Tag: Jorge Martin

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MotoGP: Espargaro Takes the Double In Catalunya

After last year’s counting error that saw Aleix Espargaro celebrate too early and lose the victory, it was redemption day for the Aprilia rider as he finally claimed victory at his home race. Espargaro was riding high from victory in Saturday’s sprint race and pulled off nearly the exact same move to take the lead of the race with only 3 laps remaining.

Despite leading the first 20 laps of the race, Maverick Vinales came home in 2nd. However, it wasn’t a difficult result as he celebrated giving Aprilia their first ever 1-2 finish.

Jorge Martin rounded out the podium finishers, coming home in 3rd, after a positive day for the Pramac team.

The day was not without drama – an early red flag was waved after multiple riders crashed at turn 1. The domino-effect incident saw Enea Bastianini, Johann Zarco, Alex Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio all in the gravel before completing a single corner.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Moments later, our reigning champion and current championship leader, Pecco Bagnaia faced a huge highside which left him stranded in the middle of the track. Brad Binder, unable to avoid him, scarily ran over the Italian’s legs and left him writhing around in pain.

Both Bagnaia and Bastianini were taken to hospital and post-race statements followed. Bagnaia has luckily escaped with very minor injuries and Bastianini suffered a fracture to his ankle and hand.

AS IT HAPPENED

As the lights went out at the start of the race, it was a good start for Pecco Bagnaia who was able remain at the front of the pack after starting on pole. However, it was a poor start for Aleix Espargaro who was quickly lost in the field and going backwards.

Enea Bastianini enjoyed a positive start but, as he made his way up the inside of turn 1, he crashed in to the side of Johann Zarco and caused a domino effect. Zarco then crashed in to Alex Marquez, who crashed in to Marco Bezzecchi, who crashed in to Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Whilst those riders were in the gravel at the outside of turn 1, Bagnaia faced an enormous highside and landed in the middle of the track. Brad Binder was unable to avoid the stranded champion and, in a scary moment, ran over Bagnaia’s legs.

The red flag was quickly waved and the amazing medical team were instantly on the scene. Bagnaia spent some time receiving treatment on the track, before being taken to the medical centre and then the local hospital. Bastianini was also injured and took a trip to the hospital for further checks.

Now, with just 23 laps to race, the riders made their way back on to the grid. Luckily, all other riders were able to make it back to the garages under their own steam which allowed them to rejoin the race when it restarted 20 minutes later. Only Bagnaia and Bastianini were missing.

As the lights went out for the second time, Espargaro had a much better start this time away and managed to lead the pack through a clean, drama-free first corner. It was also a positive start for Jorge Martin, who leapt from 5th to 3rd, and Jack Miller, who leapt from 12th to 5th.

However, but turn 2, his Aprilia teammate snatched away the lead and Vinales took over at the front of the pack. Martin’s positive race start continued as he made his way past Espargaro and in to 2nd.

Before lap 1 ended, Pol Espargaro was forced to retire with mechanical failure.

Meanwhile, his brother was trying to make moves to regain 2nd place from Martin. He was right on the tail of the Pramac rider but wasn’t able to make anything stick. That was until lap 3 when he pulled up the inside of Martin at turn 10. By turn 12, he had made his way past and was in 2nd place, chasing down his teammate in the lead. It wouldn’t be an easy task as Vinales set the fastest lap in response.

On lap 4, Miguel Oliveira made his way past Martin for 3rd, making in an Aprilia 1-2-3!

On the same lap, Binder was forced to retire with technical problems. It was suspected that he had laid down a lot of oil prior to the red flag so it seemed to be a persistent issue for his KTM.

Riders up and down the grid were now settling in to their race and Vinales was slowly pulling our a lead ahead of the chasing pack. By lap 5, he was 0.3 seconds ahead for Espargaro, who was in turn a further 0.5 seconds ahead of Oliveira.

There was action further down the grid with Augusto Fernandez battling with Marc Marquez for 10th place, and Alex Marquez battling with Jack Miller for 6th.

