Motorsport
Gresini are the kings of the desert again! Unemployed Di Giannantonio wins GP MotoGP for the first time, Bagnaia one-handed on the champion’s trophy
What a race! MotoGP wrote another big story when Fabio di Giannantonio, who doesn’t know if he will even start next season, took his first career MotoGP victory at the Qatar Grand Prix. Championship leader Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia held the lead for a long time, finally letting his compatriot get a taste of the top position in Sunday’s main race.
What a race! MotoGP wrote another big story when Fabio di Giannantonio, who doesn’t know if he will even start next season, took his first career MotoGP victory at the Qatar Grand Prix. Championship leader Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia held the lead for a long time, finally letting his compatriot get a taste of the top position in Sunday’s main race. Jorge Martín endured a disastrous grand prix, finishing only tenth and letting Bagnaia slip to 21 points in the standings ahead of the last race in Valencia.
The tension is running high. The blood pressure of the fans is rising. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything like this. At the very least, the motorcycling world is watching one of the most epic battles for the world championship title this year between reigning champion Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia and Jorge Martín.
The Spanish challenger from the Pramac Ducati team produced a dazzling ride in the Qatar sprint, cutting the gap to his Italian stable rival by exactly half with his eighth win on Saturday. Bagnaia entered the penultimate weekend of the season with a 14-point lead. However, he held an almost insignificant 7-point margin before the start of the 22-lap Qatar Grand Prix.
Bagnaia and Martín went into the race side-by-side, from fourth and fifth place respectively. Luca Marini took pole position for the second time this season. The front row was occupied by the year-old Ducati satellite machines, while the second row was occupied only by the latest Bologna missiles.
A great start for one title contender, a shaky start for the other
Bagnaia and Martín lined up next to each other on the grid in fourth and fifth place respectively. Ahead of them were stablemates led by Luca Marini. Bagnaio made an incredible break and took the lead into the first corner ahead of Marini and Fabio Di Giannantoni. Martín had exactly the opposite experience, as his front wheel lifted and his rear wheel spun, sending him down to eighth.
Similar to the sprint, Marc Márquez had a good start and found himself in a sandwich of Ducati machines in fifth place. During the first lap, Iker Lecuona, the replacement for Álex Rins in the LCR Honda, withdrew due to technical problems.
Bagnaia had built up a slight lead on his pursuers after the first circuit, mostly on Ducati machines. The aforementioned Marc Márquez and Brad Binder on the factory ktm were mixed into this line of leading riders, and they were no match for each other in the battle for fifth position. Meanwhile, the younger of the two Márquezes and Di Giannantonio, who is not guaranteed a place in MotoGP, were vying for the final podium position.
Who was uncharacteristically struggling unbelievably was Martín. In the same way that his title rival Bagnaia was experiencing in the sprint when he couldn’t keep up with the leaders, the Spaniard, rather than making amends for his botched start, was fighting back against the riders behind him, led by Maverick Viñales. Luckily for him, he had teammate Johann Zarco around him, who relinquished his seventh place to him after his mistake.
Over the next two laps, however, Martín was able to recover and very quickly finished ahead of Marc Márquez, from whom he took over sixth position. Álex Márquez and Di Giannantonio continued to overtake at this point. The Italian eventually moved up to third position, and a few corners later he was also able to take on Marini. He was only half a second ahead of leader Bagnaiu.
Another drop for Martino, Di Giannantonio pushing Bagnaiu
Binder was once again proving he could match the pace of the dominant Ducati. He passed Álex Márquez on lap six and wasn’t far off second-placed Di Giannantonio. Meanwhile, Martín lost momentum and began to lose significant ground on the riders in front of him.
The second man overall was gaining several tenths per lap. It was no wonder then that Viñales, riding behind him, was looking for any loophole to get ahead of Martín.
At this stage of the race, however, it would appear that a strategy of not attacking his compatriots was underway. Both the Italian Di Giannantonio and the Spaniard Viñales, bearing down on Martín, would normally have attacked long ago. In both cases, however, there have been no manoeuvres so far.
