Francesco Bagnaia ensured the MotoGP world championship fight will come down to a final-race showdown in Barcelona, Ducati’s reigning world champion denying Jorge Martin a maiden premier-class crown with victory in the final sprint race of the 2024 season on Saturday.
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The Italian, bidding to become just the fourth rider to win a hat-trick of titles in the past 30 years with Mick Doohan, Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez, dominated the 12-lap sprint from pole position to claim his seventh sprint victory of the season, with teammate Enea Bastianini demoting Pramac Racing’s Martin to third with a robust pass at turn five on the final lap.
Bagnaia’s flawless display saw him reduce Martin’s series lead to 19 points with 25 points available in Sunday’s 24-lap Grand Prix, meaning Bagnaia has to finish in the top two to be a chance to retain his crown.
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A top-nine result for Martin, no matter where Bagnaia finishes, will ensure he becomes the fifth world champion from Spain in the premier class behind Alex Criville, Jorge Lorenzo, Marquez and Joan Mir.
In the final event of the season that was changed to Barcelona after flooding saw the cancellation of MotoGP’s customary finale in Valencia, Bastianini surged from eighth on the grid to take the lead at the first turn, but Bagnaia was back in front one corner later and was never threatened thereafter, winning by 0.942 seconds over Bastianini, with Martin 1.270secs in arrears.
“Job done for today, but for tomorrow we need to repeat what we did,” Bagnaia said.
“I think that more than this is impossible, Jorge did again a fantastic job so it’s fantastic that it’s like this. Let’s see for tomorrow, but for today I’m very happy.”
Bagnaia’s teammate Bastianini, who is leaving Ducati for KTM next season, hunted down Martin in the closing laps and overtook him with a forceful move on the final lap, but Martin was keeping the bigger picture in mind as he bids to become world champion before departing Ducati for Aprilia next season.
“Thanks for the nice show to Enea, because it was an amazing fight,” he said after his 31st podium in 39 starts this season.
“Today the important thing is to race as normal, so I did the same. I attack, I try again, and I did my best. A podium … I’m super happy as that was the target. Tomorrow the target is quite similar, so I will go for it.”
Australia’s Jack Miller, in his final event for KTM after spending the past two seasons with the Austrian manufacturer, crashed in qualifying and started just 19th in the 23-bike field. The 29-year-old finished in the same position after 12 laps, 18.553secs behind Bagnaia.
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