Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Saturday October 5, 2024 at 8:35 a.m.
Starting second, double world champion Francesco Bagnaia won the sprint race at the Japanese Grand Prix, while his rival Jorge Martin took fourth place. Pedro Acosta, who started on pole, crashed four laps from the end while leading the race. As for the French, they did not exist in this race.
Twenty-one points separated Jorge Martin from Francesco Bagnaia before the start of this Japanese weekend at Motegi. There are only fifteen left at the end of the sprint race. The Italian actually won this twelve-lap race this Saturday, while the Spaniard took fourth place. A lesser evil since he started eleventh on the grid. It was Pedro Acosta (20 years old) who started in pole position, but Bagnaia overtook him in the first meters to take the lead of the race. Also overtaken by Enea Bastianini at the start, Acosta managed to overtake him at the end of the first lap, then overtake Bagnaia in the third to take the lead of the Grand Prix. And while his first victory in MotoGP seemed to reach out to him, the young Spaniard lost the front of his bike four laps from the end and crashed! The double world champion didn’t ask for that much. He took back control of the race, which was offered to him on a plateau, and made no mistakes until the finish, winning ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez, who therefore gained six places relative to its position on the grid.
The rise of Martin
Jorge Martin had also started far back on the grid, but he had a fantastic start, finding himself fifth at the first corner. The retirement of Brad Binder, then fourth, in the third round, allowed him to position himself at the foot of the podium, and he retained this fourth place, synonymous with six points (12 for Bagnaia), until the end. On the French side, Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco did not impact the race. The Nice native started twelfth and finished twelfth. As for the Cannes driver, who started 16th, he finished 14th, after receiving a “long lap” for “irresponsible driving”, because he had slightly pushed Joan Mir and Takaaki Nakagami, who then fell. They will tend to do better on Sunday during the Grand Prix…
Acosta king of qualifying
Before this sprint race, the qualifying session took place, and it was the rookie Pedro Acosta who took pole, ahead of double world champion Francesco Bagnaia and Maverick Vinales. The championship leader, Jorge Martin, suffered a fall and only finished eleventh. His compatriot Marc Marquez thought he had won pole, but his fast lap was canceled due to exceeding the track limits. On the French side, Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco both had to go through Q1. The former world champion managed to take second place and therefore qualify for Q2, where he took twelfth place. The Cannes native finished 6th in Q1 and started 16th on the grid.
: Bagnaia wins and takes six points from Martin){kind=link}