On lap 10, Oliveira lost out on a podium place to Martin, but was able to stay close on his tail. He clearly wasn’t giving up easily, having worked so hard in the early stages.

On the same lap, we had our third rieder retire with mechanical problems – this time is was Raul Fernandez who was limping to the pits after just enjoying a battle with Marc Marquez for 11th.

At the halfway point, with 12 laps completed, Vinales now had a 1.2 second lead over Espargaro, who then had a 2 second gap over Martin. It was at this point that Espargaro seemed to wake up and was suddenly chasing down his teammate at a rapid pace.

Image Credit: MotoGP

By lap 15, thanks to lapping faster than his teammate, Espargaro had now cut the gap down to 0.5 seconds. On lap 18, with just 6 laps to go, Espargaro was finally on his tail.

Espargaro waited patiently and, on lap 20, he came up alongside Vinales on the start-finish straight. The Aprilia pair almost came together at turn 1 and Vinales went wide. That instantly gave Espargaro the space he needed to check out at the front of the field. With only 3 laps left, there was nothing Vinales could do to close the gap.

It ended up being a comfortable victory for Espargaro who was already on a high from winning Saturday’s sprint race!

FULL RESULTS
1st Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
2nd Maverick Vinales Aprilia
3rd Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
4th Johann Zarco Prima Pramac
5th Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF
6th Alex Marquez Gresini
7th Fabio Quartararo Yamaha
8th Jack Miller Red Bull KTM
9th Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3
10th Rabio Di Giannantonio Gresini
11th Luca Marini Mooney VR46
12th Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46
13th Marc Marquez Repsol Honda
14th Franco Morbidelli Yamaha
15th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
16th Iker Lecuona LCR Honda
17th Joan Mir Repsol Honda

DNF: Raul Fernadez (CryptoDATA RNF), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Pol Espargaro (GASGAS Tech3), Enea Bastianini (Ducati), Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st Pecco Bagnaia 260 points
2nd Jorge Martin 210 points
3rd Marco Bezzecchi 189 points
4th Brad Binder 166 points
5th Aleix Espargaro 154 points

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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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

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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

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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

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MotoGP: Bagnaia Tops Off Perfect Weekend in Mugello With A Race Win

After taking pole position and a sprint race win, Pecco Bagnaia has rounded out his home race weekend with a win on Sunday. He took a dominant win, leading every lap of the race after overcoming a short early challenge from Jack Miller. He eventually came over the line 1.067 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

The Italian rider, celebrating his third race win of the season, made his way to the Bagnaia Fan Club grandstand to enjoy an alfresco hot dog – a very old-school celebration for the reigning champion!

Bagnaia has been able to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings, after a difficult weekend for Marco Bezzecchi, who wasn’t able to make his way any higher than 8th today.

Joining him on the podium were both Prima Pramac riders, Jorge Martin in 2nd and Johann Zarco in 3rd. The veteran Frenchman had to fight hard for a podium today, coming through from 9th on the grid and then battling hard with Luca Marini for much of the latter stages of the race.

After sharing Parc Ferme together, for the first time ever, after qualifying on Saturday, the Marquez brothers faced a far more difficult day today with both Marc and Alex ending up in the gravel. The first crash was from Marc whilst running in 4th. He went down at turn 15 on lap 6 after running a little too wide when chasing down Marini who was running in 3rd. Then, on lap 15, Alex went down at turn 2 whilst running in 3rd and facing a huge amount of pressure from Marini just behind him.

It was also a tricky day for Miller who, despite flying off the start line and leading the race into the first corner, was eventually shuffled back and had to settle for 7th. Fabio Quartararo has really been nowhere this weekend, failing to make it out of Q1, settling for 10th in the sprint race and then, today, finishing the race in 11th.

As It Happened

As the riders went out for their warm-up lap, one of the grandstands could be seen holding red and white cards that spelt “Ducati”. There was certainly a lot of expectation in the air and the crowd were hoping to see their first home-grown winner of the day.

As the lights went out and the race got started, Jack Miller was the rider to get the best start and before the grid had even passed the pit lane exit, he was leading the field. The glory was short-lived as Pecco Bagnaia was back ahead by the following corner.

Jorge Martin was also quick to make moves in the field, flying from his starting place of 6th up to 3rd.

As the first lap ended, with had Bagnaia in the lead, followed by Miller in 2nd, Martin in 3rd, Luca Marini in 4th, Marc Marquez in 5th and Alex Marquez in 6th.

Although things were quickly changing up and down the pack – the most significant move came when Martin took 2nd place away from Miller. Marini tried to follow the Prima Pramac rider through, and Miller and Marini then battling hard for 3rd. This battle let Martin break away ahead of them and he quickly built a 1 second lead over the fighting pair.

By this point in the race, the end of the second lap, Bagnaia already had a 0.4s lead over the rest of the field – he was exactly where he wanted to be, out in clear air and controlling the field with ease.

On the third lap, Marc Marquez seemingly came out of nowhere to make a stunning move that saw him overtake three other bikes. In the same move, his brother Alex Marquez lost control of his bike and in an attempt to stay upright, nearly took Miller out of the race. Miller was quick to show his frustrations and the pair were soon locked in to a tough battle, swapping and changing positions at almost every corner.

At lap 5, Johann Zarco was behind Brad Binder with the pair fighting hard for 7th place. He eventually bested the South African and, on the start-finish straight at the start of lap 6, the pair flew past Miller and shuffled him back down to 8th.

It was shortly after this move, at turn 15 of lap 6, that Marc Marquez ended up in the gravel thanks to going a little wide when trying to take 3rd away from Marini. He was clearly pushing hard on a seemingly mediocre bike and his frustrations were clear for everyone to see.

This gave Marini some breathing room as Marc Marquez was very hot on his tail. However, he was then being followed by the younger Alex Marquez who is an equally ferocious competitor.

It was at this point that everything seemed to settle down across the grid with the only moves coming from Fabio Quartararo, who moved up to 12th on lap 9, and Alex Marquez tussling with Marini for 3rd as well as Zarco starting to close in on Marini for 4th.

At lap 15, the second Marquez brother ended up in the kitty litter with Alex Marquez going down at at turn 2 – it seemed that the pressure he was put under by Marini just became too much for him.

Everyone’s attention then turned to Zarco who was trying hard to claim the final podium spot away from Marini. He made the slip stream work perfectly, getting close behind the VR46 machine, but couldn’t seem to make a move work. That was until lap 18 when a tough battle between the pair ended with Zarco finally on top.

All this battling allowed Martin and Bagnaia to pull away from the field, with Martin 1.9 seconds ahead and Bagnaia a further 1.3 seconds ahead of him.

Full Results
1st Pecco Bagnaia Lenovo Ducati
2nd Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
3rd Johann Zarco Prima Pramac
4th Luca Marini Mooney VR46
5th Brad Binder Red Bull KTM
6th Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
7th Jack Miller Red Bull KTM
8th Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46
9th Enea Bastianini Lenovo Ducati
10th Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha
11th Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha
12th Maverick Vinales Aprilia
13th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
14th Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini
15th Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech 3
16th Michele Pirro Aruba.it
17th Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF
18th Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia
19th Jonas Folger GASGAS Tech 3

DNFs: Miguel Oliveira (CrypotDATA RNF), Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Alex Marquez (Gresini)

Championship Standings
1st Pecco Bagnaia 131 points
2nd Marco Bezzecchi 110 points
3rd Jorge Martin 107 points
4th Brad Binder 92 points
5th Johann Zarco 88 points

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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MotoGP: Bezzecchi Wins 1000th MotoGP Race at Le Mans

A crash-filled French GP saw only 13 riders meet the chequered flag. There were hard-fought battles up and down the field and plenty of podium celebrations for our top three riders.

Marco Bezzecchi has taken his second race win of the season, celebrating MotoGP’s 1,000th race from the top step of the podium. He was in a class of his own today, starting from 7th before hitting the front at the mid-point of the race and eventually coming home over 4 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

He was joined on the podium by both Prima Pramac riders, with Jorge Martin 2nd and Johann Zarco in 3rd, much to the delight of his home crowd.

