MotoGP Spain: Bagnaia Denies Marquez in Late-Race Spanish Stunner

This weekend MotoGP visits what in many ways is its spiritual home. Grand Prix racing has been in Jerez since 1987 and, although the 2024 season headed to Portimao one month ago, the home of the Spanish Grand Prix remains the first stop of the proper 'European season'. Jorge Martin arrives at his home race as the points leader, with a 21-point advantage over fellow Ducati rider Enea Bastianini. 

Overview

• Grand Prix - Bagnaia resists Marquez pressure in all-time victory duel

• Sprint - Martin avoids Sprint chaos to extend championship lead

• Qualifying - First Ducati pole for Marc Marquez in wet Jerez qualifying

• Friday Practice - Bagnaia under the lap record as Acosta shines for KTM again

• Schedule - All the times you need to follow the on-track action in Jerez this weekend

• 2023 - Bagnaia defeats KTM in tense battle despite penalty for Miller contact

Grand Prix

Starting from pole position, Marc Marquez made the holeshot, but he lost the lead at turn 13 to Francesco Bagnaia, who had already pulled one of the moves of the season at turn six on the opening lap to pass both Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin on the outside of the braking zone.

Bagnaia, though, ran wide at turn 13 on lap two, and gave the lead to Jorge Martin. The pressure thereafter from Bagnaia was intense, but just as Martin looked to have withstood the worst of Bagnaia’s pressure, he crashed at turn six, locking the front as he began to turn in. 

Bagnaia was now back in the lead, and had an almost-one-second gap to manage to Marco Bezzecchi. Marquez, who had been passed by Bezzecchi before Martin crashed, was able to capture second place from the #72 on lap 14, again at turn six, and began to chase down Bagnaia.

The Italian had been lapping in the low-1:38s to manage his gap over Bezzecchi, but Marquez forced him into the high-1:37s. Even dropping his pace wasn’t enough to prevent Marquez from catching Bagnaia, though, and on lap 21 the eight-times World Champion launched his first assault.

It came at turn nine, and Marquez was able to use some extraordinary corner speed through turn eight to set it up. Bagnaia hadn’t read it, but as he always does, he looked to cut back to the inside and beat Marquez on the exit, and get to turn 10 first. At best, he levelled Marquez and edged him aside. At worst, he rode his front wheel into Marquez’ arm. They both stayed on, and Bagnaia retained the lead by holding the inside line for turn 11.

Marquez repeated the same move on lap 22, but Bagnaia read it better this time, and was able to make a cleaner retaliation. 

What followed from Bagnaia decided the race, as he set a new lap record (1:37.449) on lap 23, and held Marquez at a distance of around 0.5 seconds for the remainder of the race.

It was a classic duel, and Bagnaia’s second victory of the season simultaneously means Marquez’ first Ducati win will have to wait at least another two weeks.

Marco Bezzecchi was relatively distant in third, but his first podium on the Desmosedici GP23 indicates the VR46 rider is figuring out that particular puzzle.

Alex Marquez and Enea Bastianini made it an all-Ducati top five, and KTM’s Brad Binder - who ran wide at the first turn which aided Bagnaia’s early forward charge - was the top non-Ducati rider in sixth.

Fabio Di Giannantonio was seventh, ahead of Miguel Oliveira, the best Aprilia rider. Texas winner Maverick Vinales was ninth, and Pedro Acosta completed the top 10 after a heavy Warm-Up crash at turn seven and some early-race contact with Johann Zarco.

Full MotoGP results from the Spanish Grand Prix are below.

2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix | Grand Prix Results

Sprint

A second Sprint win of the season for Jorge Martin saw him extend his championship lead by eight points, as carnage ensued around and behind him.

Martin didn’t make the holeshot, that went to Brad Binder, but he captured the lead before the end of the first lap at turn nine.

As Binder subsequently battled with Marc Marquez over second place, he ended up having contact with Francesco Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi that ended up with the reigning champion on the floor. Binder escaped with no penalty, but he crashed out himself on a wet patch at turn five later on. Enea Bastianini and Alex Marquez crashed simultaneously with Binder on the same patch, and Maverick Vinales crashed on it a lap later. Vinales crashed out of a podium position, which he had inherited from Marc Marquez when the #93 Ducati rider crashed from the lead at turn nine.

The result for Jorge Martin - who had lost the lead to Marc Marquez on lap seven, but who didn’t crash at turn five, or at the treacherous turns seven, eight, and nine where there were wet patches on and just off the line - was a 3.5-second lead to manage over Pedro Acosta. Manage it he did, for his second Sprint win of 2024.

Acosta similarly managed his own situation, with almost seven seconds back to Fabio Quartararo, to finish second, and he took second place in the championship with it, albeit 29 points down on Martin.

