MotoGP, Spain, LIVE Race: Francesco Bagnaia wins the clash of the Titans!

Will pole sitter Marc Marquez be able to win his first GP victory in Spain on the Gresini-Ducati in front of his home crowd in Jerez? This is one of the big questions that will be answered this Sunday afternoon. Because the other question of the deadline concerns a Pedro Acosta who is now second in the championship and who seems able to become the youngest winner in a MotoGP Grand Prix this afternoon, although starting from quite far back on the grid and having suffered a hard fall during the warm-up. For their part, Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez will try to catch up with championship leader Jorge Martin. The Pramac driver is 21 points ahead of Enea Bastianini. Maverick Viñales is also in good form on his Aprilia, having won back-to-back sprint races as well as the last Grand Prix of the Americas.

Before we jump into the fray, let's review the first part of the starting grid. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) qualified on pole position for the first time since joining Ducati This year. This is the first pole position for Marquez from Portugal last year (there 399 days) and the 93rd of his GP career. He crashed while leading the Sprint, but rejoined the track and eventually finished P6 after penalties were applied. He will try to win for the first time since Emilia-Romagna 2021 (917 days ago). It would then be his first Grand Prix victory with Gresini et Ducati.

Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) qualified second for his first qualifying top three since qualifying on pole position in India last year, when he took his last GP victory. He fell in the Sprint, but will try in Spain to win his fourth victory in the premier category.

George Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) qualified third for its third qualifying top three since the start of the year, with Qatar and Portugal. He won the Sprint (his 11th Sprint victory) and he is the only driver to be on the podium in the first four Sprints of 2024. He will now attempt to claim his seventh MotoGP victory and tie Loris Capirossi for fourth place on the list of the most successful Ducati riders in MotoGP.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) qualified fourth for the second consecutive time at Jerez, also matching his best qualifying result so far this year in Qatar. He crashed in the sprint but will now try to take his first MotoGP victory since Austria

Please note: the Aprilia and KTM/GASGAS riders will try to offer their manufacturer(s) their first victory in Jerez. So far, Aprilia's best result here is P3, while the best for KTM/GASGAS is P2.

Fabio DiGiannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) qualified fifth, his best qualifying result since second on the grid in Qatar last year, where he also took his first MotoGP victory. He fell in the sprint but rejoined and eventually finished 13th. He will now try to achieve his second victory in the premier category.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP qualified sixth for its best qualifying result since third in Qatar last year. He crashed in the Sprint, but will now look to take his first MotoGP victory, or add to his collection of podiums in the premier category: two with Honda and two with Ducati so far.

Francis Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) qualified seventh, meaning that he has not yet managed to qualify for the first row in 2024. The last time he failed to qualify in the top three in four consecutive races was in 2021 between Doha and France. He crashed in the sprint, which is the first time he has failed to score points in the sprint since Silverstone last year, when he was 14th. He will try to achieve his third consecutive victory in Jerez.

Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) qualified eighth for its best qualifying result since fourth last year in Argentina. He finished P4 in the Sprint (matching his best Sprint result also in Argentina last year).

Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) qualified ninth, their worst qualifying result since the start of the year. He crashed in the sprint, but will now try to take his sixth MotoGP victory.

Did : this is the 64th GP in a row with a Ducati in the top three of qualifying. This is the first time that there is eight Ducatis in the top nine of qualifying. If a Ducati gets on the podium in Spain, she will take her record at 50 consecutive races in GP with at least one rider on the podium, becoming the fourth different manufacturer to reach this milestone in the premier category with Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha.

Peter Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) qualified 10th after crashing in Q2, which is the first time he has missed the top three rows in MotoGP. He finished P2 in the Sprint (his first Sprint podium) and, just 19 years and 339 days, he will try to become the youngest driver to win in the premier category, by removing the record from Marc Marquez (20 years and 63 days in Austin in 2013).

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) Qualifying Position qualified 11th for his worst qualifying result since qualifying 13th in Germany last year. He crashed in the Sprint but will now attempt to win back-to-back MotoGP races for the first time since the first two races of 2017.

Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia Racing) qualified 12th for its second worst qualifying result so far this season after Portugal where it qualified 13th. In Spain he will try to get his first podium since Catalonia last year (where he won his third GP victory).

MotoGP starting grid: 

Sprint Ranking: 

The presentations made, what will this fourth round of the MotoGP season have in store for us? Before finding out, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

MotoGP™ Jerez, Spain	2023	2024
FP1	1'36.770 Dani Pedrosa (See here)	1'36.630 Alex Marquez (See here)
Practice	1'36.708 Aleix Espargaró (See here)	1'36.025 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
FP2	1'37.229 Miguel Oliveira (See here)	1'48.183 Marc Marquez (See here)
Q1	1'36.493 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	1'47.887 Franco Morbidelli (See here)
Q2	1'37.216 Aleix Espargaró (See here)	1'46.773 Marc Marquez (See here)
Sprint	Binder, Bagnaia, Miller (See here)	Martin, Acosta, Pedrosa (See here)
Warm Up	1'37.261 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'37.943 Alex Marquez (See here)
Course	Bagnaia, Binder, Miller (See here)	Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Bezzecchi
All time lap record	1'36.170 Francesco Bagnaia 2022 (See here)	1'36.025 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)

 

We are ready for a crazy race like the one that delighted us yesterday!

We're live!

Will the pole sitter, unfortunate yesterday with his fall, achieve victory today? MMarquez and his machine are in the starting blocks!

The sun is out but watch out for the spots of humidity which, as we have known since yesterday, are rising again, causing the drivers to fall...this is particularly the case in turn 8

When champions meet it feels like this… Long live Carlos Sainz!

Crowd in the stands this weekend..

Reminder of the forces present..

Bezzecchi is ready for a fight..

As a reminder, the race will consist of 25 laps

Vale's latest advice...

Your predictions, friends!! Small part for MM93 ??

Warm-up lap! 20° in the air and 39° on the track

It's off and it's MMarquez who takes the lead ahead of Martin and Bezzecchi. Bagnaia 4th, AMarquez 5th

Bagnaia makes the effort and passes Martin, he takes control in the next corner to the detriment of MMarquez.

Martin responds and leads the troops

The top5 is as follows: Martin Bagnaia, MMarquez, AMarquez

Touch between Zarco and Acosta..investigation in progress

Quartararo is 19th, Zarco 16th

Pedrosa Falls

Bezzechi, very fast, attacks MMarquez and it passes, he is 3rd

With 20 laps to go, the top10 is made up of Martin who is 0.163s ahead of Bagnaia, Bezzecchi, MMarquez, AMarquez, Binder, Oliveira, Bastianini, Miller and Di Giannantonio.

No follow-up given in the tussle between Zarco and Acosta.

Intense pressure..

The positions do not change... Bagnaia kindly stays behind Martin waiting for his time to strike! He is 0.295s behind the Martinator.

Fall of Zarco. Espargaro also fell. The Aprilia rider caught the Frenchman's wheel.

Fall of Martin!

Bagnaia takes the lead ahead of Bezzecchi and MMarquez. AMarquez and Binder complete this top5 with 14 laps to go

Surrender for Savadori.

1.207s separate Bezzecchi from Bagnaia. Bezzecchi makes a slip which allows MMarquez to pick him up. He passes it! The climb is underway towards Bagnaia!

MMarquez scratches as the laps go by...0.911s separate him from Bagnaia!

10 more laps, the top10 is made up of: Bagnaia, MMarquez, Bezzecchi, AMarquez, Binder, Bastianini, Oliveira, Di Giannantonio, Vinales and Acosta who has just overtaken Miller. 

Fall of Miller and Morbidelli. The 2 drivers collided…!

Binder gets the better of Bastianini to gain 5th position.

There are 6 laps left and Bagnaia resists with 0.466s ahead of MMarquez! Bezzecchi, AMarquez and Binder complete this top5

He’s there MMarquez… connection made!

He passes but Bagnaia responds! Huge !!!! There are 4 laps left... And again... MMarquez passes again but Bagnaia takes control!!

The gap is closing... Bagnaia is catching some air...

Last round !

Bagnaia is 0.511s ahead of MMarquez. Bezzecchi, AMarquez and Binder complete this top5

Victory for Bagnaia ahead of MMarquez and Bezzecchi.

 

MotoGP, Spain, Race: classification

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credit classification motogp.com