MotoGP, Barcelona Sprint LIVE: The title is for tomorrow! Bagnaia wins ahead of Bastianini and Martin

Pecco Bagnaia shone in qualifying for the Motul Solidarity Gran Premio de Barcelona, ​​taking his 24th pole in the MotoGP class and his 31st career pole. The #1 Ducati held off Marc Marquez's attacks throughout the session, with the eight-time world champion finishing third behind Aleix Espargaró. The latter, who is taking part in his last race before becoming a Honda tester, tried to help his friend Jorge Martin, leader of the standings, by offering him a slipstream.

Marquez achieved a time of 0.157 seconds behind bagnaia and finished ahead Jorge Martin, who looked frustrated at the end of the session, just 0.051 seconds behind his title rival. Martin, with his Ducati, had to settle for fourth position, behind the Aprilia ofI will espargaro. Franco Morbidelli, also on a Ducati, finished fifth, 0.245 seconds off the top.

The only representative of KTM in Q2, the rookie Peter Acosta from Team GASGAS Tech3, signed the sixth time, preceding Maverick Vinales on the Aprilia and Enea Bastianini on the Ducati, which took eighth place, just ahead Marco Bezzecchi. Fabio Quartararo, the best Yamaha on the grid, finished tenth, ahead of Alex Marquez et John Zarco, respectively 11th and 12th.

With 24 points behind on Jorge Martin before the race, Pecco Bagnaia knows he has to give his all to have any chance of making up the deficit and keeping his title alive.

Statements after qualification:

Pecco Bagnaia : " In the end, we have to be perfect, which is our weak point. Aleix is ​​very fast, we don't have much confidence with the front, but we know it's difficult. We're fine »

Marc Marquez : " It's not a perfect weekend physically, but today I'm feeling better.. The front line is important for the team. Pecco and Jorge are the protagonists, the pressure is felt, but we stay relaxed and try to finish well »

Aleix Espargaró : " I risked a lot today. I spoke with Jorge yesterday and giving him a little slipstream helps. If both are in front, you have to be careful what's happening behind »

What will this last Sprint race of the season have in store for us? Before we know, here is the table that summarizes the facts known so far.

MotoGP™ Barcelona, ​​Spain	5-2024	11-2024
FP1	1'39.579 Jorge Martin (See here)	1'40.501 Takaaki Nakagami
Practice	1'38.562 Aleix Espargaro (See here)	1'38.918 Francesco Bagnaia
FP2	1'39.294 Aleix Espargaro (See here)	1'40.208 Maverick Viñales
Q1	1'38.208 Fabio Di Giannantonio (See here)	1'39.145 Franco Morbidelli,1'39.404 Fabio Quartararo
Q2	1'38.190 Aleix Espargaro (See here)	1'38.641 Francesco Bagnaia
Sprint	Espargaro, Marc Marquez, Acosta (See here)	Bagnaia, Bastianini, Martin
Warm Up	1'39.505 Enea Bastianini (See here)
Grand Prix	Bagnaia, Martin, Marc Marquez (See here)
All time lap record	1'38.190 Aleix Espargaro (See here)

Today is a special day for all of us…

Last sprint race of the year... a sprint race that can be tinged once the checkered flag is passed, gold for Jorge Martin... but Bagnaia, tough, has never been as good as when he has his back to the wall!!

Strength and honor to these 2 pilots!! May the best one win, let's go crazy!!

Martin…ready to go!!!

Drivers will have 12 laps to complete

Retirement is approaching for AEspargaro…

Warm-up lap!!

19° in the air and 19° on the track!!!

It's off and it's Bagnaia who comes out in front ahead of Martin, before being caught by Bastianini.

Acosta loses a piece of fairing from his machine. He returns to the pit

Bagnaia takes the lead ahead of Bastianini, Martin, Morbidelli and AMarquez. MMarquez misses his start.

Martin gets rid of Bastianini…he takes back 2nd position…Bagnaia has a 0.508s lead over Martin.

Bastianini doesn't give up, he takes the best from Martin... and in the meantime his teammate is gaining time, he now has almost 1s lead. He passes the Martinator again!!!

Bagnaia is 1.6s ahead… Martin leads in his wake, Bastianini, Morbidelli, AMarquez, Espargaro, MMarquez, Bezzecchi, Quartararo and Binder

The group of furious for the gain of the 4th position….

6 laps left…Bagnaia has a 1.3s lead over Martin…

Little touch to the foot with Bastianini …/ Martin

With 3 laps to go, the top 10 is as follows: Bagnaia, Martin, Bastianini, AMarquez, Esrpargaro, Morbidelli, MMarquez, Bezzecchi, Binder and Quartararo.

Last round….

Bastianini is in Martin's wheel...Bagnaia has a 1.158s lead, victory is getting closer...he passes the Ducati rider!!!

Victory for Bagnaia ahead of Bastianini and Martin

Espargaro's farewell..

 

MotoGP, Barcelona Sprint: ranking