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Category: MotoGp

  • Moto3: Öncü Takes Photo Finish Victory in Spielberg!

    Moto3: Öncü Takes Photo Finish Victory in Spielberg!

    Moto3 never fails to deliver and in the Styria mountains in Spielberg, it was no different today. Deniz Öncü the Turkish teenage wonderkid takes his second victory in Moto3 by a margin of +0.005 seconds to Daniel Holgado in 2nd. A Red Bull KTM 1-2 with Husqvarna riders Ayumu Sasaki finishing in 3rd and pole sitter Collin Veijer in 4th place.

    Image Credit: MotoGP

    AS IT HAPPENED

    As the lights went out to start the race, the two Red Bull KTMs were 1-2 with Holgado leading followed by Öncü into turn 1.  Pole sitter Veijer dropping back into 3rd. David Alonso up to 4th on the first lap, up 3 places already for the GASGAS Aspar Team rider.

    Coming across the line at the end of lap 1, Jaume Masia and Alonso are side by side as they head into turn 1 with Alonso managing to cling onto 4th for the time being. A lead group of 7 riders now developing with a gap of 1.285 seconds to the rest of the field behind.

    Coming through lap 2 and Sasaki sets the fastest time of the race. Championship leader Holgado still leading at the front with Veijer 2nd and Öncü 3rd keen to get by Veijer. Towards the end of the lap now into turns 9 and 10, Öncü dives up the inside of Veijer but can’t get the bike stopped into turn 10 with Veijer moving back passed into 2nd.

    Lap 4 now and the lead group of 7 have a clear gap now over 2 seconds to the rest of the field with the second group lead by Joel Kelso.

    Midway through lap 4 and disaster for Masia and his championship, as technical issues with the bike force Masia to pull over and out of the race. Sasaki and Riccardo Rossi doing well to avoid any collision with Masia.

    A quarter of the way through now and onto lap 6, Holgado leads as Alonso now sets the fastest lap of the race. Öncü back up into second with Veijer 3rd. The front 3 now with a second gap to Alonso back in 4th. Alonso with the hammer down pushing hard to close the gap to the front.

    Alonso pushing hard starting lap 7 with Sasaki tucked in behind, the front 3 are lapping just as quick though. Its going to be a hard job for Alonso and Sasaki to bridge the gap and fight for the victory.

    Into turn 1 Veijer makes his move up the inside of Öncü and back up to 2nd place. Veijer eager to get by Holgado on lap 8 as Alonso yet again sets another fastest lap of the race. Turn 1 clearly the main overtaking spot for the riders on this circuit with it being tough to get by on any other section of the track.

    Midway through lap 8 the lead trio has become a group of 5 as Alonso and Sasaki finally join the party at the front Across the line to start lap 9 and a repeat overtake of the one we seen on Öncü a lap before, as Veijer moves by Holgado and into the lead of the race.

    Now with 12 laps to go, any of the top 5 could take the victory here in Austria. Holgado using the slipstream as we start lap 10 getting by Veijer into turn 1. Alonso now up into 3rd with a great overtake on Veijer at the end of lap 10. Alonso full of confidence after his incredible win from the back of the grid at Silverstone.

    10 laps to go and Alonso is taking the charge to the front getting by Öncü and nearly overtaking Holgado only a few corners later, as they drop down by turn 10 onto the straight straight to start lap 12.

    Start of lap 12 now and just as Alonso takes the lead from Holgado, only seconds later at the chicane Alonso goes down. Disaster strikes for the GASGAS Aspar Team.

    It’s Sasaki now making moves getting by Öncü and looking to attack Holgado. Sasaki passes Holgado into turn 9 leading the race as they start lap 15. Holgado continuing the dicing at the front getting back by Sasaki into turn 3. Öncü taking all sorts of racing lines trying everything to get by Sasaki.  Ivan Ortola in 5th from 18th on the grid is trying all he can to catch the front setting the quickest times. Ortola may have left it too late though to get a podium.

    As we go by the KTM stand, Sasaki is right up behind Holgado through turns 7 and 8 is still unable to get by as Holgado resists the pressure and continues to lead the race with 3 laps to go. Sasaki trying to fight for the win with Holgado just inches ahead at the same time as defending constantly against Öncü desperate to get by.

    Its any of 4 riders now with 2 laps to go to see who can take this. Holgado holding his nerve keeping his cool gets back by Sasaki into the lead. We are set for a frantic last couple of laps with the win all to play for.

    Onto the last lap and its Holgado leading across the line to start the last lap only for Sasaki to get by into turn 1. Holgado is not giving this up without a fight coning from way back to get by Sasaki into turn 3. Holgado in too hot though as Öncü gets by into the lead.

    Sasaki, Holgado and Öncü side by side now as they fly down to turn 4. Sasaki getting back to the front, only for Holgado to pounce immediately leaning on Sasaki through turn 5, Sasaki clinging onto the lead into turn 6. Still anyone’s guess as to who would be on the top step of the podium on the final lap of the race.

    Coming into the final corners now of the Grand Prix, and into the final corner in 3rd place, Öncü takes a photo finish on the finish line with Holgado taking second. A stunning victory here in the Styria mountains for Öncü taking his second win in Moto3.

