MotoGP
Bagnaia inches closer to the crown as the Beast roars in Mugello: DRC’s 2024 MotoGP Italian Grand Prix Review
Italian delight as Ducatis dominate Mugello as the championship battle opens up
The Brembo Italian Grand Prix saw domination the likes of which we have never seen before, thrilling action, and in classic Mugello fashion, last-lap showdowns. Mugello once again staged the action and now DRC recaps the brilliant race.
Ducati and Bagnaia rock and roll their way to victory
Pecco Bagnaia becomes a man possessed come the Italian Grand Prix, and this time was no different. Having topped both Free Practice sessions, he missed out on pole by just 0.04s to his championship rival, Jorge Martin. His frustration continued when he was handed a three-place grid penalty for blocking Alex Marquez during practice for Sunday’s race.
Those were mere obstacles in his way however, as he cruised to a Tissot Sprint win ahead of Marc Marquez and hotshot rookie Pedro Acosta. Starting fifth for Sunday’s race, Pecco produced a stellar holeshot, passing Bastianini, Vinales, and Marquez on the outside of turn 1 and then overtaking Martin for the lead on the inside of turn 2. He would then go on to control the race expertly, maintaining a healthy gap until the penultimate lap of the race.
On the third to last lap, Pecco suddenly dropped 8 tenths to Martin, and looked like we were in for another last-lap thriller in Mugello. However, in true diabolical fashion, Pecco played with with his food, as he instantly produced a 1.1s lead as they crossed the start/finish line next time.
Bagnaia, who was sporting a special helmet paying tribute to the rock band ‘Kiss’, then aptly celebrated with a wheelie and an air guitar as he took back-to-back sprint-GP victories in Mugello.
His teammate Bastianini also had a strong showing, winning a place on Marc Marquez at the start and then calmly absorbing all pressure the eight times world champion threw at him all the way until lap 18 when Marquez lunged down the inside at turn 1 for the final podium place. ‘The Beast’ lived up to his name and passed not only Marquez but also Martin to take a second place filled with fireworks and beautiful overtakes.
Martin and Marquez lose out on Championship Charge
It was not a good day for Jorge Martin, who had already dropped points on Saturday after crashing out of third in an accident that also involved Bastianini. His woes were made worse when he lost the lead and eventually second place to the factory Ducatis, having to settle for third. He still continues to lead the world championship but now sees his lead drop from 39 to 18 points.
Marc Marquez took a fourth-place finish, completing an all-Ducati 1-2-3-4 on track. He looked set for a podium but ultimately lost out to Bastianini who managed his tires very well. Marc also finished second in the sprint, gaining some extra points in the process. He also looked threatening in qualifying, being 0.3 seconds up on the pole time in his final run, only to lose control and find himself in the gravel at turn 10, a fourth-place start nonetheless, that became third after Francesco was penalized. He currently sits third in the title picture, 35 points behind leader Martin. The Spaniard would like to have an impressive season to guarantee himself a factory Ducati ride in 2025.
Honda and Yamaha’s woes continue
The hype around Yamaha and Honda came crashing down as the yield of their private tests two weeks ago produced no result. Out of all the Yamaha and Honda bikes, only Alex Rins finished in the points in 15th place, with Fabio Quatararo finishing 17th and the Hondas finishing 19th and 20th only ahead of Lorenzo Savadori’s Aprilia.
It was reported that Repsol was thinking about dropping its sponsorship deal with Honda due to their lack of performance. This may be the last season we see the iconic Repsol Orange Honda for a long time.
Joan Mir has had some miserable Italian GPs in Mugello, but this was one to forget. He qualified a lackluster 17th, nearly three-quarters of a second off the pace, and had a double DNF in both the sprint and the grand prix. His struggles with the Honda RC213V have had a negative impact on his mental health as well. The 26-year-old confessing to pondering over retirement some time ago.
Both the Japanese teams, which were winning races not too long ago, now seem to be backmarkers, with even customer teams finishing ahead of the factory teams nearly constantly.
Pedro Acosta’s delight
Heading into Sunday, Pedro Acosta was the happiest man alive, having signed a contract for the KTM factory team from 2025 onwards. Come Sunday, he once again proved himself to be the primary foe of the Ducatis, finishing fifth behind the Quartet mentioned earlier, fighting Marc Marquez early on and then staving off a late charge from Franco Morbidelli. Adding to that was a lucky, yet stellar ride to third in the sprint race. The sensational rookie now sits 5th in the world standings, his rookie season being one for the ages, ahead of Maverick Vinales and Brad Binder.
