MotoGP Barcelona GP: Bagnaia takes vital sprint win to…

Francesco Bagnaia scored victory over Enea Bastianini and title rival Jorge Martin in the Barcelona Grand Prix sprint to take the championship to the final MotoGP race of 2024 on Sunday.

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia recovered from a relatively poor getaway to score a convincing victory in Saturday’s half-distance race and take five points off Martin, who lost second place to Bastianini on the final lap.

It means the two title contenders are now separated by 19 points in the standings with a total of 25 on offer in the grand prix on Sunday.

When the 12-lap sprint got underway, Bastianini made the best start from eighth position to grab the holeshot into Turn 1, with Martin also briefly streaking clear of polesitter Bagnaia before the two-time champion retaliated under braking for the right-hander.

Martin launched another attack over Bagnaia into Turn 3, but Bagnaia not only managed to fend him off but also dispatched team-mate Bastianini to return to the front.

This left Martin and Bastianini to squabble for second position, with the Pramac rider jumping ahead at the start of lap 3 before Bastianini bounced back on the next tour to reinstate the status quo.

Their battle was decided on lap 5 when Martin lunged at Bastianini at Turn 1 and made the move stick, despite both riders running deep and bringing a number of chasing riders into play.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

While Bastianini had to immediately turn his attention towards the other Pramac of Franco Morbidelli, Martin was able to put daylight between himself and the two Italians to breathe a sigh of relief.

By this point, Bagnaia had pulled away by more than a second over the remainder of the pack, effectively ending any chances of Martin putting up a fightback in the second half of the race.

Bagnaia’s lead did drop to a second in the final stages of the race, but Martin himself came under pressure from the other factory Ducati of Bastianini on the last lap.

Martin covered the inside line into the opening sequence of corners, but Bastianini was able to pull off a clean move into the tricky Turn 5, dropping him down to third place.

There were no other changes on the final lap, with Bagnaia taking a crucial win to keep his title hopes alive and Martin following Bastianini to take third place.

Aprilia’s Aleix Aleix Espargaro tumbled to eighth on the opening lap, having started second, but was able to recover to fourth at the chequered flag.

Espargaro benefitted from a late error from Gresini rider Alex Marquez, who ran wide at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap and dropped to fifth.

Morbidelli finished sixth after challenging Bastianini for a podium spot at one stage, while six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez also had a difficult race en route to seventh after his Gresini GP23 bike clipped the Tech3 GasGas machine of Pedro Acosta on the opening lap.

Acosta was forced to peel into the pits to retire from the race with damage to his bike, leaving KTM’s Brad Binder as the best finisher for the Pierer Mobility Group in ninth.

A rapid launch from 18th on the grid helped Binder to pick up the final point in the sprint, finishing just behind VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi.

The battle between the Japanese manufacturers was won by Yamaha as Fabio Quartararo took 10th ahead of the LCR Honda of Johann Zarco.

Photos from Barcelona GP Practice, Qualifying & Sprint

MotoGP Barcelona GP - Sprint results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	12	-				12
2	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	12	+0.942 0.942	0.942			9
3	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	12	+1.270 1.270	0.328			7
4	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	12	+1.857 1.857	0.587			6
5	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	12	+1.942 1.942	0.085			5
6	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	12	+5.263 5.263	3.321			4
7	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	12	+5.303 5.303	0.040			3
8	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	12	+5.507 5.507	0.204			2
9	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	12	+5.573 5.573	0.066			1
10	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	12	+5.937 5.937	0.364
11	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	12	+7.413 7.413	1.476
12	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	12	+8.344 8.344	0.931
13	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	12	+9.387 9.387	1.043
14	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	12	+9.652 9.652	0.265
15	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	12	+11.838 11.838	2.186
16	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	12	+13.217 13.217	1.379
17	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	12	+17.017 17.017	3.800
18	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	12	+17.746 17.746	0.729
19	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	12	+18.533 18.533	0.787
20	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	12	+20.153 20.153	1.620
21	M. Pirro Team VR46	51	Ducati	12	+20.547 20.547	0.394
22	S. Bradl HRC Test Team	6	Honda	12	+24.604 24.604	4.057
dnf	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	1	11 laps			Retirement
View full results