Fabio Quartararo finished third, holding on from Dani Pedrosa, who - as a wildcard - wasn’t going to risk a lunge on a full-time rider, and so finished fourth. It meant that Quartararo, who started 23rd on the #20 Yamaha, finished on the podium for the first time this season.

Johann Zarco was in fifth place entering the final corner, but came out in the gravel. He remounted to finish 12th, but the groans from the LCR Honda garage were audible on the world feed as they saw what could be their best chance at a decent result this season squandered.

Franco Morbidelli took fifth place as a result, ahead of Raul Fernandez, Marc Marquez who remounted for seventh after his crash, Augusto Fernandez in eighth, and Miguel Oliveira who took the final point in ninth. Joan Mir completed the top 10.

After the race, Fabio Quartararo was awarded an eight-second time penalty for an illegal tyre pressure, and fell to fifth as a result. Dani Pedrosa was promoted to third, and Franco Morbidelli to fourth. There were also penalties for Jack Miller, Alex Rins, and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who all crashed and remounted, as well as for Raul Fernandez.

Full MotoGP results from the Spanish Sprint are below.

2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix | Sprint Results

Qualifying

A first pole position aboard a Ducati was secured by Marc Marquez in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Qualifying took place in wet-but-drying conditions as the morning rain in Andalusia gave way to blue skies just before Q2 began.

Brad Binder had come through Q1 on a soft-compound wet-weather rear tyre, and used that session to understand that, by the time Q2 rolled around, the medium-compound rear would offer better performance. Binder was the only rider to choose the medium rear on his first run, and he ended it fastest.

But he’d given away his secret, and the other riders were able to make the switch from soft to medium for their respective second runs. Marc Marquez took the biggest advantage of this, topping the session as the only rider in the 1:46s. Marco Bezzecchi was second, and Jorge Martin was third.

Binder himself ended up fourth, which he’d probably have taken on Friday after he threw away a direct qualification for Q2 in Practice. He’ll be joined by Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez on the second row.

Francesco Bagnaia was seventh-fastest, meaning he’s still yet to qualify on the front row in 2024. Jerez is rarely an easy circuit to overtake on, and Bagnaia has to look two rows ahead of him to find points leader Jorge Martin, who he trails by 30 points ahead of the Spanish Sprint.

Franco Morbidelli came through Q1 with Binder and qualified eighth, ahead of Enea Bastianini in ninth.

Pedro Acosta was on for provisional pole when he crashed at the last corner. He got back on and set the 10th-fastest time. Only the Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro were slower than Acosta, both having chosen the soft-compound rear for their respective second runs.

Full MotoGP results from qualifying, and from the pre-qualifying FP2 session, are below.

2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix | Qualifying Results

2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix | FP2 Results

Friday Practice

Francesco Bagnaia topped Practice in Spain, setting a new lap record but just missing out on another milestone.

Bagnaia’s 1:36.025 left him just 0.026 seconds shy of the first-ever 1:35 lap of Jerez by a MotoGP bike. Nonetheless, it was enough to see him into Saturday as the fastest rider.

This was despite some monstrous speed through the fourth sector from Maverick Vinales and the Aprilia RS-GP, whose ground effect aerodynamics are surely a part of the equation that appears to be currently making the Noale bike the best MotoGP machine in the high-speed corners. Vinales had to settle for second in the end, ahead of Marc Marquez who, in comparison to Vinales, was struggling excessively in the final sector.

Marco Bezzecchi was fourth-fastest after perhaps his best day of 2024, while Jorge Martin was fifth.

Pedro Acosta in sixth place was the only KTM rider in the top 10 and through to Q2. Brad Binder was on pace for a lap that would have at least got him inside that top 10, but he crashed at turn seven and finished Practice in 11th.

Aleix Espagaro did not have the speed of his Aprilia teammate, Vinales, and finished Friday in seventh, ahead of Enea Bastianini on the second factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez made it seven out of eight Ducatis in the top 10.

Full MotoGP results from Practice and FP1 are below.

2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix | Practice Results

2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix | FP1 Results

MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix Times

Round four of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship is in some ways the first race to take place at a 'normal' race track. Qatar is odd for its night-oriented schedule, Portimao is strange for its uniquely undulating layout, and the Circuit of the Americas is peculiar for myriad reasons, from a marshy foundation to having five first-gear corners.

The Jerez race takes place in the day, is flat as a three-day-old glass of lemonade compared to Portimao, and is a track of one, flowing character compared to the layout-of-layouts found at COTA. 

After the Texan race's schedule made it an evening race for European viewers, MotoGP's Spanish GP will return to familiar European timings this weekend. The full schedule for the 2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix is below. All times are shown in BST.

MotoGP Spain Schedule

2023 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix

2023 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix | Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto | Grand Prix Results

2023 MotoGP Spain Results | Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto | Sprint Results

2023 MotoGP Spain results | Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto | Qualifying Results

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