Saturday morning in Motegi offered its share of twists and turns for the Japanese Grand Prix, 16th round of MotoGP 2024. A rookie in pole position with a lap record, track limits for an eight-time world champion and a costly fall for the championship leader, Jorge Martin. All this promises us a fascinating starting grid for the sprint and the Grand Prix.
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3), freshly crowned Rookie of the Year, made his mark by winning his first pole position in MotoGP with a new lap record. “
I had a good pace and I gave everything on this lap. It’s amazing to get pole “, declared
Acostavisibly moved. He thus becomes the first KTM/GASGAS rider to start from pole position since 2020. He is ahead of the reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), which brilliantly recovered after a complicated start in P12, and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), which completes the front row with an impressive return ofAprilia.
Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) thought he had clinched pole with a blistering lap, but a penalty for exceeding track limits at Turn 4 relegated him to ninth. “ It was an exceptional lap, but unfortunately I went off the track by a few centimetres. It’s frustrating, but it’s sport », explained
Marquez after his misadventure.
Pour Jorge Martinchampionship leader, the situation is even more delicate. The Pramac driver crashed at turn 9 and will start from 11th position for the sprint and race. “ It’s a hard blow, but we will have to fight to minimize the damage “, he confided.
The starting grid therefore sees Acosta on pole, followed by Bagnaia et Vinaleswhile that Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) leads the second row in front Brad Binder (Red
Bull KTM) et Franco Morbidelli (Pramac).
Marc Marquez will start ninth after his incident, just behind Fabio Di Giannantonio et
Marco Bezzecchi. Coming out with honors from Q1,
Fabio Quartararo will start twelfth with his
Yamahathe only Japanese brand in this first part of the table. Johann Zarco is sixteenth with his
Honda.
The weekend promises to be intense, with unpredictable weather conditions and a peloton that seems ready to do anything to fight for victory. This sprint already promises sparks before the big race. What will he have in store for us? Before you know it, here is the table that summarizes the facts known so far.
| MotoGP™ Japan, Motegi | 2023 | 2024 |
| FP1 | 1’45.192 Jorge Martin (See here) | 1’45.209 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) |
| Practice | 1’43.489 Brad Binder (See here) | 1’43.436 Brad Binder (See here) |
| FP2 | 1’44.622 Marco Bezzecchi (See here) | 1’44.569 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) |
| Q1 | 1’43.997 Marc Marquez (See here) | 1’43.746 Franco Morbidelli (See here) |
| Q2 | 1’43.198 Jorge Martin (See here) | 1’43,018 Pedro Acosta (See here) |
| Sprint | Martin, Binder, Bagnaia (See here) | Bagnaia, Bastianini, Marc Marquez |
| Warm Up | 1’46.047 Jack Miller (See here) | (See here) |
| Course | Martin, Bagnaia, M.Marquez (See here) | (See here) |
| Record | 1’43.198 Jorge Martin (See here) | 1’43,018 Pedro Acosta (See here) |
We got up early this morning to thrill you on this day of the Sprint race in Japan: the rain made its appearance in the various qualifying sessions, and the latter has stopped for the moment but could disrupt the madmen again handlebars…
Will it rain, will it not rain that is the question????
Grid…
The drivers will have 12 laps to complete…
Who will shine today…especially given the very uncertain weather conditions??? Who can benefit from crime??? The “shark”, the aforementioned ACOSTA, has its fin to play for… pole position and track record…
And for our memories of goldfish in our aquariums…here is a reminder of the forces present…!
Great performance from Vinales…whom we haven’t seen for a while at the front…in fight mode for victory? Can he?
It’s been smooth sailing for Martin since his “stupid” fall this morning…he will start 11th and in front of him “the Marquez clan”!!! Hot hot in front!!!
Heating tower…
It’s off and it’s Acosta who takes the lead before being caught by Bagnaia and Bastianini. Binder and Martin bring up the rear of the top5: 6 positions gained by Martin!
It’s the fight between Acosta and Bastianini, the Tech3 driver takes 2nd position.
Mir Shot
With 11 laps to go, Bagnaia leads the way ahead of Acosta, Bastianini, Binder, MMarquez who has just passed Martin
Acosta takes control!! The little one is boiling hot!!!
Retirement for Binder due to mechanical problem.
Acosta widens the gap little by little…0.457s separate him from his pursuer…Bagnaia..
Nakagami Falls. Pushed slightly by Zarco….The latter gets a long lap…for the incident with Nakagami…and before that with Mir!
We are at the halfway point of the race and the top10 is composed as follows: Acosta, Bagnaia, Bastianini, MMarquez, Martin, Morbidelli, Di Giannantonio, Miller, AMarquez and Bezzecchi
Abandonment for Nakagami.
4 laps…..and it’s the fall for Acosta! too quickly….youthful mistake…the shark bit the hook set by his adversary….I force and bam…I fall!!
Chute d’AEspargaro…
2 rounds left
And Bagnaia unfolds…followed by Bastianini, MMarquez, Martin and Morbidelli.
Duel at the top between MMarquez and Bastianini, it’s the Ducati rider who wins!!!
Victory for Bagnaia, ahead of Bastianini and MMarquez
Martin saved the furniture….
COMPLETE RANKINGS:
MotoGP, Japan, Sprint: classification