Martin had to fight hard to earn that 2nd place today, fighting with Marc Marquez for much of the race. The pair were jostling and fighting at every corner with Marquez often coming out on top. It was a magnificent defence considering he has been out of action for the last three races due to an injury. However, on lap 26, with just two and a half laps remaining, Marquez could no longer keep the bike upright and he slid out as Museum Corner whilst trying to make the cut back on Martin.

Zarco was able to capitalise on the drama and the crashes around him, keeping his nose clean and quietly making his way up the field to 3rd. The moment he stepped on to the podium, the French crowd erupted as they showed support for their home hero.

It was a harder race for the other home hero, Fabio Quatararo, who started 13th and eventually finished the day in 7th. He was able to keep his nose clean but didn’t make significant enough strides to truly battle with those ahead of him.

The race was full of drama, from start to finish, with nail-biting battles taking place for most of the race. None more so than lap 5 which gave us two enormous crashes between four riders running in the top 10.

Firstly, it was pole-sitter Pecco Bagnaia and Maverick Vinales who found themselves in the gravel. The pair were fighting for the same piece of tarmac and, as Vinales returned to the racing line, the pair bumped into each other. This caused Vinales to lose control of the bike and as his machine was wobbling, he clattered into the side of Bagnaia again and the pair went down. Both were able to walk away from the crash but, in the heat of the moment, they began scrapping and fighting in the gravel.

Then, moments later, Luca Marini lost the front of the bike when he hit a kerb. Alex Marquez then ran into the back of the VR46 machine and they both went down dramatically. This incident left Marquez in the middle of the track but he was thankfully able to move and avoid the on-coming traffic.

It was an equally difficult day for Jack Miller. He started the race in 4th and, in typical Miller style, he flew off the line past pole-sitter Bagnaia and was quickly fighting with Marquez for the lead. He made a brave, aggressive move around the outside of Museum Corner – the same corner where he crashed out of Saturday’s sprint race – and was able to claim the lead on the second lap of the race.

Miller enjoyed the clean air for much of the race, until lap 11 when he began to slide backwards down the field. He eventually ended up back in 9th before sliding out of the race at turn 4 of lap 25. It appeared that he was struggling with a bike issue but this is yet to be confirmed.

It was a dream day for rookie Augusto Fernandez who enjoyed his best result of his MotoGP career so far. He was battling hard with the likes of Aleix Espargaro and Brad Binder before crossing the line in 4th. He received a hero’s welcome in the pit lane, his team clearly delighted with his mature and impressive performance today.

Espgararo ended the day in 5th, just ahead of Binder in 6th. The South African would have been hoping for more today after his exceptional 2nd place finish in yesterday’s sprint race. However, he was forced out wide by Alex Marquez at the start of the race. This shuffled him down to 16th and ultimately ruined his chance of a podium or win.

The top 10 was rounded out by Quatararo in 7th, Fabio Di Giannantonio in 8th followed by Takaaki Nakagami and Franco Morbidelli in 9th and 10th respectively.

We now have a 3-week break before the grid is back in action in Mugello. That’s 3 weeks for today’s winners to revel in their success and our losers to dwell on their difficult weekend.

Full Results
1st Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 –
2nd Jorge Martin Prima Pramac +4.256s
3rd Johann Zarco Prima Pramac +4.795s
4th Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3 +6.281s
5th Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +6.726s
6th Brad Binder Red bull KTM +13.638s
7th Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha +15.023s
8th Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini +15.826s
9th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda +16.370s
10th Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha +17.828s
11th Danilo Petrucci Ducati Lenovo +29.735s
12th Lorenzo Savadori CrytoDATA RNF +36.135s
13th Jonas Folger GASGAS Tech3 +49.808s

DNFs = Marc Marquez, Jack Miller, Alex Rins, Joan Mir, Alex Marquez, Luca Marini, Maverick Vinales, Pecco Bagnaia

Championship Standings
1st Pecco Bagnaia 94 points
2nd Marco Bezzecchi 93 points
3rd Brad Binder 81 points
4th Jorge Martin 80 points
5th Johann Zarco 66 points

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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MotoGP: Magnificent Martin Dominates Sprint Race in Le Mans

Le Mans has given us another action-packed sprint race, with breathtaking battles from start to finish. Our winner, Jorge Martin was simply peerless today, whilst Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, who is back to his old ways after 3 races away, jostled for the majority of the race.