    Holgado takes a 26 point lead in the championship to Barcelona at the beginning of September. Holgado didn’t mange to finish the race last season and will be hoping for a better result to continue his charge for championship glory.

    Image Credit: MotoGP

     

     

     

     

  • Moto3: First Pole for Veijer in Austria!

    Moto3: First Pole for Veijer in Austria!

    Stunning sunshine here in the Styria Mountains today at the Spielberg circuit.  Collin Veijer took his first ever pole position in Moto3 for the Husqvarna team. The first Dutch pole position in any class since Jurgen van den Goorbergh way back in 1999. 

    AS IT HAPPENED

    Q1

    As always the top four riders will be heading into Q2 to battle it out for pole position and in the early stages it was Matteo Bertelle and Ivan Ortola the top two as the riders posted their first run times. Ortola a surprise name in the Q1 session and will be hoping to get through here with 8 minutes remaining of the session.

    After the riders made a quick stop in the pits for any last minute changes, they all made their way back out onto the circuit for the final 5 minutes of the session. Ortola seen hanging back in the pits watching on, who may feel like he’s done enough to get through to Q2.

    The top four riders currently going through to Q2 with a few mins remaining of the session are Bertelle quickest followed by Ortola,  Diogo Moreira and Ryusei Yamanaka clinging on to 4th.

    All riders now out on circuit on hot laps and Yamanaka comes through first going quickest with a 1:41.960. As the next swarm of Moto3 bikes come across the line, Taiyo Furusato manages to knock Moreira out of the top four posting the 3rd quickest time.

    With yellow flags waving cancelling lap times including Moreira’s, the top four heading into Q2 are Yamanaka, Bertelle, Furusato and Ortola.

    Q2

    The session started and in no time at all we had yellow flags in sector 1 as veteran of Moto3 Romano Fenati stopped on route out of the pitlane.

    Race winner last time out in Silverstone, David Alonso the first rider to post a time in the session of a 1:41.959. Deniz Öncü opting to come into the pits at the end of his first run instead of posting a time as the other riders had lap times cancelled due to the yellow flags in sector 1.

    Championship leader Daniel Holgado a tenth quicker than Alonso now moving to the top of the time sheets with 8 minutes remaining of the session. The top guns yet to get going here, with Jaume Masia now up by two tenths coming through sector 3. As Alonso now gets a box call message from his team, we currently have a front row of Holgado, Alonso and Veijer. Ayumu Sasaki and Öncü still yet to post a flying lap time.

    Riccardo Rossi and eventually Öncü posting quick times with Rossi up to 3rd and Öncü posting the fastest time of the session with a 1:41.591. Only 10 riders of the 18 have got a time on the board so far with only a few mins left of the session. We could be gearing up for a frantic dash to the line for pole position here in Austria.

    Holgado now back to the top of the pile, as Masia now comes across the line up to 4th, losing time in sector 4 nearly going into the back of Stefano Nepa during his flying lap. Nepa could be heading to the stewards after this session to explain that one.

    The last few seconds of the session remaining now and Veijer comes through up into pole position with a stunning lap. With no riders currently on track improving it looks like it will be the Dutchman set to take his first ever pole position in Moto3.

    Another front row start for Holgado tomorrow, with championship rivals Öncü and Masia closely behind starting in 3rd and 4th. Öncü and Masia will be looking to reduce Holgado’s 22 point championship lead in tomorrow’s race.

    Image Credit: MotoGP

    Featured Image courtesy of IntactGP

  • MotoGP: Spectacular Bagnia Wins Sprint Again

    MotoGP: Spectacular Bagnia Wins Sprint Again

    Pecco Bagnaia wins the Austrian GP Sprint race by just over two seconds ahead of Brad Binder and Jorge Martin.

    After qualifying on pole position this morning, Bagnaia was able to have a great start from the best position on the grid. Alongside him was Maverick Vinales who struggled with the start and dropped down the order. From third place, Binder jumped up into second place and started chasing down the Italian rider.

    After the first corner, Jack Miller was also able to capitalise on the poor start from Vinales and improved to third place.

    As the riders came to take the first corner, Martin took the inside line and had contact with Fabio Quartararo who in turn touched Vinales. The Aprilia rider then had contact with Marco Bezzechi who had to retire on the next lap. Other riders that were involved in the incident were Miguel Olivera, Johan Zarco and Enea Bastianini.

    Following this incident, Quartararo dropped down to twentieth position and Vinales brought up the rear of the field.

    Binder continued to show his pace as he caught up to Bagnaia quickly and began to look for places on the track pass the Italian rider. Both Bagnaia and Binder began to break away from Miller in third place and by the end of the first lap, they had a one second lead over the Australian rider.

    Martin was handed a track limits warning during the second lap, one of those was likely to be from the lap one turn one incident.

    Nakagami crashed on the second lap and was unable to continue with the race.

    Bagnaia started setting fastest lap after fastest lap and started to move ahead of Binder, leaving him about a second behind the leader.

    Luca Marini caught up to Miller and started to see where the KTM rider was struggling around the circuit. As these two fought, Martin was able to catch the pair too.

    Marini was able to pass Miller on the start finish straight on lap 6 and Martin was also attempting to get past too however it would be made easy for the Pramac rider when Miller ran wide at turn three. On the next lap, Martin attacked Marini into the chicane, but they touched each other, causing the Italian rider to crash out. The incident was investigated, but no action was taken.

    On the ninth lap, Quartararo was given a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding. This incident occurred a few laps prior and was when he went to overtake Lorenzo Salvadori, the pair touched causing the Aprilia rider to crash out.

    Quartararo took the long lap penalty on the twelfth lap and dropped down the order and was unable to make much progress due to there only being two laps left.

    Zarco had to retire the bike on the penultimate lap after being involved in the first lap incident.

    Brad Binder chasing down Pecco Bagnaia at the 2023 Austrian GP Sprint race. Image courtesy of KTM/Rob Gray (Polarity Photo)

    Bagnaia took the chequered flag 2.056 seconds ahead of Binder who in turn was 5.045 seconds ahead of Jorge Martin. Alex Marquez took fourth place after overtaking Miller. Pol Espargaro led his brother Aleix over the line to take sixth and seventh place respectively.

    Vinales was able to improve to eighth place after being in last place at the end of the first lap. Franco Morbidelli and Marc Marquez rounded out the top ten

    Fabio Di Giannatonio, Joan Mir and Bastianini occupied the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth places. Raul Fernandez, Fabio Quartararo, Iker Lecuona and Augusto Fernandez completed the riders who finished the race.

    2023 AUSTRIAN MOTOGP, RED BULL RING – SPRINT RACE RESULTS
    POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF
    1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP23) 21m 1.844s
    2 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +2.056s
    3 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP23) +5.045s
    4 Alex Marquez SPA Gresini Ducati (GP22) +8.252s
    5 Jack Miller AUS Red Bull KTM (RC16) +11.365s
    6 Pol Espargaro SPA Tech3 GASGAS (RC16) +11.816s
    7 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23) +11.960s
    8 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23) +11.984s
    9 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +13.634s
    10 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +14.435s
    11 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA Gresini Ducati (GP22) +15.251s
    12 Joan Mir SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +16.740s
    13 Enea Bastianini ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP23) +18.825s
    14 Raul Fernandez SPA RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22) +19.536s
    15 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +22.321s
    16 Iker Lecuona SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +25.593s
    17 Augusto Fernandez SPA Tech3 GASGAS (RC16)* +25.789s
      Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP23) DNF
      Luca Marini ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) DNF
      Lorenzo Savadori ITA Aprilia Factory (RS-GP23) DNF
      Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) DNF
      Marco Bezzecchi ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) DNF
      Miguel Oliveira POR RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22) DNF

    Featured Image courtesy of Ducati

  • MotoGP: Espargaro Wins Stunning British Grand Prix

    MotoGP: Espargaro Wins Stunning British Grand Prix

    There were times when it felt like we were watching a Moto3 race today at Silverstone – there was drama up and down the grid and 5 riders all in contention for the win when we reached the final lap.

    Aleix Espargaro has won the British grand prix at Silverstone in stunning fashion. Despite starting the race in 12th, he quietly made his way up the field, capitalised on others crashing, and then found himself in the leading group of four. There was plenty of tussling and battling but he kept his eyes on race leader Pecco Bagnaia to then make a move on the final lap of the race.

    Bagnaia ended the day in 2nd, despite looking pretty untouchable and dominant for much of the race.

    In the early stages, the reigning champion had been battling with title rival, Marco Bezzecchi. However, the VR46 rider made a crucial error when chasing down Bagnaia and crashed out at turn 15 of lap 6.

    The final podium position was taken by Brad Binder, who mastered the tricky weather conditions and used them to his advantage. As others tiptoed round the circuit, making cautious moves, he threw his KTM machine around on his way up to 3rd.

    Binder enjoyed a lot of battles with Miguel Oliveira, who is back this weekend after taking some time out due to an injury. He was very close to the final podium spot as well as Maverick Vinales. The pair eventually came home 4th and 5th respectively.

    As is becoming so normal now on race day, Jack Miller flew off the start line and was an early leader. However, he began to drop back a little bit and then, on lap 3, Vinales made an aggressive move up the inside as the pair were fighting for 4th. This move pushed Miller out wide and dropped him back to 14th. He eventually finished the day in 8th.

    Rain started to fall on lap 13 of 20. Four riders opted to change bike and run the wet tires, including Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli. However, the gamble didn’t pay off and they all finished at the back of the grid.

    Joining them at the back as the checkered flag fell was Fabio Quartararo. But his day wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The Frenchman started the race from last on the grid and worked hard to get himself up to 8th. Whilst fighting with Luca Marini for 7th, the pair collided and he went down at turn 4. He lost much of the carbon fibre off the front of the bike but was able to keep going. He came in to the pits to change his bike and then ended the day 15th. A disappointing result for the Yamaha rider, but he did show glimpses of the old Fabio today.

    There were further DNFs for Alex Marquez who retired with a technical failure on lap 5. It looked as though his gear linkage was broken as he limped his way back to the garage.

    His brother, Marc Marquez, also failed to meet the checkered flag. He was battling with Enea Bastianini at Maggotts and Becketts when the two collided and both went down – it seems they were just making moves that were too risky when the track was greasy and wet.

    Full Results
    1st Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
    2nd Pecco Bagnaia Ducati
    3rd Brad Binder KTM
    4th Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF
    5th Maverick Vinales Aprilia
    6th Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
    7th Luca Marini Mooney VR46
    8th Jack Miller KTM
    9th Johann Zarco Prima Pramac
    10th Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF
    11th Augusto Fernandez GASGASG Tech3
    12th Pol Espargaro GASGASG Tech3
    13th Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini
    14th Franco Morbidelli Yamaha
    15th Fabio Quartararo Yamaha
    16th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
    17th Icer Lecuona LCR Honda

    DNFs = Joan Mir (Repsol Honda), Alex Marquez (Gresini), Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46), Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Enea Bastianini (Ducati)

    Championship Standings
    1st Pecco Bagnaia 214 Points
    2nd Jorge Martin 173 Points
    3rd Marco Bezzecchi 167 Points
    4th Brad Binder 131 Points
    5th Johann Zarco 122 Point

    Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

  • MotoGP: Alex Marquez takes Magnificent Maiden Win at Silverstone Sprint Race

    MotoGP: Alex Marquez takes Magnificent Maiden Win at Silverstone Sprint Race

    In typical British fashion, all we could talk about for most of today’s sprint race was the weather. It was unpredictable and difficult to master. But one man came out on top – and for the first time in his premier class career!

    It was Alex Marquez who came out on top for today’s sprint race at the British GP. He started the race in 3rd, took the lead on lap 2, and never looked back. He faced a late charge from Marco Bezzecchi, who came home in 2nd, but he lead easily and took the checkered flag in dominant fashion.

    The final podium spot was taken by Maverick Vinales, who was thrilled to squeeze a podium out of his Aprilia machine which, typically, doesn’t like these damp conditions.

    Early race leaders, Jorge Martin and Jack Miller eventually came home in 6th and 7th respectively.

    Further down the pack, it was a difficult day for reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia – he came home in 14th and scored no points, meaning his championship lead over Bezzecchi has been cut to 27 points.

    It was an even tougher day for Marc Marquez, coming home in 18th and seemingly facing yet more issues on his Honda, and Fabio Quartararo who made no waves in the race at all – the Frenchman started the race last, in 22nd, and was only able to make up one place across the entire sprint race. A day to forget for both former champions.

    The sprint races format, which is new for 2023 in this new era of MotoGP, has now given us 5 different winners across 9 different race weekends. The forecast for tomorrow’s main race is looking dry – can Alex Marquez replicate his win under those normal conditions?

    As it happened

    After a saturated free practice and qualifying session earlier in the day, the track was beginning to dry as the riders took to the grid for today’s sprint race. That left a lot of questions around tire selection and mid-race bike changes. As it turned out, every rider opted for medium wet tires and this seemed to be the ideal option as the rain would start falling before the race ended.

    As the lights went out, Jack Miller and his KTM machine took an unsurprising early lead. He flew off the line and quickly got past polesitter Marco Bezzecchi. Bezzecchi put up an early fight but it was the Aussie who was clearly out in the lead by the end of the first few corners.

    Further back down the pack, Pecco Bagnaia had a wobble and fell back from his starting position of 4th and in to a pack of squabbling riders. He was now back down in 12th after losing 8 places. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini clashed in the opening few corners, causing a large gap to form right in the middle of the pack.

    Miller wasn’t able to keep hold of the lead for long – after getting past Augusto Fernandez to take 3rd, Jorge Martin flew up the inside of both Bezzecchi in 2nd and Miller in 1st to steal the lead of the race at Stowe corner. It didn’t last for long though and the Prima Pramac rider soon lost out to Bezzecchi and Miller again.

    It was on lap 2 that Alex Marquez took the lead. He first shoved his way up the inside of Bezzecchi and then, a few corners later, flew past Miller and into the lead. By the end of lap 3, Marquez had a 0.5 second lead over the rest of the pack.

    On lap 4, Maverick iInales and Aleix Espargaro make their way past Martin, who has now been shuffled back to 6th. On the following lap, Vinales was now battling with Miller for the final podium position.

    At the halfway point, with his brother leading the pack by 0.8 seconds, Marc Marquez was still struggling down in 14th and he could be seen looking over his shoulder, suggesting there might have been an issue with his bike.

    The grid then began to settle in to the race and everything seemed to calm down. Aleix Espargaro took 4th away from Miller, and shortly after we had Martin closing in on the Aussie too. Further back down the grid and Fabio Giannantonio took 12th away from Bagnaia, before Bastianini followed suit.

    On lap 8, we had spots of rain appearing at various points on the circuit and, on lap 9, Bezzecchi was squeezing everything out of his Mooney VR46 machine as he went on the hunt for Marquez and the race win. By the start of the final lap, the gap has dropped from just over a second down to 0.8 seconds. Then, in the first sector of the final lap, Bezzecchi took another 0.3 seconds off this gap. Sadly, in the end, Bezzecchi just ran out of road and came home 0.366s behind maiden premier class winner Alex Marquez.

