In the sprint standings, Francesco Bagnaia is clearly behind Jorge Martin in the 2024 MotoGP season, but in the Grands Prix he partially makes up for it
In Mugello, Jorge Martin from the factory-supported satellite team Pramac clearly leads the 2024 MotoGP standings. Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia is second in the championship, but is already 39 points behind Martin ahead of the seventh race weekend of the season
Bagnaia has his poor sprint record this year to “thank” for the majority of his deficit. A closer look shows that he collected just 14 points in the first six sprints of 2024. In comparison, Martin has already scored 56 points on Saturdays this year.
Bagnaia makes up some of his deficit in the Grands Prix on Sundays. Here he leads the direct comparison with Martin with 102:99 points. Bagnaia’s Grand Prix victory last Sunday in Barcelona was particularly impressive. After crashing in the sprint on the last lap while leading, “Pecco” not only rode to victory the next day with aplomb. He took the lead from Martin in the race in the very corner in which he had crashed on Saturday.
However, the fact that Bagnaia comes to Mugello 39 points behind Martin is not least due to the fact that he has scored zero points in each of the three previous sprints (Jerez, Le Mans, Barcelona). “I’m tired of just giving away points on Saturdays,” admits the defending champion openly.
In Jerez it was a racing accident with Brad Binder and Marco Bezzecchi. In Le Mans, Bagnaia’s second bike did not work like the first after he crashed on the first in qualifying. And in Barcelona, as already mentioned, he threw away twelve world championship points he thought were safe by crashing on the last lap.
Bagnaia relies on the fact that he often manages to fight back after setbacks. Apart from Barcelona Sunday, he also rode to victory on Jerez Sunday (whereby Jorge Martin’s crash while in the lead played into his hands). On Le Mans Sunday he finished third, while Martin triumphed.
“I’m very good at focusing on the big picture,” says Bagnaia and explains: “Yes, I can be disappointed, nervous and angry when I make mistakes, crash or have a problem. But I know exactly what my potential is.”
“I know,” continued the Ducati works rider, “that I can fight for victory if everything goes right. That helps me to be prepared every time. I know for sure that I can have a good Sunday after a difficult Saturday, because the potential of my team and my bike is there to be competitive and fast. Yes, I have a lot of confidence in my package”.
Whether Bagnaia can rely on his resilience after setbacks in the battle for the 2024 World Championship title – which, if successful, would be his third MotoGP title in a row – remains to be seen as the season progresses.
Now that it has been decided that the Grand Prix of Kazakhstan in September will take the place of the canceled Grand Prix of India, there are still 14 race weekends left on the 2024 MotoGP calendar, including the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello
