Francesco Bagnaia wins sprint on the last MotoGP weekend of 2024 ahead of Enea Bastianini, meaning the decision in the title fight will be made in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
The battle for the drivers’ title in the 2024 MotoGP season will not be decided until the last of a total of 40 races in the season, the main race at the season finale in Barcelona. With a victory in Saturday’s sprint after twelve laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Ducati factory driver Francesco Bagnaia has kept the title fight against Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati) open.
After Bagnaia was initially second in the first corner, he took the lead in turn 3. From then on, he held on to it until the finish. Bagnaia’s Ducati teammate Enea Bastianini finished second behind him.
Martin came in third, five points behind Bagnaia. Martin now has a 19-point lead over Bagnaia going into the all-decisive Grand Prix on Sunday. 25 points are still up for grabs.
Martin loses five points but remains confident
“Job done today,” says winner Francesco Bagnaia, adding: “We have to do the same again tomorrow. Jorge did fantastically again. We’ll see tomorrow. I’m very happy today.”
Jorge Martin, whose points lead has shrunk from 24 to 19, said after finishing third: “I feel good. Thanks to Enea for the great show, it was an incredible battle. The most important thing today was to ride normally. I did it as always. I attacked and gave it my best shot.”
“My tire choice was probably not ideal, the hard front tire was probably better,” said Martin. Winner Bagnaia had the hard one on, whereas Martin, like Bastianini, chose the medium front tire. ‘Tomorrow will be a different story. The podium was the goal, so I’m super happy. Tomorrow my goal is similar, I’ll give it my all. I think we have a good chance,’ said Martin.
Bagnaia on pole – Bastianini from P8 wins start
Francesco Bagnaia started from pole, while championship leader Jorge Martin “only” started from the second row after qualifying in fourth place. Between the two championship contenders on the grid: Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) on his last race weekend as a MotoGP regular, and Marc Marquez on his last race weekend with the Ducati customer team Gresini.
But the start was won by a completely different rider, Enea Bastianini, who started from P8. He took the lead into the first corner ahead of teammate Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin. Bagnaia then took the lead from his teammate in turn 3, while Pedro Acosta (Tech3-GasGas) lost the front fairing of his KTM RC16 in a collision in the field and eventually retired.
LIGHTS OUT IN THE FINAL TissotSprint OF 2024 @Bestia23 leads @PeccoBagnaia as @88jorgemartin is 3rd into T1 SolidarityGP TheRematch pic.twitter.com/iiikUpZUNY
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) November 16, 2024
At the end of the first of twelve laps, Bagnaia led Bastianini and Martin, followed by Franco Morbidelli (Pramac-Ducati) and Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati). Both Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro, who had both started from the front row, had a less than ideal first lap.
The focus was, of course, on the World Championship fight between Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin. Martin managed to take second place from Enea Bastianini. Although “Bestia” managed to counterattack again before the “Martinator” finally prevailed. Thus, the two protagonists in the fight for the World Championship title also rode in first and second position in the sprint. But it didn’t stay that way.
A last-lap attack! ⚡@Bestia23 is up into 2nd! SolidarityGP pic.twitter.com/a2tSvsNEVy
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) November 16, 2024
Because on the last lap, Bastianini passed Martin again in turn 5, pushing the championship leader back into third position. The order at the finish line was Bagnaia, Bastianini, Martin. Aleix Espargaro took fourth place, Alex Marquez fifth.
The points were completed by Franco Morbidelli, Marc Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi (VR46-Ducati) and Brad Binder (KTM). Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) was the first driver out of the points in P10, followed by Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda) in P11.
Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse-Aprilia) finished in P18 on his comeback after missing five race weekends (wrist injury from the Mandalika training). Honda’s wildcard starter Stefan Bradl was the last driver to cross the finish line in P22.
The 24-lap Grand Prix, which will decide the title fight between Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia, starts on Sunday at 2:00 pm.