    Full Results
    1st Alex Marquez Gresini
    2nd Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46
    3rd Maverick Vinales Aprilia
    4th Johan Zarco Prima Pramac
    5th Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
    6th Jorge Martin Prima Parmac
    7th Jack Miller Red Bull KTM
    8th Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3
    9th Brad Binder Red Bull KTM
    10th Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF
    11th Luca Marini Mooney VR46
    12th Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini
    13th Enea Bastianini Ducati
    14th Pecco Bagnaia Ducati
    15th Franco Morbidelli Yamaha
    16th Pol Espargaro GASGAS Tech3
    17th Joan Mir Repsol Honda
    18th Marc Marquez Repsol Honda
    19th Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF
    20th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
    21st Fabio Quartararo Yamaha
    22nd Icer Lecuona LCR Honda
    Championship Standings
    1st Pecco Bagnaia 194 points
    2nd Marco Bezzecchi 167 points
    3rd Jorge Martin 163 points
    4th Johann Zarco 115 points
    5th Brad Binder 115 points

    Feature Image Credit: MotoGP on Twitter

  • MotoGP: Bezzecchi On Pole Despite British Downpour

    MotoGP: Bezzecchi On Pole Despite British Downpour

    During a typical summer’s day at the British Grand Prix, the rain poured at Silverstone for our first qualifying after the summer break. The conditions were difficult to master, with many riders falling, but one man was able to secure pole.

    Marco Bezzecchi mastered the awful conditions on track today to bring his bike home in pole – his second consecutive pole position. However, his bike wasn’t unscathed. Bezzecchi went down in the dying minutes of Q2 whilst trying to improve on his time. His bike looked very much like it was ready for the scrap heap as the Italian rider walked to parc ferme. He will be joined on the front row by Jack Miller and Alex Marquez who also mastered the conditions.

    As It Happens

    Qualifying 1

    The first rider to fall victim to the conditions was Fabio DiGiantonio. He faced a highside going into Abbey corner with 9 minutes remaining on the clock. It was a disappointing early end to the session for the rider was was fastest in practice and was sitting at the top of the timing sheets so far in qualifying.

    A few minutes later, Fabio Quartararo aquaplanes at turn 16 – he is able to keep the bike upright and gets it going again to rejoin the session.

    Franco Morbidelli is next to top the timing sheets and continues to beat his own time on his way to a Q2 spot.

    Enea Bastianini was looking set to join Morbidelli in Q2, sitting comfortably in 2nd for much of the session. However, he was bested by Augusto Fernandez in the dying moments, as the Spanish rider set a 2:16.885.

    It was a hugely difficult day for Quartararo who wasn’t able to find his rhythm again after the mid-session incident. He will start both of this weekend’s races from the back of the grid.

    Qualifying 2

    The first rider to top the timing sheets was Jack Miller who set a blistering lap time of 2:15.629 – it seemed to come out of nowhere as the Aussie left everything on the track whilst others were tip-toeing around.

    With 6 and a half minutes left on the clock, Pecco Bagnaia had a fast crash after locking the breaks. He went down at turn 6 and despite hitching a lift on a moped, he wasn’t able to get back to the garage with enough time to get back on track for a hot lap. Luckily for the reigning champion, he had already laid down a fast lap and will still the race from 4th.

    With the rain continuing to pour, more and more riders were falling, with turn 1 looking especially tricky. That included Alex Marquez and Luca Marini. The multiple yellow flags that were out for the final 3 minutes meant that no riders were able to improve on their lap times.

    The final rider to fall in qualifying was provisional pole sitter, Marco Bezzecchi. His bike ended up looking like scrap but, again due to the resulting yellow flags, no one was able to beat his pole lap time of 2:15.359.

    Feature Image Credit: Mooney VR46 on Twitter

  • MotoGP: Bagnaia Takes Dominant Win as Podium Changes After Flag for DutchGP

    MotoGP: Bagnaia Takes Dominant Win as Podium Changes After Flag for DutchGP

    In the last race before the 5-week summer break, the iconic Assen TT circuit has given us another brilliant race with difficult conditions and a close field to overcome.

    Pecco Bagnaia has mastered the tricky, hot track conditions at the DutchGP to take a truly dominant victory. He led almost every lap of the race on his way to extending his championship lead.

    After his brilliant pole positions and sprint race win, Marco Bezzecchi was thrilled with another podium today as he came home in 2nd place. He dropped back to 3rd at the race start, giving himself the challenge of fighting with Brad Binder for 2nd.

    It was Binder who crossed the line in 3rd but, after a dramatic post-flag penalty for exceeding track limits, he was demoted to 4th. Replays showed that the South African touched the green part of the kerb with a fraction of his front tire – however, this was enough to set off the sensors and land him a penalty. He will feel very hard done by after facing the same fate in yesterday’s sprint race – It was the same kerb at the same part of the race that saw him miss out on a podium.

    This meant that Aleix Espargraro was promoted to the 3rd place after a really positive race for the Aprilia rider. This is his first podium of the year – a surprise to many after his very strong showing at pre-season testing. He will be hoping to carry this momentum through the summer break and on to Silverstone in 5 weeks time. It was an impressive run for Espgararo who was nursing an injured bike after contact with Luca Marini’s rear tire at the start of the race.