Jorge Martin was in a league of his own on his way to win the sprint race at the French GP in Le Mans. Having started the race in 5th, he enjoyed a brilliant start and was up to 2nd before the exit of turn 1. It was then lap 4 when he finally took the lead and he never looked back, quickly building a gap between himself and his nearest competitors. As the chequered flag fell, he wheelied across the line to take a dominant victory.

Brad Binder took a well-deserved 2nd place today, taking advantage of a race-long battle between Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia. As the pair were fighting, he snuck up the inside to claim second place and, much like our race winner, was able to quickly put clear air behind him. However, that gap ahead was always just slightly too big and he couldn’t find a way to take the fight to Martin.

Championship leader and today’s pole sitter, Bagnaia, came home in 3rd after that race-long battle with Marquez. The pair were jostling for most of the race, closely on each other’s tail and making aggressive moves to try and best each other. It looked as though it might end in disaster multiple times but, eventually, it was the Italian who eventually came out on top.

After 7 breathtaking laps of fighting and overtaking, it was on lap 10 of 13 that he finally made his way past Marquez and made sure to quickly shut the door to avoid any counter-attacks. The nail-biting fight was then quickly over as Bagnaia pulled ahead of Marquez to put clean air between the pair.

Marquez, who is back on the grid after missing the previous 3 races, eventually ended the day in 5th. It seemed that he may have started to fatigue at the same time as Bagnaia’s tyres came into their sweet spot – a bad combination but he will have plenty of positives to take away from his performance today, ahead of tomorrow’s main race.

It looked like this potential fatiguing then made Marquez a bit of a sitting duck for Luca Marini, who was able to make his way up to 4th on lap 11. Marini has enjoyed a fantastic day, progressing from Q1 to then secure 3rd in Q2. He lost a few places at the start of the spring race but more than made up for this with his performance towards the end of the race.

It was a tougher day for Jack Miller and home hero Fabio Quatararo, who both failed to meet the chequered flag.

Miller enjoyed a brilliant start, flying off the line to steal 3rd from Marini early on. The Aussie, who has previously enjoyed a lot of success in sprint races, couldn’t emulate that success today as he went down in the middle of Museum Corner on the second lap. He was visibly frustrated to make an error that ended his race so prematurely.

Then, on lap 10, Quartararo went down at the same corner. The bike just folded underneath him as he helplessly slid into the gravel. The home crowd were clearly disappointed as a stunned silence fell over the grandstands. Today has been a difficult day for the Frenchman – a day that has gone from bad to worse after his inability to progress out of Q1.

The final points-scoring positions were filled by Johann Zarco, Marco Bezzecchi, Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales in 6th to 9th respectively. Vinales had a terrible qualifying session where a bike issue hampered his second run whilst he was sat in provisional pole – it is certainly a day of “what if’s” for the Spaniard.

The main race will take place at 2pm local time on Sunday. If the sprint race is anything to go by, it should be a race filled with action and drama!

