#CATALANGP – MOTOGP, SPRINT & RACE – P9 for Diogo Moreira
MOTOGP – SPRINT: 0.041s in it: Alex Marquez fends off Acosta for Barcelona Sprint gold
Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) vs Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). 0.041s. The closest Tissot Sprint finish ever. And it was the sky blue of Marquez who edged out the orange of Acosta in an edge-of-your-seat Saturday blockbuster that saw Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) tumble out of contention early doors. The bronze medal went to Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), the Italian was only 0.4s away from the victory in Barcelona.
THE START: ACOSTA HOLESHOT, BINDER & MIR CRASH
On the long run down to Turn 1, it was Acosta vs Alex Marquez for the holeshot, with the polesitter just about keeping his elbows wide enough to keep the Spanish GP winner behind him. Drama unfolded a little further back, involving Acosta’s teammate, Brad Binder. The South African, who got a small nudge on the inside from Di Giannantonio, then collected Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol), as both slid out of contention. The Stewards saw it as a racing incident.
Elsewhere, it was a rapid start from Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR), who was getting a wriggle on. The Frenchman briefly held second before Alex Marquez responded, with Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) bullying his way past Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) and Di Giannantonio on Lap 2.
MARTIN OUT OF THE SPRINT
Then, drama struck for the French GP winner. Martin, at Turn 10 on Lap 3, crashed out of the top-five battle. The #89 was uninjured, but that’s now four crashes this weekend for the 2024 World Champion.
THE RUN TO THE FLAG
Back at the front, Alex Marquez pounced on Acosta into Turn 1 to lead the Sprint for the first time. Third place was now Fernandez’s, and that soon became P2 on Lap 5 when the lead Aprilia carved up the inside of Acosta at Turn 5.
With five laps to go, Marquez led Fernandez, Acosta, and Di Giannantonio by 0.4s. The winner would be coming from one of these four, but who? Well, Acosta made his move with four laps to go to snatch P2 back from Fernandez. Could the #37 reel in Marquez, who was now 0.6s up the road?
On Lap 11 of 12, Di Giannantonio then demoted Fernandez to P4 with a classic move at Turn 1, as Acosta clawed back a couple of tenths on Marquez.
Last lap time, and over the line, the margin was down to 0.2s. Acosta swarming, Marquez defending, Di Giannantonio lurking. It was all pointing towards a Turn 10 lunge from the polesitter, but Acosta wasn’t quite close enough. And a Rossi-esque lunge at the final corner wasn’t possible either, as Alex Marquez just clung onto a Sprint win on home soil, with less than a tenth of a second splitting the Spaniards.
Less than half a second adrift was Di Giannantonio, as Fernandez faded in the closing stages to finish P4. Zarco’s good start and subsequent decent pace handed the #5 P5 on Saturday, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) produced a fine comeback from a disappointing P13 in qualifying to P6 in the Sprint.
From the front row, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) ended the Sprint in P7, 0.6s clear of Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team). The Japanese rider clawed his way back from 18th on the grid to bag two points in P8, as championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) struggled to really get going on Saturday afternoon. The Italian’s title chase lead over teammate Martin grows, but only by a single point ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix. The closest ever Tissot Sprint finish.
MOTOGP – RACE: Di Giannantonio returns to winning ways in dramatic Catalan Grand Prix
Fabio Di Giannantonio, for the first time since 2023, is a MotoGP winner after the Italian emerged victorious following a dramatic Catalan GP. The Pertamina Enduro VR46 star climbed to the front of the field in the closing stages to beat fellow podium finishers Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) and Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP).
Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) were high-profile crashers in the 13-lap restart, as we send our best wishes to Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR), who both suffered nasty crashes in separate red-flagged incidents.
THE OPENING 11 LAPS
Before the lights went out, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had a problem on the grid and was wheeled away for a pit lane start, while teammate Acosta got the launch he would have been looking for. The #37 led from Alex Marquez, but the Sprint winner got a little beaten up around the rest of the lap. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) pounced, and then Martin bullied his way past his compatriot at Turn 7 – and there was contact. It was another fast start from Zarco, but it was almost an early shower for the Frenchman after he had a big moment at Turn 10.
Right, breath caught? No, us neither. Acosta led by 0.7s, with Alex Marquez re-grouping and then attacking Fernandez. However, the attacker then became the hunted. Zarco aggressively shoved his way past Marquez at Turn 5 on Lap 3, and immediately after, Martin carved his way past Marquez to quickly demote the Spaniard to P5.
On the next lap, Martin (at Turn 1) and Marquez (at Turn 5) did then get back past Zarco for P3 and P4, but with the scrapping, Acosta and Fernandez were a second up the road. And on Lap 5, it was those two at the forefront of the action. Fernandez decided he fancied the Grand Prix lead baton, with the #25 making a classic Turn 1 move stick on the KTM star.
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), the pre-race championship leader, was lapping in P8 before a big mistake arrived at Turn 10 on Lap 5. That dropped the Italian behind compatriot Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), with the duo P11 and P12 in the early stages.
Lap 7 saw Acosta have a bite at leading again, but it was a move that Fernandez responded to immediately. Two laps later, Acosta went for it again at Turn 1 – and this time, there was nothing the Trackhouse rider could do. While thinking about trying to regain the lead, Fernandez also had to give a thought to a menacing Marquez, because the latter had slung himself into the fight for the lead.
P3 became P2 for Marquez down into Turn 1 on Lap 10, and at this stage of the Grand Prix, the most comfortable-looking rider was Saturday’s winner.
Then, a huge incident unfolded on Lap 12. Acosta, coming out of Turn 9, suffered a technical issue on the straight, which left the helpless Alex Marquez with nowhere to go as Acosta lost power. The #73 hit the rear of Acosta, which then caused Marquez to endure a very nasty crash after the front of his bike was badly damaged.
The unavoidable contact between the two meant debris littered the circuit, some of which Fernandez and Di Giannantonio couldn’t avoid, with Marquez’s stricken Ducati bouncing back into the middle of the track too. Fernandez was clearly hurt, and so was Di Giannantonio, who ended up crashing at Turn 10 due to being unable to avoid a huge amount of debris from Marquez’s bike. Both got back to pit lane and were eligible for the restart, with Marquez – who was confirmed conscious – taken to the hospital for further medical checks.
Di Giannantonio, Fernandez, and Zarco – who was also caught up in the debris from the crash – were all OK to make the restart.
THE FIRST RESTART
MotoGP’s warriors lined up on the grid for a 13-lap race, with the starting positions decided by the standings on the previous completed lap. That meant the front row was Acosta, Fernandez, and Martin.
On the run into Turn 1, Acosta grabbed the holeshot, before three riders crashed at the opening corner. Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Bagnaia, and Zarco all went down, and it was an incident that brought out the red flags. Marini and Pecco thankfully walked away, with Zarco unfortunately getting caught up with Pecco’s bike in the gravel.
LCR confirmed Zarco was taken to the local hospital for further checks on a left leg injury.
THE SECOND RESTART
12 laps, the grid as you were before the second red flags. Once more, Acosta held onto P1, with Martin slotting into P2. Fernandez was P3 but then, at Turn 5, contact. Fernandez, on the inside of Martin, had to pick up the bike after the duo came together, as both went into the gravel. Martin was on the floor but managed to rejoin; however, the Aprilias were P18 and P19.
At the front, Acosta led from Mir and Pecco, with Di Giannantonio sitting in P4. Bezzecchi was P8, one place behind Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team).
On Lap 4 of 13, Di Giannantonio moved up to P3 ahead of Pecco, as the top three began to stretch clear of the factory Ducati rider. P4 then became P5 for Pecco, who was running the medium rear tyre, as Aldeguer pounced at Turn 4 on Lap 7.
With five laps to go, Di Giannantonio decided it was time to pass Mir for P2. And it was a move that stuck. The top three were locked together in Barcelona, with Aldeguer and Ogura reeling in the leaders. Soon enough, you could throw a blanket over the top five.
With three laps to go, the lead changed for the first time. It was Turn 10 again, as Di Giannantonio parked his Ducati up the inside of Acosta and hanging onto the inside line into Turn 12, the pass stuck.
Within half a lap, Di Giannantonio pulled 0.6s on Acosta, Mir, Aldeguer, and Ogura. And it didn’t look like Acosta had anything in response. Instead, he had a tough task of keeping Mir, Aldeguer, and Ogura behind him.
A task that proved too difficult. Mir was P2 at Turn 1 on the last lap, and Aldeguer dived through at Turn 3. Di Giannantonio was away at the front, and with no time left to respond, it looked like Acosta’s rostrum chances were done. And at the final corner, they were.
Ogura, in a 2009 Rossi-esque attempt, made contact with the KTM star, which saw Acosta crash out. A disastrous end to the Grand Prix for Acosta, as he saw a win and podium slip away in dramatic fashion.
Di Giannantonio clinched his first win in VR46 colours, his first 25-point haul since the 2023 Qatar GP, a top job from the Italian who was riding in pain after the first red flag incident, with Mir and Aldeguer crossing the line behind the #49. However, it wasn’t to be as a post-race tyre pressure penalty was applied to Mir, subsequently promoting Bagnaia up to third. Ogura’s last corner move meant the Stewards handed the Japanese star a three-second penalty, the equivalent of a Long Lap, which dropped the #79 to P9 but then eighth once Mir’s penalty was applied.
Whilst Pecco got third, other riders investigated for tyre pressure penalties were Toprak Razgatlioglu (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) and teammate Jack Miller, Raul Fernandez and Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). P5 became P4 for Bezzecchi and after a tough weekend, plus Martin’s crash, that could prove to be a very good result for the Italian. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Marini, Binder, penalised Ogura, Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR) and Morbidelli rounded out the top 10.
The riders closing out the points were Rins, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Miller, and Razgatlioglu.
“Today’s race was quite difficult because it is never easy to know that other riders have crashed and then have to mentally reset. I tried to isolate myself and maintain my concentration, and in the end we secured a good result. Most importantly, all the riders involved in the crashes, including my teammate, are okay.”
Diogo Moreira P9
Augusto Fernandez P12
“I lost power and it was the end of a difficult weekend. My speed was good from Friday and it was positive for the race but I made a bad start. I was recovering positions and was close to the group for 7-8th and waiting for the tire drop. It’s a shame. Also it was a brutal accident today and then also again in Turn 1. It is not easy to brake there with a MotoGP bike.”
Enea Bastianini NC
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #KytCrew during the weekend in Barcelona.