    Image Credit: MotoGP

    It was a much more difficult day for Jack Miller, celebrating his 200th race, and Johann Zarco, celebrating his 250th race. Miller was the first rider to go down on lap 2, followed by Zarco, who was taken out by Fabio Quartararo on lap 3.

    In the end, we only had 14 riders complete the full 26 lap race thanks to a number of riders falling victim to the 50-degree track temperatures and the numerous issues this caused.

    As It Happened

    As the riders made their way on to the grid, we were able to see their tire choices and how the riders were aiming to tackle the undoubtedly hot and greasy track conditions – tires were always going to prove crucial today. All riders, except two, were on the hard front tires. Half the grid then opted for a soft rear tire, the other half opting for a medium rear. Most notably were Brad Binder and Jack Miller who had opted for that soft rear – it looked as though they were aimed for a strong start to the race with that choice.

    The lights went out and, as anticipated, there was quickly a lot of action up and down the grid. Polesitter, Marco Bezzecchi was swallowed by the chasing pack and quickly dropped down to 3rd. Binder, in typical Binder fashion, had a flying start. He saw a small gap on the inside of turn 1 and made a very late move, throwing his bike up and into the lead.

    Further back, Jack Miller was sitting in 8th and hunting down Maverick Vinales in 7th. He then made a move on the start-finish straight at the start of lap 2. However, as Vinales tried to retake the position, Miller lost the bike under him slid out into the gravel at turn 1. Thanks to this clear air, Vinales was able to then take fastest lap.

    It wasn’t long before the next incident and on lap 3, Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco went down at turn 7- the fastest part of the track. The replays showed that the front of Quartararo’s bike folded underneath him and he collected Zarco as he went down. It was clearly a huge impact for both riders, who looked battered and bruised. Quartararo was then helped out of the gravel as he limped away.

    It was on the same lap that Pecco Bagnaia stole the lead away from Binder.

    One more lap later, it was Vinales’ turn to go down. He was making moves up the field but sadly went down at turn 8. That’s four riders going down across 3 laps!

    All these incidents helped to promote Jorge Martin, Miguel Oliveira and Alex Marquez who were running in 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. There was now a huge battle for 5th place, with 6 riders all in the fight. On lap 6, Luca Marini, who had been leading this pack, fell back from 5th to 10th in the space on one corner. This meant that Aleix Espargaro, running in a comfortable 4th, was gifted a 2.5s gap over this fighting group.

    On lap 7, Enea Bastianini crashed out at turn 5 whilst running in 8th – he tried to get the bike back up and running again but it was a lost cause as the flames started to appear at the back of the Ducati machine.

    At the midpoint of the race, we still had Bagnaia leading the field, with Binder hot on his tail in 2nd. Binder was able to gain a huge amount on the leader in every breaking zone, but wasn’t able to convert this into a move for the lead.

    Everything across the field seemed to calm down as we drew ever closer to the chequered flag. The biggest drama came when Oliveira, running in 10th, made a mistake at turn 15. He then retired a lap later, suggesting it was a mechanical issue. A few laps later, we then had Iker Lecuona drop to the back of the field before also retiring with a mechanical issue. Lecuona is here this weekend to stand in for the injured Joan Mir.

    With the laps ticking down now, Bezzecchi decided now was the time to make a move and lay down his intentions to win. On lap 17 of 26, he made a move on Binder, who tried hard to counter this. This battle then gave a 1.2s lead for Bagnaia.

    Bezzecchi, now in 2nd and with some clean air in front of him, was gaining between 0.3s and 0.4s per lap on Bagnaia and looked like he might be making a late move for the victory.

    After losing 2nd place, Binder was now in 3rd and falling back in to the clutches of Espargaro who was desperately seeking his first podium of the year.

    There were gaps forming between most riders on the grid now and it appeared that the hot track conditions were hampering everyone from making late moves.

    This meant that nothing changed on the track and Bagnaia took the chequered flag, ahead of Bezzcchi and Binder. Espargaro came home in 4th, but would soon be promoted to 3rd after Binder’s last lap penalty for track limits.

    Jorge Martin, despite a difficult weekend where he seemed to be quite off the pace, came home in 5th. He was just ahead of Alex Marquez in 6th, Luca Marini in 7th and Takaaki Nakagami in 8th. Rounding out the top 10 were Franco Morbidelli in 9th and Augusto Fernandez in 10th.

    Full Results
    1 Pecco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo
    2 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46
    3 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
    4 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM
    5 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
    6 Alex Marquez Gresini Racing
    7 Luca Marini Mooney VR46
    8 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
    9 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha
    10 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3
    11 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia
    12 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF
    13 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda
    14 Jonas Folger GASGAS Tech3
    Championship Standings
    1 Pecco Bagnaia 194 points
    2 Jorge Martin 159 points
    3 Marco Bezzecchi 158 points
    4 Brad Binder 114 points
    5 Johann Zarco 109 points

    Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

  • MotoGP: Martin Takes Breathtaking Win In Germany

    MotoGP: Martin Takes Breathtaking Win In Germany

    Sachensring has gifted us a remarkable race this weekend between our two championship contenders. The battle lasted for the entirety of the race, culminated in last-lap contact, and ended with our 4 different race winner across 7 races,

    For the first time in over 2 years, Jorge Martin can enjoy the view from the top step of the podium after winning the German GP. It might be only his second victory in the premier class but he laid down a stunning performance to hold off the attack from reigning champion, Pecco Bagnaia. He eventually crossed the line a mere 0.6s ahead of Bagnaia to add 25 points to his championship hopes.

    Despite starting in pole position, Bagnaia was forced to settle for 2nd today. He sat at the front of the field for much of the early stages of the race but soon found himself in a fierce battle with Martin.

    When Martin took the lead for the first time on lap 3, he was setting blisteringly fast lap times that matched the pace we saw in Saturday’s qualifying. This allowed him to pull out a comfortable lead of 0.5s, after leading for just one lap. He then continued to lead until lap 21 when Bagnaia was able to sneak past him. However, he wasn’t able to pull away by much and Martin stayed hot on his tail before regaining the lead at the final sector of lap 24.

    With the lap counter rapidly ticking down, thanks to the shortest track of the year, Bagnaia was achingly close to Martin’s rear wheel. He didn’t let the Spanish rider out of his side and stayed hot on his tail. That was until the penultimate lap when Bagnaia made an uncharacteristic mistake and bumped Martin’s rear wheel. The impact of this contact saw Bagnaia drop back and almost ended his hopes of a race win. He had just one final lap to close the gain and regain the lead – he fought as hard as he could but simply couldn’t get close enough. He made a run on Martin over the finish line but Martin managed to stay 0.064s ahead to take the win.

    Image Credit: @DucatiCorse on Twitter

    Joining them on the podium was Johan Zarco on the Prima Pramac machine. The Frenchman is becoming quite accustomed to finishing races in 3rd place. This is the third time in a row he has crossed the line in 3rd and tasted champagne on the podium.

    Zarco wasn’t able to fight for 1st or 2nd today as he simply wasn’t able to catch the leading pair. This was despite setting a number of fastest laps in the middle of the race.

    Brad Binder was on track to take 3rd after fighting his way up to that position and passing Luca Marini. However, on turn 8 of lap 19, one of the fastest corners on the track, Binder lost control of the bike at the corner entry and went wide. When he tried to save it, he was already in the gravel and he came off the bike with a hard hit. Shortly after he limped off the circuit, he was taken to the medical centre for a check.

    After his battle with Binder for that final podium spot, Marini then entered a hot battle with his VR46 teammate, Marco Bezzecchi. In the end, it was Bezzecchi who came out on top and the pair finished in 4th and 5th.

    Just behind them, finishing the day in 6th, was Jack Miller. In typical Miller fashion, he started the race incredibly well and quickly got the holeshot on Bagnaia. He lead the first lap before, on lap 2, facing a tank slapper at turn 11. This let the rest of the field catch up to the Aussie and we almost had 4 abreast in to turn 12. In the space of two corners, Miller was shuffled back from 1st to 4th.

    It was an enough harder day for Maverick Vinales who was unable to finish the race after his engine went bang on lap 8. He went back to the garage shaking his head – it was a weekend that capped off a recent run of poor performance for Aprilia.

    Fabio Quartararo, who won here last year, finished way down in 13th, with his teammate Franco Morbidelli just ahead of him in 12th. But this year, 8 of the top 9 bikes were Ducati, showing just how much progress they have made in the last 12 months.

    Overall, the pace was so incredibly fast today that the whole race was 20 seconds faster than last year’s German GP – an astonishing race all round.

    Full Standings
    1 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
    2 Pecco Bagnaia Lenovo Ducati
    3 Johann Zarco Prima Pramac
    4 Marco Bexxecchi Mooney VR46
    5 Luca Marini Mooney VR46
    6 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM
    7 Alex Marquez Gresini
    8 Enea Bastianini Ducati Lenovo
    9 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini
    10 Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF
    11 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3
    12 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha
    13 Fabio Quarataro Monster Energy Yamaha
    14 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
    15 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF
    16 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
    17 Jonas Folger GASGAS Tech3

    DNFs: Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia)

    Championship Standings
    1 Pecco Bagnaia 160 points
    2 Jorge Martin 144 points
    3 Marco Bezzecchi 126 points
    4 Johann Zarco 109 points
    5 Brad Binder 96 points

    Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

  • MotoGP: Martin Sprints to Sachsenring Glory

    MotoGP: Martin Sprints to Sachsenring Glory

    Jorge Martin was on another level in a superb sprint race victory here at the Sachsenring. Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller rounding off the top three in 2nd and 3rd as the Martinator marched on in his 2023 title challenge.

    The crowd were witness to a fantastic battle in the early stages between the front 3 riders and a great fight for 4th place which was taken, in the end, by Luca Marini.  More disappointment for both Yamaha and Aprilia with only Aleix Espargaro managing to finish in the top 10.

    Image Credit: MotoGP

    AS IT HAPPENED

    Jack Miller, after a great start, lead into turn 1 on the first lap only for Pecco Bagnaia to come back past Miller into turn 2.

    At the end of lap 1,  Bagnaia ran too hot into turn 1 as Miller moved back past into 1st and created a bit of a gap at the front. Jorge Martin  wasup 3 places in the race by the start of lap 2.