Full Results
1st Jorge Martin Prima Prama –
2nd Brad Binder Red Bull KTM +1.840s
3rd Pecco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo +2.632s
4th Luca Marini Monney VR46 +3.418s
5th Marc Marquez Repsol Honda +3.541s
6th Johann Zarco Prima Pramac +4.483s
7th Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 +5.224s
8th Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +6.359s
9th Maverick Vinales Aprilia +8.336s
10th Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda +9.439s
11th Alex Rins LCR Honda +12.388s
12th Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini +14.125s
13th Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha +15.121
14th Joan Mir Repsol Honda +15.383
15th Alex Marquez Gresini +15.591
16th Danilo Petrucci Ducati Lenovo +19.415
17th Lorenzo Savadori CryptoDATA RNF +26.992
DNF Fabio Quatararo Monster Energy Yamaha –
DNF Jonas Folger GASGAS Tech3 –
DNF Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3 –
DNF Jack Miller Red Bull KTM –

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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MotoGP: Bagnaia Takes Dominant Win at Americas GP Sprint Race

After claiming pole position earlier in the day, Pecco Bagnaia has taken a truly dominant win for the Americas Grand Prix sprint race in Texas. Just behind him was Alex Rins in 2nd and Jorge Martin who held on to 3rd despite a tough fight with Aleix Espargaro in 4th.

Pecco Bagnaia gave a faultless performance at the Circuit of the Americas to win the Americas GP sprint race. Having started on pole, he was able to hold off an early attack from Alex Rins at the start and quickly pulled out a large lead to win very comfortably. He also smashed the race lap record at the halfway point of the race.

As the lights went out, the race started surprisingly cleanly and everyone completed the first lap safely. The winners off the line were Jorge Martin, who flew from 12th up to 5th, and Miguel Oliveira, leaping from 15th up to 9th. Others faced more of a struggle with the likes of Luca Marini going wide and dropping from 3rd down to 13th and Maverick Vinales struggling at the start and falling back from 8th to 17th.

On the second lap, Rins went wide at turn 12 and gets shuffled back to 3rd. This dropping in right in to a battle with Fabio Quartararo who was trying desperate moves to try and get something out of his Yamaha. As the pair fought, Quartararo clatters in to the side of Rins, leaving rubber marks on his leather.

As the riders settled in to the race, and Bagnaia was enjoy some clear air, Quartararo was still fighting against his Yamaha at every corner. It eventually ended in tears as he went down at turn 1 of lap 5. He was able to rejoin the race and eventually ended the day in 19th.

On lap 7, Rins makes an aggressive move on Aleix Espargaro to steal 2nd from him. However, a few corners later, he goes wide and takes Espargaro with him. Whilst Rins holds on to 2nd, this error gifts 3rd place to Jorge Martin and shuffles Espargaro back down to 4th.

On the same lap, at turn 12, Alex Marquez goes down on the slipper track surface. This promotes Bezzecchi to 6th and allows him to keep the lead of the championship for another day.

In the final laps of the race, Espargaro is trying everything he can to get past Martin and in to 3rd but he simply can’t find a way through.

Lights will go out for the feature race in less than 24 hours time so make sure you follow Crew On Two for all the action.

Top Ten:
1 Pecco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo
2 Alex Rins LCR Honda
3 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
4 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
5 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM
6 Marco Bezzecchi VR46 Racing
7 Luca Marini VR46 Racing
8 Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF
9 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM
10 Maverick Vinales Aprilia
Championship Standings:
1 Marco Bezzecchi 54 points
2 Pecco Bagnaia 53 points
3 Johann Zarco 35 points
4 Alex Marquez 33 points

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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MotoGP: Marquez Comes From Nowhere To Take Pole In Portugal

Marc Marquez has snatched pole position for the first race of the 2023 MotoGP season, in Portugal. He will be joined on the front row by reigning champion, Pecco Bagnaia, and Jorge Martin. 2023 is the first season to include Sprint Races, giving this qualifying session even more importance.

The 2023 MotoGP season may be starting with a new-look format, but there is a familiar name at the front of the grid after qualifying in Portugal. Marc Marquez, after coming through Q1 to then struggle in Q2, came from nowhere to lay down just one flying lap that took him from 12th to 1st. He set a lap time of 1:37.226, which is a new lap record for the circuit. With a Sprint Race later this afternoon, Marquez has given himself two pole positions for the weekend as qualifying sets the grid for both the spring and main races.

