INDIA in F1

Tag: Grand Prix of Barcelona

  • Stage set: Bagnaia grabs pole, Martin starts #TheRematch decider from Row 2

    Stage set: Bagnaia grabs pole, Martin starts #TheRematch decider from Row 2

    Barcelone, 16 Nov. 2024:

    The #1 holds on by 0.055 ahead of Espargaro and Marquez, with Martin forced to settle for fourth as the grids set the stage for a stunning finale
    Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) will start the Tissot Sprint and Grand Prix at the Motul Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona from pole as the #1 stayed cool under pressure to hold on at the top. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) made a late lunge for glory but came up short by just 0.055 in his final Q2, with Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) completing a fascinating front row – and one that doesn’t feature Championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing). He will instead start P4… directly behind his title rival Bagnaia.

    Q1
    FP2 delivered a final opportunity for the MotoGP™ stars to perfect their setups, with Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) taking top honours as Bagnaia finished ahead of Martin in a busy start to Saturday. Once Q1 itself was underway, Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) set a blistering pace in his opening laps – briefly topping the timesheets. With the clock ticking down, Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) then suffered a late crash at Turn 5. Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) were the riders who moved through, earning their spot in Q2 ahead of the final battle for pole.

    Q2
    The stage was set for Q2, with tactics at play during the first flying laps as Bagnaia went fastest, with Martin sitting in third. It seemed like Espargaro may have been on his own mission for Martin too, but it didn’t ultimately pay off. 

    Everything came down to the final five minutes, with Bagnaia finding further time and Morbidelli then pushing Martin off the provisional front row. The Championship leader was under pressure and did deliver a faster lap on his final push, but it wasn’t quite enough for that front row. He leapfrogged his teammate but remained behind Marc Marquez. Meanwhile, Espargaro’s last dash saw him challenge for pole, missing out by almost nothing.

    THE GRID
    Bagnaia, Espargaro and Marquez stare down Turn 1 from the front row, and Martin stares down Bagnaia from directly behind him, at the head of Row 2. Martin will have to work hard to wrap up the title in the Tissot Sprint after qualifying just ahead of teammate Morbidelli. The Italian rounded out the top five spots in Q2 as Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) ended the session as the top KTM/GASGAS rider in sixth.

    Viñales spearheads the third row of the grid, ending Q2 a mere 0.351s adrift from Bagnaia’s benchmark. Alongside the #12 will be Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team), with ‘The Beast’ now left with some work to do as he is joined by compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) on the third after the Italian took ninth ahead of Quartararo.

    Further back, Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) narrowly missed a spot in Q2 by 0.028s and will line up from 13th. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder also missed a chance to fight in Q2, with the South African starting from P18 on the grid and surely a candidate to move forward…

    The stage is set, with the grids poised to deliver some incredible action in Catalunya. Will the title be decided or is there one more twist in the tale? Join us later to find out.

    SATURDAY
    TISSOT SPRINT: 15:00 (UTC +1)
    SUNDAY
    GRAND PRIX: 14:00 (UTC +1) 6.30pm IST
  • Bagnaia lands first blow as Martin heads into match point Saturday in P5

    Bagnaia lands first blow as Martin heads into match point Saturday in P5

    Barcelone, 15 November 2024:

    #TheRematch decider has been turned up a notch with the reigning Champion finding Friday form and the title leader enduring some Practice troubles

    Day 1 of #TheRematch decider at the Motul Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona belonged to the hunter – Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). The reigning #1 set the pace on Friday to land an important early jab on World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), as the latter managed to hold onto a fifth place finish after encountering some Turn 5 troubles deep into Practice. It’s job done in terms of getting into Q2 without too many issues for the #89, but there’s plenty of room for improvement for the rider who sits 24 points clear of the current #1 with the biggest Saturday of the season firmly on the horizon. 

    Operating inside the top three on Day 1 was second fastest – and one of Bagnaia’s chief allies – Marco Bezzecchi. The Italian was on song in Practice as he aims to bid farewell to the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team with a podium finish at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. And if Day 1 is anything to go by, then the Italian is looking good to challenge for just that. P3 went the way of Catalan GP Tissot Sprint winner Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) after the retiring home hero set a strong lap in the closing stages to sit 0.107s off Bagnaia’s lap. 

    Following a relatively quiet opening three-quarters of the session as the riders flicked through their respective programmes, the session really kicked into sixth gear with just under 15 minutes remaining. Traditions. And speaking of traditions, Martin climbed to a familiar P1 with a 1:39.652 and on his next flyer, a 1:39.214 was landed to see the World Championship leader sit 0.330s clear of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing). At this stage (10 minutes to go) Bagnaia was fifth, just under half a second down on his title rival’s effort. 

    That three-tenth advantage was slashed to just 0.010s as Viñales improved. Then, one of the standout riders of the season demoted Martin to P2. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) set a 1:39.197 to grab top spot, with the top five now split by less than a tenth. Those were Zarco, Martin, Viñales, Bagnaia and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™). 

    Heading into the final four minutes, Martin couldn’t get a lap going and at Turn 5, the Spaniard produced a more than decent front-end save. The #89 cut a frustrated figure as Bezzecchi propelled his GP23 to P1 before Bagnaia went 0.080s quicker than his compatriot to pinch P1 off his VR46 Academy stablemate. 

    With a minute to go, Martin was P5 and not going any quicker, but he looked out of danger in terms of not getting into Q2. No one else was improving enough to trouble the sharp end of the timesheets, so it was job done for #TheRematch contenders. Bagnaia was top of the class on Friday, and Martin was fifth without too many dramas. Roll on qualifying. 

    Zarco’s incredibly impressive Friday afternoon stint saw the Frenchman keep hold of P4 ahead of Martin, with Viñales, Alex Marquez, his teammate Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) acting as the other riders who clinched automatic Q2 spots, as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) missed out in P11 by just 0.020s. 

    So that’s the final Friday of the year done. Bagnaia heads into a title-defining Saturday at the summit, exactly where he wanted to be. Martin faces match point Saturday in P5, but that could all change when qualifying comes around. And what a session it promises to be. What a day it’s set to be. Will Martin end the Tissot Sprint as the new World Champion, or will Bagnaia do what he needs to do to take the title fight to Sunday? In less than 24 hours, we’ll know the answer. Bring it on. 

    SHOWTIME
    FP2: 10:00 (UTC+1) 2.30pm IST
    Q1: 10:50
    Q2: 11:15
    Tissot Sprint: 15:00 (7.25 pm IST)