    As the front three were battling, it was Brad Binder setting the fastest lap of the race at the end of lap 2 with Marc Marquez running wide. Marquez is constantly on the limit with his Honda this weekend, which has resulted in a lot of crashes so far. Halfway through lap 3, Bagnaia made his way back to the front down the hill of turn 11, back past Miller, only for the lead to quickly switch back to Miller down into turn 1 at the start of lap 4. A fantastic battle between last year’s teammates.

    The overtake and key moment of the race has to go to the Martinator, Jorge Martin, as he blasted up the inside of both Bagnaia and Miller into the lead. An outstanding move from Martin!

    On lap 6, Martin set the fastest lap of the sprint whilst building a gap to Bagnaia in the chasing group of 4 behind. Martin was pushing the gap above 1 second for the first time and trying to stretch out a lead at the front. Martin posted fastest lap after fastest lap and was on another level here at the Sachsenring.

    It was a story of Ducati vs KTM in the top 5 with Yamaha nowhere, down in 14th and 15th. Aprilia were also outside of the top ten. With 9 laps to go in the sprint race, Martin is now 1.327s ahead of Bagnaia in second and despite Bagnaia doing his best lap of the race, he’s still unable to respond to the blistering pace of Martin out at the front.

    Starting lap 10 of 15, Martin was well ahead now with a gap of 1.696s to Bagnaia in 2nd. Bagnaia was also half a second clear of Miller in 3rd.

    Coming into the final phase of the sprint race, the top 3 seemed to have the positions locked in. The battle for 4th intensified with Binder battling with Marini. Binder was unable to outbreak the VR46 team rider into turn 1 as the battle for 4th place continued with 4 laps to go.

    At the start of lap 14 and Binder was trying all he can to get by Marin, again into turn 1, however he was unable to make the move stick. Marini was holding station in 4th and showing superb defensive skills and was shutting the door whenever he could on Binder.

    On the last lap of the sprint, Zarco managed to barge his way by Binder to take 5th but this then forced an investigation by the stewards. In the end, Marini managed to hold off everyone to take a great 4th place.

    Martin crossed the line +2.468s clear of Bagnaia in 2nd and is now just 21 points shy of Bagnaia’s lead in the championship. Martin is mounting a serious challenge to our reigning champion and proved to be just too quick today for Bagnaia and Miller. Miller said, post race, that there is still more to come from the KTM rider and we’re all set for a great race tomorrow.

    How it finished
    Image Credit: MotoGP

    Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

  • MotoGP: Bagnaia takes pole in Sachsenring

    MotoGP: Bagnaia takes pole in Sachsenring

    Pecco Bagnaia reigns supreme at the Sachsenring with his 15th career pole position in MotoGP.  Back-to-back pole positions for the world champion as the incredible run of form continued here in Germany. 

    A Sachsenring stunner here and a qualifying session full of drama. After a sea of yellow flags and laps cancelled, it was the Bologna bullet holding out at the end of Q2 to take pole position. 

    Image Credit: Ducati Corse

    QUALIFYING 1

    Nicknamed the SachsenKING, Marc Marquez lead the pack of riders into Q1 on an ever changing track and set the benchmark time for the rest of the riders to chase posting the fastest time early on in the session.

    With eight minutes left of the session, Marquez headed back out on the medium rain tyres to see if the track was ready for slicks, only to end up sprinting back to the pits for the spare bike, after the first of what turned into many falls throughout qualifying session for Marquez.

    With time ticking away and riders in the pits looking on, they all had a tough call to make on what tyres to head back out on for the rest of Q1. After advice from his KTM teammate Jack Miller, Brad Binder was the first to gamble and head out onto the track on slick tyres.

    With 30 seconds remaining of Q1, only two riders had the slick tyres on and this proved to be the right call with Binder and Marquez moving into Q2.

    QUALIFYING 2

    The battle for pole was on and with the sunshine now beating down onto the circuit, all of the riders headed out onto the track with slick tyres.

    With ten minutes of the session remaining, Marquez was on course to posting the fastest time only to go over the handlebars coming out of turn 13. Marquez yet again seen sprinting back to the pits determined to get back out in Q2.

    With Luca Marini now crossing the line going quickest, we then saw teammate Marco Bezzecchi crash out at turn 13. A copy cat like crash to the one we saw only moments earlier with Marquez.  With yellow flags now waving in sector 4 and with Bezzecchi now sprinting back to the pits, we were set for a hectic battle for pole in the second half of the session.

    With just two minutes left to go in Q2, Johann Zarco goes quickest only to be topped a few seconds later by Miller. Fastest lap times just kept coming as we were shaping up for a thrilling finish to Q2.

    Then just as all of the sectors lit up in yellow flags, Marini posted the quickest time only to be fractionally topped by Bagnaia, which would turn out to be pole position with a lap time of 1’21.4090 seconds. Just 0.078th of a second quicker to Marini in second place.

    With Zarco going down and another fall from Marquez forcing the yellow flags, it caused a bunch of riders lap times to be cancelled and in doing so kept Bagnaia on top to take pole position.

    Starting grid for the 2023 Saschenring MotoGP race. Image courtesy of MotoGP

     

    Feature Image Credit:  courtesy of Ducati