MotoGP Qatar: Brilliant Bagnaia Wins with Management Masterclass

The 2024 MotoGP World Championship kicks off this weekend with the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix. Francesco Bagnaia enters the season as the defending champion, while eight-times World Champion Marc Marquez is set to make his debut for Gresini Ducati.

Overview

• Grand Prix - Bagnaia wins as Acosta shows startling debut speed

• Warm-Up - Vinales fastest in final session before Qatar Grand Prix

• Sprint - Martin completes a perfect Saturday as Ducati dominance disrupted by KTM, Aprilia

• Qualifying - Martin takes pole position and lap record in first qualifying of 2024

• Saturday Practice - Alex Marquez leads the charge in delayed Qatar pre-qualifying

• Friday Practice - Martin fastest and Acosta impresses as weather calls of evening time attacks

• 2024 Schedule - All the times you need to follow the action live from Qatar this weekend

• 2023 Qatar Grand Prix - Fabio Di Giannantonio takes first MotoGP win as tyre troubles disrupt Jorge Martin's title tilt

Grand Prix

The first full length MotoGP race of the season, the Qatar Grand Prix, saw Francesco Bagnaia take the first victory of his title defence.

Just as in Saturday’s Sprint, Jorge Martin made a strong start and got the holeshot ahead of Brad Binder, although he was quickly displaced by Bagnaia, who then demoted Martin from the lead at turn four.

From there, Bagnaia was exceptional. He edged his lead out from a couple of tenths to one second by mid-distance, and held it there for the second half of the race, matching Brad Binder on more or less every tour of the Lusail International Circuit.

For Binder’s part, he kept the reigning champion honest throughout, but, just as Martin had been able to in the Sprint, Bagnaia was able to answer every question put to him by the South African.

Jorge Martin’s race yoyo’d somewhat. He never had the pace of Bagnaia, and fluctuated between attacking Binder and defending from whoever was behind him, which was most-often Marc Marquez. A late charge almost put Martin on the second step of the podium as Binder’s tyre died, but the 2023 runner-up just ran out of time. A 1-3 on the weekend gives him the points lead to Portugal.

Marc Marquez was almost always in the fight for the podium, but was never able to put himself in position to attack Martin. He then fell back at the end and was forced to settle for fourth, one place ahead of the second factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini in fifth.

Alex Marquez was sixth, and Fabio Di Giannantonio seventh. Aleix Espargaro was tipped as a pre-race favourite after showing exceptional tyre life on the Aprilia in the Sprint, but he made a poor start and was unable to advance forwards, finishing eighth.

Pedro Acosta has thrust himself into the podium battle in the early part of the second half of the race, but he had used too much tyre to do so. A flex of the left arm in the pit straight could also have been a sign of arm pump. He finished ninth in the end, but showed his potential. The top 10 was rounded out by Maverick Vinales.

After the initial warm-up lap, Raul Fernandez suffered a bike problem on the grid, which forced the start to be delayed and the race distance to be reduced to 21 laps from 22. Fernandez had to start from the back of the grid. He then retired from the race, having taken the start on his second bike.

Full MotoGP results from the Qatar Grand Prix are below.

2024 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix Results | Grand Prix

Warm-Up

MotoGP Warm-Up marked the final session of the weekend before the Qatar Grand Prix gets underway later on Sunday at the 2024 season-opener. Maverick Vinales was fastest ahead of Marco Bezzecchi in an uneventful and unrepresentative session.

2024 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix Results | Warm-Up

Sprint

The MotoGP Qatar Sprint saw a dominant performance from Jorge Martin, who began his 2024 title charge with a win.

The Sprint began with a Jorge Martin holeshot from pole position, and the lead was something he would not relinquish for the 11 laps in their entirety.

That’s not to say that Martin ran away with it, but whenever Brad Binder, who was never displaced from second place, got close to the #89, Martin had time in-hand to pull back away. It was the prime example of race management.

Binder was under pressure from Aleix Espargaro, who had come on strong at the end, for second place, but Espargaro ran out of time, having spent one lap too many trying to get past Francesco Bagnaia for third.

Bagnaia himself had been strong in the middle of the race, and displayed some of the urgency that had typically been missing from his Sprint performances in the second half of 2023 early on to get past his factory Ducati teammate, Enea Bastianini, on the first lap. But he faded late, losing third to Espargaro to begin his title defence with a fourth place.

Marc Marquez’ race had followed a similar path to that of Bagnaia, being fast in the middle but running out of grip at the end. He had been fourth at one point, but lost out when Espargaro’s late charge began and fell towards Bastianini.

The #23, though, could not pass the #93, and Bastianini began his season with a sixth place.

From as early as lap four, the front six had distanced themselves from the rest of the field, which was led over the line by Alex Marquez. Pedro Acosta finished eighth, and his Sprint featured an early and potentially symbolic overtake on the factory KTM of Jack Miller, who complete the top 10 behind ninth-placed Maverick Vinales.

Full MotoGP results from the Qatar Sprint are below.