Aprilia’s Race pace struggles continue
‘Top Gun’ Maverick Vinales qualified third and started second, but fell down the order to 8th. Initially having a mediocre holeshot off the line, his choice of a medium rear tyre didn’t pay off as he couldn’t fight back against the Ducatis of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franko Morbidelli and barely hung on to 8th. Aleix Espargaro, who was racing in his final Italian Grand Prix, could only muster 11th as the final Aprilia of Lorenzo Savadori finished dead last.
Aprilia, who took the only non Ducati win this season in Austin, have suffered in recent weeks, with a fourth-place finish in Barcelona being their best result since that win.
Questions about the vacant ride for 2025 still remain, although Aprilia has admitted to keeping an eye out for Juan Mir and Enea Bastianini.
Rumors have also surfaced saying that Aleix Espargaro has accepted to become the test rider for Honda in 2025.
Championship Standings
The championship standings after the Italian Grand Prix don’t see a change at the top however the gap has significantly closed.
The Tuscan hills have provided yet another twist in this championship fight, but one thing is for sure, MotoGP continues to provide quality and entertaining races.
MotoGP heads to TT Circuit Assen next for the Dutch GP from 28-30 June.
MotoGP
MotoGP 2024: MotoGP back at Misano for exciting weekend
MotoGP is back at Misano as the title fight reaches it’s climax.
MotoGP once again returns to Misano for the second time this season. The original race was scheduled to be in India, then in Kazakhstan and finally in Misano. Join us as DRC previews an exciting weekend ahead of the 2024 Emilia Romagna Motorcycle Grand Prix. Read the last race review here.
Table of Contents
Three-way MotoGP title fight brewing
At the start of the year, it looked like it would be either Jorge Martin or Francesco Bagnaia who would be the title protagonists. It looked like it was the case even in Silverstone. But with his recent return to form, Marc Marquez has also made his claim as a potential title challenger. With back-to-back wins, the last one on the same circuit in Misano, he is one of the favorites to win. Right now the Gresini rider sits 3rd in the championship, 53 points behind leader Jorge Martin. With a bit of luck and a lot of victories, Marquez surely has a chance at his ninth title.
While Marquez needs some luck, the two at the front don’t. Both Martin and Bagnaia are 50 points ahead of the opposition and have dominated this year with all but 3 wins going to them. 7 points separate them with martin leading the championship by 7 points. A lot of pressure will be on him to outscore Bagnaia for some crucial points. Another big talking point will be how well can Martin handle pressure. Pecco has been very good at putting Martin under loads of pressure, which often culminates in him making a mistake or crashing out. Martin in the past has been vocal about how he needs to be better in the psychological battle against Bagnaia.
Francesco Bagnaia will come into this weekend as confident as ever after topping the Misano test right after the San Marino GP. He is the home-crowd favourite and has more wins than anybody else this season. Misano historically has not been his best track, with him winning twice in 8 starts since his debut.
Yamaha aim improvements
The last race at Misano was an excellent stride in improvement for Yamaha. Fabio Quartararo put his factory Yamaha in the top seven. And this was not just the rain mixing things up. Fabio was 6th and 9th in the practice sessions, got a straight entry into Q2 and qualified ahead of every single Aprilia. Alex Rins had a fantastic ride as well and was at one point fighting for tenth place when the rain came.
This is the first time in nearly a year that a Japanese bike has cracked a top-10 finish. Further, Fabio finished fifth in the Misano test earlier on and showed great improvement with the new tire compounds being tested. This was received by the community as a huge leap forward for Japanese motorcycle racing, and Yamaha has said with recent improvements they aim to be fighting at the top end by the end of the 2025 season. With Prima Pramac also switching to Yamaha 2025 onwards, the team will also benefit from having European expertise involved in the development process.
Honda on the other hand, are facing blow after blow. Both Repsol Honda riders sat out the San Marino Grand Prix due to sickness. Repsol also parted ways with Honda after a very successful partnership that saw them win 15 titles and score more than 450 podiums in MotoGP.
The LCR Honda team scored some points for the Japanese powerhouse, but the outstanding problems with the bike are still fixed. Zarco was the lead Honda in the Misano test in 18th place 1.3 seconds off the lead. Johann Zarco even went on to say that there were some problems whose cause have not even been identified as of now, and a “total postmortem” of the bike is necessary to make it competitive. He also went on to say that it is not that Yamaha and Honda are bad, just the fact that Aprilia, KTM and Ducati are way better.
KTM look to impress again, Aprilia try to bounce back
KTM were the team that took the challenge to Ducati here two weeks ago. Three KTMs were in the top three with Brad Binder, Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro finishing ahead of every single Aprilia. The wonder rookie Pedro Acosta was also on point fighting for a potential 4th place but crashed out while duelling with Morbidelli and had to finish a lap down in 17th.
