Let's talk MotoGP: It was impossible to expect that!

It’s time to take stock! Together, we will try to determine which riders have surprised us in a positive way throughout the 2024 season. This year, a singular phenomenon occurred in MotoGP, the premier category, and it was strictly impossible to expect That. Are you ready? Here we go!

Zero

The two parts of this retrospective are purely subjective, of course, although argued. So, in my opinion, there were no good surprises in MotoGP this year, and I think this is the first time I have come to this conclusion since I have been following this discipline. I find, personally, that no driver stood out when we didn't expect it, that none was particularly brilliant.

Pedro Acosta, rookie of the year with podiums? We could believe it, and still, some (including me) predicted a better first hour for the Spanish genius. Jorge Martin world champion? So, it's a surprise in the first sense of the word, yes, but he was not much more brilliant than Bagnaia. Furthermore, we knew he was capable of competing with the Italian as he proved in 2023, just as we knew he was capable of winning three races out of twenty. Marc Marquez, excellent at the end and triple winner?
Honestly, everyone saw it at that level. Nobody could imagine that Marquez, this time with the second best package in the field, would not do better than on the Honda. This isn't a huge surprise.

I can go on like this for a long time. Johann Zarco? Yes, he beat his teammates at Hondabut he is also the best driver in the company, by quite a distance. I don't know if the fact that he overcomes the terrifying Takaaki Nakagami is a surprise. It pains me to say it, but I don't have any prizes to award this season in MotoGP. The majority of the pilots were quite disappointing, and, if they did better than that, they didn't break the screen. If I had to say one or two under duress,
I would support the files of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Jorge Martinbut not out of conviction, because they didn't stun me during this exercise either.

Japan returns

So, we're going to fall back on the lower categories! The real surprise of this season, all classes combined, is none other than Ai Ogura. Losing momentum since his huge blunder at the end of the 2022 season, his rating was very low at the start of the year. Already, he had joined a recent team equipped with Boscoscuro chassis, and not Kalex titled every year since 2013. But he, like Sergio Garcia (another big surprise) held on.

Ai Ogura got rid of a championship that was rather promised to Fermin Aldeguer and Aron Canet, and quite easily to boot. Bravo to him. Let's cite another surprising rider in Moto2:
Manuel Gonzalez. Quite discreetly, he stood out nicely to take third place in the general classification.

No surprise but a little nonetheless

Let's finish this article with a short paragraph on David Alonso and Moto3, which I already talked about extensively recently.. The fact that he won this championship was in no way a surprise, as he started as the heavy favorite after his successful rookie year. On the other hand, that he won fourteen races, including seven in a row, thus breaking more or less all the records in the small category was quite unexpected, I must admit.

The revelation of the character Alonso also marked this year, so congratulations to him for this surprising and masterful campaign. Apart from Joel Kelso and Taiyo Furusato, on the Moto3 side, there weren't many other nice surprises, but, again, some fairly marked disappointments; notably David Munoz or José Antonio Rueda.

I'm curious to know if you share my analysis, so tell me in the comments! Tomorrow, same time, we will study other drivers who surprised us… but not in a good way.

As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial staff.

Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport