Bagnaia triumphs in MotoGP sprint on home soil! Championship leader Martín throws away the podium

Reigning MotoGP world champion Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia entered the pair of points races at the home GP of Italy as best he could. The 27-year-old Ducati factory rider dominated the sprint at the famous Mugello circuit ahead of Marc Márquez and rookie Pedro Acosta. World Championship leader Jorge Martín rode from pole position to claim a solid little podium. However, the Spaniard crashed and allowed his rivals to close in on him at the front of the championship.

MotoGP continues its European leg of the season with a stop at Italy’s Mugello circuit for the seventh round of the 2024 season. The VC of Italy is the last race before a three-week spring break caused by the postponement of the debut VC of Kazakhstan to September. World Championship front-runner Jorge Martín held such a large lead at the head of the championship before the weekend began that he will remain in his position at the end of it in any situation.

However, Martín began his quest to increase his own points margin by gaining pole position ahead of home team Bagnaia. However, after an incident in practice in which he held up a charging Álex Márquez by driving slowly on the race track, the Italian received a three-place grid penalty from race directors, but only for Sunday’s race.

Bagnaia was thus able to start Saturday’s 11-lap sprint from his winning second position. Maverick Viñales completed the front row of the grid.

Bagnaia comfortably to the front, contact between stablemates

24 riders set off for the seventh sprint of the season with Martín in pole position. However, the 26-year-old Pramac driver did not get off to an ideal start, which Bagnaia took advantage of for his foray into the lead on the approach to Turn 1. Martín eventually lost position to fellow Bagnaia Enea Bastianini after the start as well.

While Marc Márquez battled with Brad Binder for his fourth place qualifying position, Martín attacked Bastianini at the extremely fast Arrabbiatta 1 corner. However, the daring manoeuvre did not bear fruit for Martín. On the other hand, Pedro Acosta made a successful overtaking pass, who stamped on a poorly-starting Viñales and his sixth place.

Going into the second lap, sprint leader Bagnaia gradually built up a small lead. This slowly increased thanks to the continuing duel between Martín and Bastianini. Although the Spaniard got ahead of the Italian on the second lap, the fourth man overall didn’t wait long to respond.

However, Bastianini overstepped on his retaliatory attempt on the following lap, and overstepped into the first corner. Martín spotted a spot on the inside which, however, Bastianini himself was aiming for. There was contact between the stablemates, with the factory Ducati rider coming off worst.

Figuratively and literally speaking, because Bastianini threw his machine after contact with Martín. Although he got back on his ducati, the Rimini, Italy native headed for the pits moments later.

Martín throws away valuable points, Bagnaia and Márquez pull up

Just before this incident, there was another crash, this time mutual. Miguel Oliveira on Aprilia and Fabio Quartararo on Yamazo were battling for positions outside the points. However, the Portuguese failed to control his machine during his manoeuvre on the Frenchman, failing to assess the situation correctly and sending both himself and the 2021 World Champion into a duck. Although Oliveira can be said to have caused and caused the accident, the commissaires assessed their clash as a racing incident and did not penalise anyone.

However, it was not easy for Bagnaia at the front. Both Martín and Márquez were only a few tenths behind him, but it was closer between the Spaniards. Behind them, Acosta chased down another rider, this time ahead of Binder, who was also overtaken by Franco Morbidelli on the other Pramac machine.

Back at the front, Márquez took a shot at the second Martín, but to no avail. The eight-time champion waited one more lap to move up to second position in the sixth of eleven overall. The Team Gresini rider then showed a faster pace, increasing his lead on Martín to half a second over the next few laps. However, Bagnaia was already controlling the lead with a cushion of around a second.

With four laps to go, however, disaster struck the World Championship leader when he laid his Ducati down on the approach to the first corner. Martín threw a potential seven championship points out the window with his second crash of the season. Bagnaia and Márquez had already crossed the line by then, pulling twelve and nine points off the championship lead respectively. Third-placed Acosta was already nearly three seconds down at the finish, with Morbidelli and Binder rounding out the top five.

Results of the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix sprint (11 laps = 57.695 km; top 10 only):

1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 19:30.251
2. Marc Márquez (Span., Ducati) +1.469
3. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) +4.147
4. Franco Morbidelli (Ita., Ducati) +5.421
5. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) +7.693
6. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +8.271
7. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) +8.846
8. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) +8.846
9. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) +8.984
10. Raúl Fernández (Span., Aprilia) +10.085

2024 MotoGP rider standings (top 10 only):

1. Jorge Martín (Spa., Ducati) 155 points
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 128
3. Marc Márquez (Spa., Ducati) 123
4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) 94
5. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 92
6. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) 90
7. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 79
8. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) 77
9. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) 65
10. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) 44

Sources