far, in 1:59.013s.

With five laps to go Bastianini – now fourth – was the first to complete a lap in 1:58.996s.

On the sixth lap, in the fourth sector, here was the confirmation: Álex Márquez was the new leader of the race and in no time? the scenario became even darker for Bagnaia as Martín took advantage and soon after moved up to second position.

Meanwhile, the broadcast images focused on Bagnaia’s bike, with something strange on the Italian’s bike:

What looked like a piece of paper, or similar, soon fell off and the Italian’s motorbike was in normal “condition”.

With two laps to go, that was the top ten:

Everything looked set for victory for the Spaniard, while at the back Bastianini acted as “guard” for Bagnaia.

Unsurprisingly, the race came to an end shortly afterwards with Álex Márquez returning to winning ways in MotoGP. In the championship standings, the gap between Bagnaia and Martín is now 11 points.

O conteúdo Álex Márquez surprises everyone and wins Sprint race in Sepang; Martín beats Bagnaia and the difference grows lower aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.