Joining him on the front row will be our reigning champion, Pecco Bagnaia. He was in the mix for the whole session and spent much of Q2 in provisional 3rd before his final lap saw him temporarily take pole position. Jorge Martin and his Prima Pramac Racing machine will line up in 3rd after a strong session.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Miguel Oliveira, who also had to make his way up through Q1, will start both of this weekend’s races in 4th, with Jack Miller in 5th. The Australian rider will be disappointed with 5th after spending the first half of the session in provisional pole. He then crashed at Turn 3, with 3 minutes left on the clock, and wasn’t able to fight back from there and was shuffled back to 5th as others riders were able to improve.

Enea Bastianini, who helpfully gave Marquez a tow that helped him to secure pole, will line up in 6th, ahead of Maverick Vinales in 7th and Marco Bezzecchi in 8th. The top 10 will be completed by Luca Marini and Johann Zarco in 9th and 10th.

It was a difficult day for Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro, in 11th and 12th respectively. Quartararo was consistently off the pace throughout Q2 and ended the day a whopping 0.694 seconds away from pole. Espargaro, just 5 minutes in to the session, went down at Turn 13 and struggled to recover from there.

In the previous Q1 session, Alex Marquez and Joan Mir were disappointed to not progress to Q2 after a strong session. Marquez faced a scary moment in the early stages of the session, nearly losing the front of the bike in the final sector but somehow managing to stay upright. The pair will line up 13th and 14th on the grid respectively.

Marc Marquez took a gamble in Q1 by staying in the pits for the second half of the session. He had already laid down a brilliant lap time – a new lap record at that time – and decided to save his tires by watching the final minutes of Q1 from the back of the garage. It clearly paid off as he enjoyed celebrating his pole position with the adoring Portuguese crowd.

Don’t forget, with the new format this weekend, this qualifying session has now set the grid for both today’s sprint race and tomorrow’s main race. Crew On Two will have all the updates you need!

FULL STARTING GRID:
1 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda
2 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo
3 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
4 Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF
5 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM
6 Enea Bastianini Ducati Lenovo
7 Maverick Vinales Aprilia
8 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46
9 Luca Marini Mooney VR46
10 Johann Zarco Prima Pramac
11 Alex Marquez Gresini
12 Joan Mir Repsol Honda
13 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM
14 Alex Rins LCR Honda
15 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha
16 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
17 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3
18 Raul Fernandez CryptoRNF
19 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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Un et Deux – the French reign at Doha

Round two under the Qatar lights found some riders floundering and some soaring. If it was thought to be a repeat of last weekend then audiences were in for a shock.

The qualifying had the biggest surprise which came from the rookie, Jorge Martin who took pole! With a 1.53.106 second lap, snatching it from Vinales, who was confident he had done enough at the flag. Next position went to Martin’s team-mate and Vinales ended up 3rd to round off the front row. The Suzuki’s still seemed to have issues with qualifying and ended up in 8th and 9th. Rossi made changes to his bike which turned out to hinder his chances at getting another 4th in qualifying this time and ended up 21st on the grid.

Martin takes pole on Saturday. Courtesy of: Moto GP website

All riders started Sunday on both rear and front soft tyres again, with the exception of Oliveira, Binder, Lecuona and Petrucci. Perhaps they had thought a different strategy may help them in the closing section of the race. Once again, the wind was blowing and causing sand to go across the track, meaning the tyres would degrade quicker.

The two front Ducati’s got a flying start, with Martin leading Zarco but it was Vinales that went backwards as Aleix Espargaro came through and took 3rd place from the Spaniard, a very surprising Oliveira, who was 12th on the grid, shot into 4th . The next 22 laps were sure to be exciting!

By lap three, Rins had already made the fastest lap, eager to make it to the front early on, now in 3rd place, he started putting pressure on Zarco.

Lap four was Bagnaia’s turn to take fastest lap. But it was the Suzuki’s that were looking menacing as Mir came through to 5th place and Rins took 2nd from Zarco. However, the Ducati took back the position on the straight.

Meanwhile the factory Yamahas were sticking to their plan, which was to conserve tyres and were in 9th and 10th place.