Aleix Espargaró retired on lap seven and will throw the Qatar Grand Prix experience in the bin as soon as possible. Before the race, he received a six-place grid penalty and a ten thousand euro fine for slapping Franco Morbidelli’s helmet. He was then involved in a mass casualty in the sprint, from which he sustained minor injuries. Finally, on Sunday, he retired after just seven laps.
By the halfway point of the race, Martín had picked up a two-second gap on fifth-placed Marini and continued to keep several riders close behind. Viñales finally ran out of patience and got ahead of Martín on lap 11. A few seconds later, the Madrid native lost another position, this time to Fabio Quartararo. An exasperated Martín dropped to eighth place, gradually losing valuable points and possibly the championship.
The very next lap, Martín failed to fit perfectly into the first corner, benefiting Jack Miller. Even his teammate Zarco couldn’t protect him from the other drivers. Martín dropped to ninth, which would have opened the scissors between him and Bagnaia to 25 points, with only 37 points at stake in Valencia.
However, interesting things were happening at the front. The duo of Bagnaia and Di Giannantonio had pulled away from the rest of the field and their lead was over four seconds with seven laps to go. However, the Gresini rider was not letting the World Championship leader go anywhere, suggesting that he had better pace than the factory machine driver.
Eighth different winner this year – an unemployed rider wins MotoGP!
Behind the leading duo were Binder, Márquez and Marini in a tug of war for the bronze medal. Although the former held on to third position for a few laps, he eventually relinquished it to Marini, and was himself up to fifth place behind the younger Márquez.
With five laps to go, Di Giannantonio received a coded message on his dashboard from his “Mapping 8” team. At first it appeared to be an instruction from Ducati not to attack Fabio in any way at Bagnaia.
Wrong! After Martín found himself in tenth place behind the second Ducati factory rider, Enea Bastianini, Di Giannantonio successfully attacked Bagnaiu and took the lead of the Qatar GP.
Bagnaia attempted a comeback manoeuvre with three laps to go, but in doing so nearly shot down Di Giannantonio when he failed to brake and flew off the track. Little was missing and it could have been a huge disaster for Bagnaia in the title fight, to which he was very close.
Di Giannantonio survived an almost kamikaze attack by Bagnai, after which the gap between the leading duo grew to three seconds. Fortunately for Bagnaiu, he had third-placed Marini back by two seconds. Zarco found himself in a similar situation, lightly tapping Marc Márquez in the battle in the bunch for Martín’s 10th place. Fortunately, there was no crash in the end.
Just like a year ago, the Gresini team dominated the Qatar GP. A year after Eney Bastianini’s debut triumph, 25-year-old Fabio Di Giannantonio made his debut on the top step of the podium. Bagnaia finished second ahead of Marini, with Viñales taking fourth place ahead of Binder.
Bagnaia’s second and Martín’s tenth place thus set the scenario before the last race in Valencia as follows. With one weekend to go, Bagnaia leads Martín by 21 points. If the Italian scores four points in Saturday’s sprint, he will defend his world title as the first Ducati rider in World Championship history.
Qatar Grand Prix MotoGP results (Race 19/20, 22 laps = 118.360 km; top 10 only):
1. Fabio di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) 41:43.654
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) +2.734
3. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) +4.408
4. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) +4.488
5. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +7.246
6. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) +7.620
7. Fabio Quaratararo (Fra., Yamaha) +8.239
8. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) +11.509
9. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) +14.819
10. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) +14.964
2023 MotoGP rider standings (after 19/20; top 10 only):
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 437 points
2. Jorge Martín (Spa., Ducati) 416
3. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) 326
4. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 268
5. Johann Zarco (Fra., Ducati) 204
6. Aleix Espargaró (Sp., Aprilia) 198
7. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) 194
8. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 192
9. Fabio Quaratararo (Fra., Yamaha) 167
10. Álex Márquez (Sp., Ducati) 165
Source: MotoGP