2024 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix Results | Sprint

Qualifying

MotoGP qualifying in 2023 was the domain of Ducati, who had at least one bike on the front row in every Grand Prix. The first qualifying session of 2024 saw that trend continue, as Jorge Martin took the first pole position of the new season.

Raul Fernandez and Jack Miller advanced from Q1 to Q2, meaning 2023’s bronze medallist, Marco Bezzecchi, missed out - Bezzecchi qualifying 15th.

Jorge Martin dominated Q2 with his opening flying lap, setting a new all-time lap record of 1:50.789, faster even than Francesco Bagnaia’s best time from the preseason tests, despite daylight conditions during qualifying for Martin. Aleix Espargaro, the fastest Aprilia, was second, and Enea Bastianini took third place.

Brad Binder crashed on his final lap, but took fourth place anyway, while Francesco Bagnaia was on for at least a front row with his final attempt before he ran wide at turn 14. The use of the ‘Misano 200’ kerbs at Qatar means that Bagnaia’s lap stood because running off the outside of that type of kerb is considered to cost time because of the severe serrations towards the edge of the kerb. This was proven by Bagnaia’s time, a 1:50.928, which was only good enough for fifth. Marc Marquez will make his Gresini Racing debut from sixth place.

Fabio Di Giannantonio will start from the front of row three in seventh, ahead of eighth-placed Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez in ninth. Maverick Vinales qualified 10th, ahead of Jack Miller in 11th and Raul Fernandez, another crasher in 12th.

Not a single Japanese bike appeared in Q2. Johann Zarco came the closest, finishing 0.011 seconds behind Jack Miller in 13th. Fabio Quartararo was the best Yamaha in 16th, while Alex Rins had a bike problem exiting pit lane on his final run and qualified 20th.

Full MotoGP qualifying results from Qatar are below.

2024 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix Results | Qualifying

Practice

Friday night’s rain meant Saturday morning’s usual FP2 session was substituted for a 45-minute Practice session to decide seeding for Q1 and Q2 in Qatar.

Alex Marquez led the way in the first timed session of 2024, his 1:51.108 only a couple of tenths slower than Francesco Bagnaia’s lap record set in more favourable nighttime conditions during testing.

Jorge Martin and Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the top three, while Francesco Bagnaia was fourth, and the first non-Ducati was Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales in fifth. Pedro Acosta was the fastest KTM in sixth, ahead of Aleix Espargaro in seventh. Eighth place went to Enea Bastianini, while Marc Marquez and Brad Binder completed the top 10 in ninth and 10th places, respectively.

Full MotoGP results from Practice in Qatar are below.

2024 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix Results | Practice

Friday Practice

The 2024 MotoGP World Championship got off to a meaningless start in Qatar, with the first practice session on Friday taking place in unrepresentative daylight, and rain affecting the second session.

When rain began falling towards the end of Moto3 practice on Friday evening in Qatar, a decision was taken to change the Friday afternoon session to a 45-minute FP2 session that did not count for seeding for Saturday’s two qualifying sessions. Instead, the timed practice session will be held on Saturday, but that will take place over 45 minutes instead of the usual 60 minutes of the regular Friday timed practice or the usual 30 minutes of the regular Saturday morning free practice session.

A lack of dry running on Friday night means that the riders will go into Saturday’s Sprint having to rely totally on the data from the two-day test two weeks ago. Of course, a difference between the test and the race weekend is the presence of Moto3 and Moto2, which both have Pirelli, instead of Dunlop, tyres for the first time this season. The conditions of Friday afternoon now means that the MotoGP teams and riders will not learn how their Michelin race tyres respond to on-track Pirelli rubber laid by the Moto2 and Moto3 riders until the Sprint.

The rain also meant that Jorge Martin ended the day as the fastest rider, having hit the ground running in FP1. Pedro Acosta also impressed, finishing third in FP1 after some spectacular saves, and immediately showing speed in the wet FP2, although it was Marc Marquez who was fastest overall in the wet.

2024 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix Results | Friday Practice

2024 Schedule

The 2024 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix is surely one of the most anticipated races in recent memory, with Francesco Bagnaia heading into defence of the 2023 title, at least five riders in contention for the seat alongside him in the factory Ducati team, and the debut of Marc Marquez at Gresini Ducati all among the hot topics heading into the year.

Despite Qatar's location in the Middle East, the race's night-time schedule means its on-track action takes place at fairly amenable times for European and UK viewers. Times in the table below are in GMT, which is three hours behind Qatar.

2024 Qatar MotoGP Schedule

2023 Qatar Grand Prix

The 2023 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix saw Jorge Martin take a dominant win in the Sprint as he sought to heap the pressure on title rival Francesco Bagnaia, as the Lusail race took a different-from-usual position in the calendar as the penultimate round. Tyre troubles in the Grand Prix prevented Martin from furthering his gains over the weekend, as he finished 10th and Bagnaia took a second-place finish behind first-time winner Fabio Di Giannantonio.

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