With 17 laps to go Martin was still leading, in only his second Moto GP race, from Rins and Zarco.

Martin leads Rins. Courtesy of: Moto GP website

Performing well in the flowing corners, the Suzuki was putting pressure on the rookie, but the straight, once again was the time for Zarco to pounce, re-gaining 2nd.

Trying to hunt down Martin, Rins took back 2nd place from the Frenchman on turn 10 – lap 8. He knew he had to breakaway from Zarco before the straight. With 13 laps to go Oliveira started to go backwards, unfortunately, the tyre choice didn’t seem to be any better.

The two Petronas riders were struggling as well – not even in the top ten.

The top nine riders however, were starting to breakaway from the rest of the pack and were creating their own race. Martin still lead, now half-way through the 22 laps, whilst Vinales was bringing up the rear. The first six bikes were all four Ducati’s and the two Suzuki’s. Espargaro on the Aprilia, was the only bike not with it’s teammate, out in front of the two factory Yamaha’s.

Mir and Miller were battling for 5th place on lap 13, Mir touched Miller going underneath him to take the position. But, coming onto the straight Miller (43) went wide and and seemed to go straight into Mir, forcing him to go all the way back to 9th. There was an investigation from the stewards but both times were seen as racing incidents.

Things went from bad to worse for Alex Marquez who had a second DNF in a row as he crashed on lap 14.

However, things were looking good for Quartararo (20), who was moving through the front pack and was now 4th, behind the Ducati’s, with 8 laps till the end. Battling for the position alongside Rins, he knew he had to create a chance in order to get on the podium. His teammate was now in 7th with Mir still in 9th place. It seemed the Yamaha’s tactic was paying off.

With six laps till the end, 20 took 3rd place from 43, it was taken straight back on the start-finish line but a mistake going into the first corner from Miller meant Quartararo re-took 3rd once more. The battle for the podium was heating up.

The two Frenchmen then fought for 2nd on lap 18. Zarco tried to defend but Quartararo’s Yamaha had conserved tyres better and was stronger on the corners, meaning he was able to take 1st place as well on turn 14, leading into turn 15, from Martin. The rookie had shocked everyone by leading for most of the race. Martin wasn’t going to give his position away easily and on the straight the Ducati roared past the Yamaha. But, Quartararo re-gained first place soon after.

With four laps to go it was anyone’s call who would win. Quartararo now lead Martin, Zarco and Vinales.

Courtesy of: Moto GP website

Top Gun’ briefly took 3rd place from Zarco, which took Zarco out of the top three for the first time the whole race.

‘El Diablo’ started to pull away from the two satellite Ducati’s and with Vinales putting pressure on Zarco, Zarco decided he needed to try and make a pass on his teammate. Martin went defensive with two laps to go, not wanting to give away his position. Vinales couldn’t keep up with number 5 and Rins took 4th place from him into turn one on the last lap. The penultimate corner of the last lap was Zarco’s last shot at 2nd, after admitting in the post-race interview he was acting as a “… bodyguard for Martin…” he decided to over-take his team-mate to finish 2nd.

It was Quartararo that took the chequered flag, taking his fourth Moto GP victory alongside fellow Frenchman Zarco. The first time in 67 years that two Frenchmen have stood first and second on the podium in the premier class. Martin finished an impressive third to round off the podium. Fourth was Rins, fifth Vinales, sixth and seventh place were the factory Dukes and Mir managed to make up two places since the collision with Miller to finish seventh.

Zarco stood on the podium for the 50th time and now leads the championship with 40 points. Proving to be consistent with two second places in a row.

This thrilling battle was the closest Moto GP race in 73 years. Teams learnt from last weekend and everyone seemed far stronger.

There is now a two week gap until the next event, but the big news is Marc Marquez is said to be making a return in Portugal, which leads into the many European races. Will we see a fit, strong and hungry Marquez? Will the other riders be too far ahead of him? Or will we witness a masterclass performance?

Whatever the outcome, it is sure to be a thrilling ride.

 

Featured image courtesy of: Moto GP website.

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