While the Qatar GP might have been a nightmare for Jorge Martín, Prima Pramac had many reasons to celebrate. For the first time ever, a satellite team has clinched the overall team championship in MotoGP.

With 620 points collected, Pramac holds an 89-point lead over Ducati, with 66 points yet to be awarded at the Valencia GP. Another satellite team, the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, sits in third place, trailing Ducati by 11 points.

Before this title, since the MotoGP era began in 2002, the best result achieved by an independent team was the second place: a feat accomplished by Pons in 2003, followed by Gresini the next year, and most recently by CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team in 2020.

O conteúdo Pramac makes history and becomes the first satellite team to win the MotoGP championship aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

One of the riders who was behind Jorge Martín and eventually overtook him in the MotoGP Qatar GP race was Fabio Quartararo. The 2021 champion spent some time behind the Prima Pramac rider when the Spaniard was clearly facing significant difficulties before Quartararo managed to pass him.

The French rider told the press that he isn’t aware of the reasons behind Martín’s performance issues but believes there was undoubtedly some kind of issue:

– He was struggling. He was not riding like yesterday. I don’t know which was the problem, but of course he wasn’t the same Jorge as yesterday. For sure he had a big issue, because you don’t make this kind of race less than 24 hours after. So for sure he had an issue. When I overtook him I wanted to be sure, because I didn’t want to make a mess, but he was struggling more than yesterday. The way he rides, I was faster. Yesterday I wasn’t faster than him and today I felt worse than yesterday. So I think the difference was big. But I think it’s not me that I tell you the correct answer.

O conteúdo ‘He wasn’t the same Jorge Martín as yesterday; he had a big issue’ – Fabio Quartararo aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jorge Martín won the MotoGP Qatar GP Sprint race, setting up the title fight for the last round of the season in Valencia. The Prima Pramac rider is just seven points behind the championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).

The Spaniard spoke to the press about a race he had to manage, being able to hold something extra to beat his rivals at the end: ‘Maybe the experience I have helped me a little bit. I think already this morning I felt super strong with the hard rear [tyre], so I was quite confident I would be able to win. It was important to do a good qualifying and I think it was. The start went well; I did a small mistake that helped Pecco and Marc [Márquez] to overtake me. But then I was able to keep calm, to wait for my moment because I knew the tyre consumption would be quite big. So I tried to manage the tyres and go fast and at the end I had something else to beat them’.

After gaining points on Bagnaia in the Sprint race, Martín stressed the importance of doing the same tomorrow: ‘For sure the target is to recover points and today we did it, so I’m happy. We need to do it also tomorrow, I think tomorrow is a big day for all of us, for Pecco and for me. Because the story in Valencia depends on how it goes tomorrow. So hopefully we can recover some points, even if it is one it will be crucial to be closer in Valencia. I think we are in a good position at the moment, I was strong today and I can do it tomorow’.

O conteúdo ‘Tomorrow is a big day for Pecco Bagnaia and for me’ – Jorge Martín aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Francesco Bagnaia arrived at the MotoGP Qatar GP with the possibility of securing the championship. However, after Jorge Martín’s (Prima Pramac/Ducati) victory in the Sprint race, it’s certain that the title will be decided in Valencia.

In addition to the Spanish rider’s win, Bagnaia (Ducati) finished fifth, leaving him with only a seven-point lead at the top. In the best-case scenario, the Italian will leave Losail with a 32-point lead over Martín… when there will be 37 points up for grabs in Valencia.

On the other hand, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) has mathematically secured third place. Despite not scoring in the Sprint race, he holds a 66-point gap over Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) with only 62 points left to be awarded.

O conteúdo Battle until the end: Francesco Bagnaia with no chance of being champion in Qatar 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.

Jorge Martín finished the first day at the Losail circuit in 7th position. The Spanish rider was ahead of his rival, Francesco Bagnaia, who finished in 8th position.

The Prima Pramac Racing rider had some difficulties at the start of the second practice session and spoke about what happened during the first day in Qatar.

– ‘ It was a difficult day. As you can see I had some difficulties, I don’t know why, but it was probably the tires because in every corner I was almost crashing. I tried to stay calm, it wasn’t easy, but luckily we’re in Q2 and I’m happy. I was 1 or 2 seconds off first, so something wasn’t right. It was very difficult psychologically to recover from the difficulties, I had no ideal trajectory, no references, so it was very difficult in two laps to understand the limits and do a fast lap. I think what happened gave me the confidence to do better and do a fast lap.

Asked about the problems he had with his tires and what he went through in this most complicated stage of practice, Jorge replied: ‘At one point I said I didn’t want to go back on the track, because it was pointless, I was going to fall and hurt myself for sure. There was a time when I used the hard tire on the front and it worked better than the medium one, I think the information from Ducati helped me a lot today and we’ll see what we can use for tomorrow’s Sprint race’.

O conteúdo “At one point I said I didn’t want to go back to the track” – Jorge Martín aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

In the final stretch of the season, Jorge Martín remains relentless, promising to attack the last two races of the premier class in Qatar and Valencia and, thus, clinch the MotoGP world championship title

The «Martinator» made his belief very clear saying to MotoGP.com: ‘I can win it and the reason is because maybe I’m faster’.

Martín counts on the confidence of several colleagues, including Marc Márquez: ‘I already bet three or four races ago on Martín and I keep saying that Martín maybe looks like he has a little bit more speed than Pecco’.

O conteúdo ‘I can win it, I’m faster’ – Jorge Martín 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.

Jorge Lorenzo will be one of the millions of fans closely following the last two races of the MotoGP World Championship, and between the two possible winners, he’ll support… compatriot Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), despite acknowledging Francesco Bagnaia’s (Ducati) significant favoritism.

The former MotoGP rider told the Spanish press: ‘Before the race in Malaysia, I would have said Martín, but now things have become very complicated. I would like Jorge Martín to win, but I believe Pecco will handle it very well and will take the title’.

The Italian Ducati rider holds a 14-point advantage over the Spaniard with two rounds remaining.

O conteúdo Pecco or Martinator: who will Jorge Lorenzo support? aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Despite only 14 points separating Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) in the top two positions of the championship, this weekend’s Qatar GP might witness the crowning of the Italian.

However, this is an unlikely scenario: Bagnaia will need to score 23 more points than the Spaniard. If Martín doesn’t score, the victory in the main race would be enough for the current champion.

In the case of a double win, Bagnaia will only be champion if Martín doesn’t achieve more than 14 points: for instance, a second place in the Sprint Race and an 11th place in the main race.

Conversely, if he only scores 23 points, the #1 will need that his opponent scores only one point: which is given to the ninth-placed finisher in the Sprint Race and the 15th in the main race.

There are many possible combinations of results for Bagnaia to be crowned champion already. The key will be leaving Qatar with a 37-point advantage, that is, 23 more than the current 14-point lead he holds.

O conteúdo How could there be a MotoGP champion at the Qatar GP? aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.