It was one of the most challenging weekends as the Sprint saw 15 crashes due to wet conditions. Here are the winners and losers of the Spanish Grand Prix.
The race weekend at Jerez was nothing short of a cliffhanger and full of action. Despite a series of crashes, both the Sprint and the race produced both heroes and zeroes. It was a battle between the heavyweights, Gresini’s Marc Marquez and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. Here are the hits and misses of the Spain Grand Prix.
2024 MotoGP Spain: Marc Marquez
The six-time MotoGP world championship seemed to find his groove as he had a fairly successful weekend. Marc Marquez stormed to take pole position in qualifying in wet conditions due to overnight rain. The Spaniard clocked 1 minute 46.773 seconds 0.271 seconds ahead of Marco Bezzecchi of VR46.
Marquez was in sync with his Ducati and topped the Free Practice 2. The Ducati man could have done a double and won the Sprint but he ended up crashing handing the victory to Pramac’s Jorge Martin. Starting from pole, Marquez led the first couple of laps which soon became a three-horse race alongside Martin and Bagnaia. Even though the factory Ducati rider and Marquez kept setting the fastest lap, it was Bagnaia who got the better of the former Honda man who took top honours.
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2024 MotoGP Spain: Francesco Bagnaia
After winning the season opener Qatar Grand Prix, the defending champion has hit a bit of a rut, but now he’s back to his winning ways. Francesco Bagnaia had a miserable Sprint outing as there was contact with KTM’s Brad Binder which ended his race.
The Ducati man may have scored zero points in the Sprint but like a true championship, he held his nerve and first battled with Martin for first position and then later fended off Marquez as he took the chequered flag. Bagnaia may not have had the best start to the season but he remains in the thick of things as he is second in the championship standings behind Martin.
2024 MotoGP Spain: Marco Bezzecchi
Bez took his first podium of the season and since the Indian Grand Prix in September last year. Marco Bezzecchi showed some serious pace as he started second on the grid and managed to stay on course for a podium finish. For a while, the Italian was ahead of Marquez for a couple of laps but once the Gresini man overtook him, it was all about securing third place. After the race, Bezzecchi admitted that Marquez was faster than him but he enjoyed the dogfight that took place between the Gresini rider and Bagnaia.
2024 MotoGP Spain: Jorge Martin
Jorge Martin did what he does best as he continued to be the Sprint king as he bagged another win. This time around he got some help from Marc Marquez as he crashed out on the ninth lap of the race when he looked almost certain for a win. The Sunday race was a different story for the Pramac racer who started second but was quickly overtaken by Bagnaia.
By the end of Lap 2, an error in judgment with the brakes by the Ducati rider gave Martin the opportunity he was looking for. Unfortunately, there was a twist in fate for Martin who crashed out in Lap 6 when he was leading the race. The Spaniard may have missed an opportunity to win the home grand prix but he continues to be the championship leader.
