Francesco Bagnaia Crowned MotoGP World Champion with a Masterpiece Victory at Qatar GP

Francesco Bagnaia has firmly placed the MotoGP World Champion crown on his head by authoritatively signing a masterpiece at the Qatar GP. With his 19th victory in the top class, he has resumed the narrative of the world championship with a decisive victory, opening the 2024 season just as he had closed the previous one. Starting from the fifth spot, he quickly disposed of the competition in a few corners, taking the lead of the pack without relinquishing his position until the finish line. "I tried to go crazy from the start to be first and start managing," Bagnaia explained. "I know the potential of the bike and knew that something had to be done to improve compared to the Sprint. We managed it in the warm-up, the team did an incredible job and everything was perfect. Now we go to Portimao even more confident." With him on the podium were Brad Binder (Ktm) and Jorge Martin (Ducati Pramac). Marc Marquez, who finished fourth, can still be satisfied with his return to the top ranks. A special mention deserves rookie Pedro Acosta, 19 years old, who started eighth and climbed up to fourth place mid-race. The Spaniard from Mazarron, betrayed by his impetuosity, however, ended up overusing the tires of his Ktm from the GasGas-Tech3 team when he was preparing to challenge Martin and finished ninth. With already two world titles behind him, he still had the opportunity to show glimpses of his enormous talent. When he gains a bit of experience, he will be a big problem for anyone. If on a complicated Saturday Bagnaia had to settle for fourth place at the end of the Sprint Race, he instead dominated the 21 laps of the long race, reduced by one due to a problem with Raul Fernandez's Aprilia, which went silent a few seconds before the start. The mishap forced everyone to an additional reconnaissance lap, but it did not distract Pecco. Ready, set, go and the Ducati rider immediately went into super-aggressive mode: four corners, a few hundred meters, to overtake those ahead of him, including poleman Martin, and take the lead, followed by the Spaniard and Binder. In pursuit of the three was Marc Marquez. Aleix Espargaro, on the other hand, had a wrong start: the Spaniard from second quickly found himself ninth, managing to recover only one position at the end. While Bagnaia pushed the pace to put meters between him and his rivals, the initial and middle part of the race lived on the duel between Binder's exuberance and Martin's tenacity. The two repeatedly overtook each other at the end of thrilling braking maneuvers, sparing no effort and putting their brakes to the test. Behind, in addition to Marc Marquez, Enea Bastianini (finishing fifth with the second official Ducati) and Alex Marquez (sixth with the other Ducati of the Gresini team) climbed back up. Meanwhile, Acosta unleashed his comeback, tailing the faster ones, at least until the tires presented the bill. While Binder and Martin were battling it out, Bagnaia began to manage his tires, stabilizing on a lead of about a second. He then hammered lap times with impressive regularity, until the success that puts him at the top of the standings with 31 points, +2 over Binder and +3 over Martin.