Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing), protagonist of one of the most epic stories of overcoming in recent years in MotoGP, has returned to the top of the podium after more than 1000 days since his last victory. Marc has led everything. Every free practice session and qualifying session. As well as every single lap in the sprint race on Saturday and in the race on Sunday. The ’93’ has been at a level that was absolutely unreachable for the rest throughout the weekend.
Jorge Martin (Cousin Pramac) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) They accompanied him on the podiumwhile Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) He suffered a fall due to an incident with Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing) when they were fighting for third place. With this result, ‘Martinator’ takes the lead in the overall standings, 23 points ahead of the reigning champion.
Friday: Fp1 and PR
The 2024 Motorland Grand Prix started with a very important conditioning factor for all the drivers, especially at the start of the weekend: the resurfacing of the circuit. It is known that when a track renews its surface, it takes time for it to reach its optimal grip point due to the sweating of the compounds, which still need to settle completely, and the lack of rubber on the ideal trajectory.
To this we would add another relevant variable: the weather. During the weekend in Alcañiz, we had rains, that although they occurred during hours with no activity on the circuit, they had their impact leaving a Dirty and delicate track.
Although these conditions might seem unfavourable for almost any rider, there is someone who knows how to make the most of them: Marc Márquez.
Marc Marquez He is a specialist in feeling comfortable where other riders are not, and this began to become evident from Friday. The Ducati Gresini rider set the best times in both FP1 and Practice, on a track that was “unfamiliar” in terms of the sensations of the new asphalt.
Pedro Acosta, Jorge Martin and Aleix Espargaro accompanied Marc Márquez at the top of the classifications in the first free practice sessions. Surprisingly, both Pecco Bagnaia as Enea Bastianini were very blurred before reaching the qualifying sessions. A highlight was the Johann Zarco goes straight to Q2 with his Castrol LCR Honda, the first time this has happened this year.
Saturday: Q1, Q2 and Sprint
Q1
The drivers who managed to advance to Q2 from this qualifying session were Brad Binderwho obtained the best time, followed by Pedro Acostaalthough the Murcian rider was the best reference for almost the entire session. Bastianini had problems feeling comfortable, having to change bikes and get on Acosta’s wheel, but nothing helped him to get into Q2.
Q2
The fight for pole position would start with a crash. Jorge Martin soon crashed in the first sector when he was launching his first fast lap. While the Madrid rider was recovering and returning to the pits to take the other bike, Marc Márquez was already beginning to set reference times.
Marc Marquez He continued to lower his records until reaching 1:46.766, a time that gave him pole position with a difference of more than 8 tenths below the marks of his pursuers. Marc’s time was incredible! Pedro Acosta took second place on the starting grid, Pecco was third and Jorge Martín, fourth.
Sprint Race
It was at the start of the race on Saturday, when Things were already really starting to go wrong for Pecco Bagnaia. Something happened to the Italian at the start, which caused his Desmosedici GP24 to move from side to side, generating a lot of spinning in the rear wheel. A very bad start saw the number 1 quickly relegated to fifth place.
In contrast, Marc Márquez, Jorge Martín and Pedro Acosta got off to a smooth start and took up positions in the same order from the start. Aleix had another unfortunate start similar to Bagnaia’s, but on top of that, he ended up falling at the first braking point when his Aprilia hit Fabio Di Giannantonio’s Ducati from behind. Zarco also fell shortly after. It’s a shame that the French rider couldn’t make better use of his good starting position on the grid.
The leading group began to pull away and there were no more changes among the top three positions. However, Pecco was fighting with several riders as he gradually fell behind. We saw a nice fight with Brad Binder and, later, with Fabio Quartararo. For a moment, it seemed like we were reliving the 2021-2022 seasons, when these two were fighting for the world championship.
Finally, Marc Márquez crossed the finish line with a 3.5 second lead over Jorge Martínfollowed by Pedro Acosta at a distance of approximately 2 seconds. Pecco could not finish better than ninth. And finally it was here! Marc Marquez’s first ever sprint race victory on a Ducati was now a reality. As for the championship, with this second place, “Martinator” regained the lead in the world championship, beating Francesco Bagnaia by 3 points.
Sunday: Aragon Grand Prix Race
The main race of the weekend It started like a carbon copy of the sprint for Pecco Bagnaiahis bike again skidded in a scandalous way at the start and relegated him from third place to seventh almost immediately. Something that the Italian could perhaps have avoided if he had understood Tardozzi, his team manager, when in the pre-race practices he tried to tell him to do the tests from his exact starting point on the grid to clean the area properly and eliminate the possibility of another ‘spinning’. Marc got off to a good start with Pedro Acosta, his brother Alex and Jorge Martin behind him.
At once, Marc Márquez began to open a gap and ‘Martinator’ would take advantage of Alex and Pedro to move into second position in the early stages of the race. The fight with the GAS-GAS driver almost cost them both a fall in the corkscrew, but fortunately, the two drivers were able to handle the situation without any drama.
Gresini’s ’73’ would also end up overtaking Pedro Acosta, leaving the man from Mazarrón in fourth position. Pecco, rising little by little, He would also end up overtaking the GAS-GAS rider and would get on the wheel of Álex Márquez, very aware that he had a much superior pace to the Catalan rider.
And that’s when we all threw our hands to our heads. Both Pecco and Álex Márquez would end up falling to the ground at Turn 12 in a very dangerous incident that fortunately did not result in any injuries for either of the two involved. The ’73’ went long entering the curve and when he wanted to return to the trajectory, Pecco had already occupied the ideal line and was ahead of the Spanish driver. Perhaps because the Italian closed the turn too much and Alex did not cut enough, things ended badly. Very badly. With both riders on the ground in the most controversial action of the weekend and with a Pecco Bagnaia that He dropped, suddenly and abruptly, 20 points in their fight for the championship.
Up front, Marc Márquez and Jorge Martín would “suffer” alone in a race that seemed endless for both of them. They measured out, managed, concentrated on each lap so as not to ruin the results that both needed to close out an ideal weekend.
And so it was: Marc Marquez sweeps on the weekend in which he would win races again, more than 1000 days later, and Jorge Martín, would get a juicy total distance of 23 points about his pursuer, Pecco Bagnaia. Pedro Acosta would complete the podium in a home Grand Prix that will leave much to talk about during these days. With this exciting scenario, we head to the Misano Grand Prix on September 8th.
