-Marc Marquez finishes second
-Marco Bezzecchi crosses the line in third
-Jorge Martin crashes while leading
The 2024 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix will go down in history as the battle of the champions as Pecco Bagnaia on the Factory Ducati clinched a hard fought victory, denying Marc Marquez a victory on home soil.
Brilliant Bagnaia
As the lights went out, Marc Marquerz shot off line from pole position and managed to hold the lead going into the first set of corners at Jerez. Martin and Bagnaia were in hot pursuit, and as the field arrived at the Dani Pedrosa corner, Pecco pulled off one of the best overtaking moves we've seen from him in recent times.
He was the last of the late brakers and passed Martin going into the corner. He then slotted behind Marquez and cashed him down, lined up to pass him in the penultimate corner and dived on the inside of the Spaniard, going into the last corner. By the end of Lap One, Pecco was in the lead.
Martin’s mistake
2024 MotoGP World Championship leader Jorge Martin got into his element as the race progressed and managed to pass Bagnaia to grab the lead. Martin has been riding very well in this season and has shown a more mature side to his race craft. It looked as if Martin would win the race, going by how well he was managing to keep Bagnaia at bay.
However, disaster struck at the Dani Pedrosa corner, when Martin lost the front while braking hard from 300kmph. He slid into the gravel trap and gifted the lead back to Pecco, who’d been smiling at the chance of winning a race which was crucial given his poor start to the season. Little did he know that he won’t have it easy.
Magical Marquez
Marc Marquez, who’s steadily getting a hang of riding a Ducati, began setting fastest laps after fastest laps to catch Bagnaia. With a few laps to go, Marquez made his move on Bagnaia amidst cheers from the fans in Jerez’s stadium section. Bagnaia, however, was in no mood to concede the position and immediately attacked Marquez, the pair coming into contact with each other briefly. The tyre marks on Marquez’s race leathers were testament of how close the racing was.
Marc kept the pressure on Pecco in the final stages and lined up another move in the same corner as he did a few laps ago. This time, however, Marquez went wide and it allowed Bagnaia to pass him easily. From then on, there was no looking back for the reigning World Champion as he and his Factory Ducati managed to set the fastet lap of the race on almost 23 Lap old tyres. The win was crucial for Pecco, especially since Martin was out of the race. His good friend Marco Bezzecchi crossed the line in third, much to the delight of his team, especially with team boss Valentino Rossi being present trackside.
A long way to go
At the end of four rounds, Jorge Martin leads the MotoGP World Championship by 17 points with Pecco Bagnaia in second and Enea Bastianini in third. The next round will be held at Le Mans in France from 10 to 12 May.
