Márquez is back! A dominant performance in Aragon ended a three-year wait for victory, Bagnaia did not finish the race after a crash

For the first time in two years, the Aragon Grand Prix has returned to the MotoGP calendar. And one man dominated its entire course. Marc Márquez put in an unbeatable performance to win Sunday’s grand prix after a wait of almost three years. The other big story was the mutual crash of Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaio and Álex Márquez. The reigning world champion thus lost important ground to Jorge Martín, whose second-place finish sent him into a points scrap at the front of the World Championship.

The twelfth round of this season’s World Championship for road bikes took place at the Motorland Aragon circuit, which made its first appearance in the series in 2010. After a hiatus last year, this latest grand prix on Spanish soil has regained its place on the calendar. Enea Bastianini won here last time out after a fierce battle with stablemate, and now teammate, Pecco Bagnaia.

Marc Márquez absolutely dominated the entire race weekend before Sunday’s climax. The eight-time champion dominated all the free practice sessions and took pole position ahead of Pedro Acosta by almost nine tenths.

Márquez fearlessly in the lead, Bagnaia again off to a bad start

Márquez headed towards his maiden victory for the Bologna, Italy-based team, holding on to his lead over Acosta and Jorge Martín after starting from first position. As in the short race, Bagnai missed a rear wheel and lost several positions again. Partly due to the dirty inside part of the finishing straight, which the Italian had complained about during the weekend, Bagnaia dropped to seventh position.

While Márquez took a trip through the eastern Spanish desert, new MS leader Martín was breathing down Acosta’s neck. On lap two, the 26-year-old attempted a manoeuvre into turn eight, but sent himself and Acosta off the track. Martín sportingly let the series newcomer go ahead of him. This gave Márquez a cushion of almost two seconds at the front, while a large group of pursuers closed in on them.

Martín finally managed to pass Acosta just a few corners later and immediately passed him and the others. Acosta now led a group of five in the battle for bronze, which included Bagnaia, hungry for damage control after a depressing ninth place from the sprint.

Acosta was visibly failing to keep up with the pace of the leading duo of Márquez and Martín, while the Ducati riders, particularly Franco Morbidelli and Álex Márquez, had the pace to humble the 20-year-old surely a future legend of the sport. Morbidelli did try to pass Acosta on lap four, but it was unsuccessful. The younger of the two Márquez’s had the third laugh and took advantage of the situation to work his way up to third.

Márquez’s decorated career is interrupted by a candidate for the most controversial moment of the season

As early as lap six, the gap between the leading trio was measured in units of seconds. It was therefore clear that, like the day before, most of the jockeying for position would take place in the middle of the field. After a brilliant eighth place on Saturday, Fabio Quartararo crashed at turn five and Bagnaia was looking for a way past Morbidelli in fifth.

Bagnaia did keep Brad Binder close on his backstretch, but Morbidelli eventually made a mistake in turn five. That sent Bagnaia and Binder one spot ahead. The next man to shave was Acosta circling in fourth for the two-time MotoGP World Champion. Bagnaia dealt with him on lap eleven and headed towards third placed Álex Márquez.

Márquez and Martín circled safely in their respective spots. However, an incident on lap eighteen after the race and the parc fermé took care of the shock for them. Bagnaia caught Márquez, who made a mistake at turn twelve, giving his stablemate the opportunity to pass him on the outside. However, Márquez held his line, with Bagnaia arcing around turn thirteen. At that moment, a terrible crash occurred!

Bagnaia and Márquez collided with each other, resulting in retirement for both riders. For this year’s winner of seven Sunday races in particular, the accident dealt a major blow to his title defence bid. After one of the biggest moments of the season, nothing major happened in the VC Aragon.

Márquez led every lap of both races, dominated all the preceding races and won the MotoGP Grand Prix after a wait of more than one thousand days. Martín finished second, with the podium landing in Acosta’s lap. Martín thus jumped to a 23-point lead at the top of the World Championship after eliminating his biggest rival for the title. Binder and Bastianini rounded out the top five.

Aragon MotoGP Grand Prix results (12/20, 23 laps = 116.771 km; top 10 only):

1. Marc Márquez (Sp., Ducati) 41:47.082
2. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) +4.789
3. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) +14.904
4. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +16.459
5. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) +18.776
6. Franco Morbidelli (Ita., Ducati) +20.549
7. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) +21.159
8. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) +24.759
9. Álex Rins (Span., Yamaha) +39.420
10. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) +39.966

2024 MotoGP rider standings (after 12/20; top 10 only):

1. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) 299
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 276
3. Marc Márquez (Spa., Ducati) 229
4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) 228
5. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) 148
6. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 145
7. Maverick Viñales (Spaniard, Aprilia) 139
8. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) 118
9. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) 113
10. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) 104

Source: MotoGP, X