World Championship contender Francesco Bagnaia secures the top spot on the grid at the 2024 season finale in Barcelona – Jorge Martin will start from fourth place in the fight for the World Cup trophy
At the MotoGP finale in Barcelona, Francesco Bagnaia clinched his sixth pole position of the 2024 season. Alongside the Ducati driver, Aleix Espargaro will start his last two races with Aprilia. Marc Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) completed the front row.
World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati) qualified fourth. “I know,” Bagnaia commented on the starting position, “that I need more bikes between me and Jorge. So that was the plan, and it worked out. He starts from fourth place, which is still very close.”
“But I’m happy overall because I think we have good pace and are fast in the time attack. Now we just have to stay focused.” For the third time in a row, Bagnaia has won the BMW M Award as the best qualifier of the year. The prize for this is a new car.
At the start of Q2, Martin closed the throttle on his first flying lap and stopped. Bagnaia continued, with Marc Marquez following him on the rear wheel. Bagnaia initially took the lead ahead of the Gresini rider.
Alex Marquez caused the yellow flags to fly with a crash in turn 5 with the second Gresini Ducati. But they were quickly lifted and Martin was not hindered in his second flying lap.
Bagnaia improved his best time on his second flying lap, as did Marc Marquez, who was still glued to the rear wheel of the red Ducati. Martin finally crossed the line in third place after his first good lap. He was just over two-tenths of a second down on Bagnaia’s time.
After new rear tires were brought to the pits, the decision for the final pole position of the year was made. And again, Marc Marquez picked the rear wheel of Bagnaia. Both initially did not improve their times.
@PeccoBagnaia with a 1:38.641
Provisional pole consolidated with less than 2 minutes to go SolidarityGP pic.twitter.com/0Qu9fEzAPE
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) November 16, 2024
Martin also failed to improve at the start of his second attempt because he had gone straight on at Turn 1. On his second flying lap, Bagnaia set a new best time of 1:38.641 minutes, with Marc Marquez also improving and defending second place.
That was the decision at the front! “It’s not really a front row for us, to be honest, because I had the slipstream of ‘Pecco’,” admits Marc Marquez. “He’s clever and knows he needs riders between him and Martin.”
“I realized that yesterday and it was the case today too. He pulled a few drivers with him. He has to do that because he is very fast and rides very well. I used the slipstream to get into the front row. For the race, the top 5 is our goal.”
Espargaro wanted to help Martin
Morbidelli followed directly behind Bagnaia and Marc Marquez on the track and was thus initially drawn into third place. He also benefited from slipstreaming. Martin was only fourth. Shortly before the end of the session, Espargaro catapulted himself into second place, while Martin was only fifth.
But Martin was riding just a few meters behind Espargaró and used this to improve his time. He overtook Morbidelli and thus ended up in fourth place on the grid again. In the third qualifying session in a row at this track, Martin missed out on a place on the front row.
SO CLOSE TO A FAREWELL POLE! @AleixEspargaro takes a dream 2nd to end his farewell GP on a high SolidarityGP pic.twitter.com/ZN2FkSebmI
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) November 16, 2024
Espargaro wanted to help his buddy, as he reveals: “I knew Jorge was behind me. So I tried to set the best lap I could, even though the soft front tire was not ideal. But I still managed a fast lap in 1:38.6.”
Martin will be joined on the grid by his Pramac teammate Morbidelli. Pedro Acosta (Tech3-GasGas) was the best KTM rider by some margin in sixth place. The rookie was three-tenths of a second off the pole time.
Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46-Ducati) secured the remaining places on row three. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda) were at the back of the pack in Q2.
KTM nowhere to be seen apart from Acosta
Qualifying began in the late morning with an air temperature of just 13 degrees Celsius in Q1. Morbidelli set the best time with a 1:39.145. Quartararo secured a place in Q2 in second place. Joan Mir was stuck in third place, but he also confirmed the Honda upturn.
Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse-Aprilia) made a comeback from his wrist injury with 14th place on the grid. Alex Rins (Yamaha) completed the fifth row of the grid. Luca Marini (Honda) and Raul Fernandez (Aprilia) followed in positions 16 and 17.
The KTM factory team experienced a debacle, with Brad Binder doing well in the first two sectors but losing all the time in the final two sectors. Binder ended up in 18th place on the grid. Teammate Jack Miller crashed in turn 5 on his last lap and finished 19th.
Yellow flags at a crucial time ⚠️@jackmilleraus has gone down and he’s currently down in 9th pic.twitter.com/EocoVm6deo
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) November 16, 2024
There was also no sign of Acosta’s Tech3 teammate Augusto Fernandez. He was 21st, one second down in Q1. Only replacement rider Michele Pirro (VR46-Ducati) and Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl were slower.
The last sprint of the year over 12 laps will start today at 3:00 p.m. Since Martin has a 24-point lead over Bagnaia, the Spaniard could be crowned world champion after the sprint.
This is how the world championship is decided in the sprint:
- If Martin wins, Bagnaia’s result doesn’t matter.
- If Martin comes in second, Bagnaia shouldn’t win.
- If Martin comes in third, Bagnaia would have to come in fifth at best.
- If Martin finishes fourth, Bagnaia would have to finish sixth at best.
- If Martin finishes fifth, Bagnaia would have to finish seventh at best.
- If Martin finishes sixth, Bagnaia would have to finish no higher than eighth.
- If Martin finishes seventh, Bagnaia would have to finish no higher than ninth.
- If Martin finishes eighth, Bagnaia would not collect any championship points.
- If Martin finishes ninth or worse, the championship decision will be made in the Grand Prix.