Acosta was once again the lead KTM in the Misano test, finishing a strong 4th by the end of the day. He was the leader of the pack until the final hour when Bagnaia, Morbidelli and Bastianini put in very quick laps to overtake him. Binder, Miller and Dani Pedrosa also impressed with the consistent pace.
Aprilia have traditionally not fared well at Misano and it showed in both the San Marino GP and the test. The only Aprilia to score points last time out was that of Miguel Oliviera for Trackhouse. They were outpaced and outraced by the KTMs and hence dropped valuable points to them in the Constructer’s championship. KTM will once again try to jump on this opportunity to score more points than Aprilia. It is rumored that they may bring in Pedrosa as a wildcard in-order to score more points, just like they did with Espargaro last time out.
Weekend Schedule and weather report
This is how the weather looks like for the Emilia Romagna GP
This is the weekend schedule. All times are in IST. Races can be watched live on Eurosport and on Jio Cinema.
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MotoGP
MotoGP 2024: Marquez wins back-to-back in Magical Misano
Marc Marquez won a chaotic flag-to-flag race in Misano as Jorge Martin gambles and looses out big.
The 2024 MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix was a race of treacherous conditions, insane rides and vicious gambles. With uncertain weather conditions, this flag-to-flag race is already amongst the greats. Join us as DRC reviews a fantastic San Marino Grand Prix weekend. Read more MotoGP news, reviews and previews here.
Table of Contents
What is a flag-to-flag race?
Before we get into the review, lets talk about what a flag-to-flag race in MotoGP is. Unlike Formula One or other forms of car racing, MotoGP or any Motorcycle Grand Prix racing employs other forms of pitstops. MotoGP pitstops work in the sense that there are different bikes with different sets of tires on them, so if you want to pit, you just ride into your box and hop onto another bike.
In MotoGP, a rider can freely enter the pits during qualifying and practice, but only at certain times during the sprint and the race. This is during times where the weather conditions have drastically changed and it would be unsafe for riders to continue on the same tires. This is signaled to the riders in the form of a white flag, allowing them to enter the pits. This type of race with changeable weather conditions wherein a rider can use multiple bikes in the same race is called a Flag-to-Flag race.
Some famous flag-to-flag races in MotoGP include the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, the 2016 German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring and the 2015 San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.
Marquez reigns in the chaos
Marc Marquez did not have a good saturday at all. After his comeback win in Motorland Aragon last week, the Spaniard looked quick from the get go. But his chances at pole slipped when he crashed out from a pole worthy lap in Q2. He would then start and finish the sprint in a lackluster ninth place.
He was in ninth for a little while when the race started, but quickly picked off places from Fabio Quartararo, Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzechi before capitalizing on Pedro Acosta and Franky Morbidelli’s crash to move up into fourth. This was when the chaos started. A white flag was waved in leu of rainfall at the track. Jorge Martin was the first to enter the pits to swap bikes and Marquez moved upto third behind Jack Miller and Bagnaia. He would then pass both of them the next lap and win comfortably with a huge margin of 3.1 seconds.
Martin on the other hand, changed bikes too early and was racing with wets on a relatively dry track. He had to pit again and had to go a lap down, ultimately finishing 15th. Francesco Bagnaia followed his guts and managed to finish second ahead of team mate Enea Bastianini who once again, sliced through the field on a late charge to the podium.
This in Marc’s own words, was a ‘special win’ as he led Gresini to their first home win. He also dedicated his win to the late Fausto Gresini, in whose honor the team was running a special livery.
KTM and Jack Miller Impress, while Aprilia struggle
KTM was the main contender of Ducati in Misano instead of the Aprilias. Pedro Acosta was the lead KTM as he qualified fifth ahead of another KTM of Brad Binder, both the Gresini Ducatis and the factory Ducati of Bastianini. Binder would then show why he is called the ‘sunday-man’ after losing out in the start to utimately finish in fourth. Acosta the rookie was also impressive, dueling with the Prima Pramac Ducati of Morbidelli until he crashed from fourth place. Thankfully he was able to get back up but finished a lap down in seventeenth.
Another talking point for the weekend was Jack Miller. The Australian finished 8th, but there is more to that story. He was running as high as second, and even dueled with Bagnaia and Bastianini, but would then be passed after his tires ran out of grip. This is a much needed result for Miller, as he is without a ride next season and this race showcased just how great his racing skills are. Wildcard Pol Espargaro finished tenth, making it three KTMs in the top ten, ahead of every single Aprilia.
The Aprilias struggled for pace all weekend. Maverick Vineales was the lead Aprilia in Qualifying in 11th, while Miguel Oliviera was the only Aprilia to score points in the weekend when he finished eleventh in the race. Top Gun finished sixteenth, a lap down while Raul Fernandes finished eighteenth a lap down. Aleix Espargaro retired from the race in a pretty dismal weekend for Aprilia.
Fabio and Yamaha blitz out, while Honda No-Show
Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha have clearly taken their recent lump very seriously, and are hard at work trying to fix the bike’s problems. This weekend at Misano was a very good one for them. Fabio locked in his world title here back in 2021, and now he puts Yamaha in the top 7 this year. Quarataro finished 6th and 9th in the practice sessions, guaranteeing himself a spot in Q2. He would then outqualify the Aprilia of Maverick Vineales and then go onto to finish an impressive seventh in the race. Alex Rins was also running in the top 12, but finished 19th at the flag due to the downpour.
Honda on the other hand, had a mixed weekend. The LCR Honda team, who were running Stefan Bradl as a wildcard this weekend, finished 9 points at the hands of Johann Zarco, Taka Nakagami and Stefan Bradl respectively in 12th through 14th. The factory Repsol Honda team on the other hand was a no show. Both Joan Mir and Luca Marini were sick from friday and decided not to participate in the race saturday itself, with Mir set to miss the Misano test as well. This comes as a salt on wounds type situation for Honda, after Repsol ended thier partnership with them earlier this weekend.
Championship Standings and the next races
Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the championship looks like this:
The next race is also at Misano with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix taking place September 20-22.
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The last time we were in Motorland Aragón, the year was still 2022 and Francescco Bagnaia was yet to win a Moto GP championship. Fast forward to 2024 and Bagnaia is the rider to beat this weekend as he leads Championship. All you need to know about the race weekend and what news has dropped since the last race, read it all in the weekend preview report from DRC.
5 points in it: The Title battle
Last time out at Austrian GP, it was a blockbuster show by the World Champion.
After entering the weekend just behind Martin and a point to prove, Pecco put on a masterclass and won both the Sprint and Race. Now leading the Champion, Bagnaia still can’t rest as his nearest rival is just five points away. Bagnaia is also en-route to shatter his own record of most wins in a season. He is currently sitting at 7 wins which is equal to his record. Hence a win here will be one for the history books.
However, Bagnaia will not be the only one gathering eyes this weekend.
Jorge Martin has proved time and again this season that he’s a force to be reckoned with. We have seen a number of times this season how the Championship leader gets changed after every other Race weekend. And with Martin just trailing to Bagnaia by 5 points, it is very likely to happen again.
The other protagonist in the title fight is Enea Bastianini. The last time around the Motorland Aragón circuit, Bastianini tasted the winner’s champagne as he just pipped Bagnaia at the last lap. (0.042s). A similar show by Bastianini would stregthen his hold at the title fight.
Marquez in desperate need of a come-back at Aragón
Marc Marquez is not having the best of form lately. After crashing out at the Silverstone Sprint, Marquez entered Austria with determination to do himself one better.
However, his Silverstone form was yet to leave him. He was running in P2 in Sprint after Martin had to serve his Long Lap penalty but he fell off his bike, throwing away a well points paying position. In the race, Marquez fell down the owing to a crash with Franco Morbidelli, but eventually did well enough damage limitation and finished fourth.
Marquez currently sits 4th in the championship, 83 points away from the table-topper Bagnaia. This gap is not impossible to claw back, however, Marquez will need to improve his Qualifying pace and rectify his mistakes in races to still have a chance at the Championship.
Driver signings, Private tests and more
The most recent signing in the Moto GP paddock is of Fermin Aldeguer to Gresini Racing.
He was signed by Ducati back in March and now gets the seat of the outgoing Marc Marquez. Currently sitting in P5 in the Moto 2 Championship, the Spaniard impressed the Ducati squad after finishing P3 in Moto2 in 2023 season. He has been signed for a period of 2 years.
In other news, Yamaha are coming into this weekend after conducting a private test last week at Misano. For the same, Andrea Dovizioso stepped up as a replacement for the recovering Cal Crutchlow.
The tests seem to have brought some positivity into Japanese team. Fabio Quartaro exclaimed-
“We had the opportunity to try some new things at the private Misano test. At the test we noticed that the new items give us a small improvement. This weekend we’ll have another chance to try these items, but this time in a race-weekend setting.“
With continued push by the Japanese team, Yamaha riders look in a better place to finally aim for better positions at the Motorland Aragón.
When and Where to watch
All the sessions from Motorland Aragón will be streamed on Eurosport (TV) and JioCinema (Web Broadcast).
The Schedule is as follows:
Friday
14:15-15:00 – Free Practice Nr. 1
18:30-19:30 – Practice
Saturday
13:40-14:10 – Free Practice Nr. 2
14:20-15:00 – Qualifying
18:30 – Sprint
Sunday
17:30 – Race
Make sure to follow DesiRacingCo to keep up with Moto GP at Motorland Aragón.
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