Reflecting on his rookie MotoGP season, Pedro Acosta couldn’t help but ponder the points lost during 13 non-scores.

The GASGAS Tech3 rookie topped the KTM challenge in terms of GP podiums (5), Sprint podiums (4), Pole positions (1) and laps in the race lead (13).

Yet he was still beaten by future team-mate Brad Binder for fifth place in the world championship, by just two points.

“Look how many points I lost in the races that I crashed. A lot!” Acosta said during the closing stages of the year. “If you put a 5th place in every track that I crashed, it’s many points at the end of the season.

“I need to put this in my head also! Maybe when you ride without pressure, you can go flat out, but sometimes we need to slow down a bit.”

Official MotoGP stats for the 2024 season confirm that Acosta fell more than any other rider, with 28 accidents across the 20 rounds (although he didn’t start the Australian GP due to injury).

“There were many mistakes, many difficult moments,” Acosta said of his debut premier-class campaign. “On the other side, many good moments, fighting for victories, improving a lot, understanding how MotoGP is. 

“And for this, I’m more happy than sad.”

The next rider on the crash list was competing in his twelfth MotoGP season: Marc Marquez, switching from Honda to Ducati, hit the ground 24 times this year.

Marquez topped last year’s list with a new high of 29 accidents in his final Repsol Honda season (and first year of Sprint races) despite missing three rounds and two further Sunday races.

Many expected Marquez not to have to push the Desmosedici to such an extreme limit compared to the struggling RCV, so why so many falls?

“In the first part of the season I crashed a lot, but it was not always my mistake,” Marquez said during the season.

“But it’s true that then I had a couple of crashes that I didn’t understand and this also gave me a little bit less confidence. So we needed to retry again to find the limit in the correct way.”

Nonetheless, Marquez ‘only’ fell in 5 of the 40 races, one of which was a tangle with Francesco Bagnaia in Portimao.

“The most positive thing is that I’m crashing in the practice,” Marquez said. “Normally in the main race always I try to stay on the bike and this is the most important point.

“I would like to crash less, but at the moment it’s a number that I don’t care a lot about.”

At the other end of the practice/race accident ratio was future team-mate and reigning double champion Bagnaia.

The Italian only fell 9 times during the whole season, putting him 17th on the list, but suffered eight non-finishes in races (one of which was due to a technical issue at Le Mans), thwarting his title challenge.

Third on the 2024 falls list was Marc’s Gresini Ducati team-mate and younger brother Alex, with 21 accidents, one of which involved a clash with Bagnaia at Aragon.

Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller was ranked fourth (20). Team-mate Brad Binder, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez were tied on 19 falls.

The fact all four KTMs were in the top seven underlines the difficult nature of the RC16 this year.

New world champion Jorge Martin fell 15 times from his Pramac Ducati, but only in 4 races.

At the other end of the scale, new Repsol Honda rider Luca Marini fell only 4 times during the whole season, the lowest number of any full-time rider.

Top Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo only fell nine times.

Zonta VD Goorbergh topped the Moto2 fallers list and David Almansa/Filippo Farioli the Moto3 list, all with 18 accidents during the first year of Pirelli tyres.

The official MotoGP stats only include accidents during race weekends, and not in testing…

*Wild-card/replacement rider.

Francesco Bagnaia not only stormed to a crucial pole position for the Solidarity Barcelona MotoGP title showdown but towed Marc Marquez onto the front row.

Despite facing a 24-point deficit to Jorge Martin, Bagnaia has ruled out go-slow tactics in the races – but hinted he would help others with a slipstream in qualifying.

Marquez, just eighth on Friday, took full advantage, shadowing Bagnaia for both Q2 runs.

The Gresini rider wasn’t alone and, at one stage, Bagnaia had pulled Marquez to second and Franco Morbidelli to third.

Martin meanwhile received his assistance from good friend Aleix Espargaro.

But while the Aprilia rider came just 0.055s short of snatching pole from Bagnaia on his final lap, Martin couldn’t do better than fourth place, at the head of row two.

Bagnaia acknowledged his plan to tow others in parc ferme: “This weekend yes. I tried to help someone yesterday. I tried to help someone today. I need to put more bikes between me and Jorge. So that was the plan and it worked.

“He’s starting 4th so it’s very close but I’m happy overall because I think we are fast in terms of pace, we are fast in the time attack, so we just have to be focused and prepare for this afternoon.”

Marquez was quick to acknowledge the assistance.

“We are honest all the time and it’s not a real front row, especially because I take the slipstream of Pecco,” said the current Gresini rider and Bagnaia’s future team-mate.

“He’s smart and he needs riders between him and Martin. Yesterday I already understand that he will push [even with other riders behind].

“As we see today, it was not only me behind but also some other riders in the first run and then Morbidelli in the second run, because Pecco needs to do these things.

“He’s super-fast, he’s riding in a very good way and yeah, I used that slipstream to be on the front row. Let’s see. But the target for the race will be the top five.”

The chink in Bagnaia’s plan came in the form of Espargaro’s last-gasp second place.

The Spaniard is not only a threat for victory in the Sprint, having won the May race, but likely to assist future Aprilia rider Martin if the situation arises.

“I tried my best,” Espargaro said. “With the first set of tyres, I felt extremely bad. I had some problem with the front and I lose the front three times.

“I was extremely lucky to not crash. And when I came into the garage, I decided to change the front, which is something that we never do in the qualifying.

“I started the second run with not really high confidence, but immediately I felt that the bike was OK.

“I knew that he [Martin] was behind so tried to yeah, give my 100% do the best lap possible. With the soft front I didn’t like it, but anyway I was able to put a 38. 6 which is very fast.”

Martin needs to score two-points more than Bagnaia to secure the title this afternoon.

Jorge Martin may have only gained two more points on MotoGP title rival Francesco Bagnaia in Saturday’s Buriram Sprint.

But Marc Marquez, who knows more than any other rider on the grid about winning premier-class crowns with six to his name, warned it’s now crucial for his future factory Ducati team-mate to beat Martin on Sunday.

“Tomorrow we will see a nice fight between Bagnaia-Martin because they are both riding super fast,” predicted Marquez, who finished the Sprint in fourth.

“And Bagnaia needs to take risks because if he wants to have some chance in Valencia, tomorrow he needs to finish in front of Martin.”

With Martin’s advantage now at 22 points, he can theoretically finish second to Bagnaia in the remaining five races and still win the title.

After landing a surprise blow with pole position, when Martin fell, reigning double champion Bagnaia lost the holeshot after the Pramac rider dived aggressively for the inside at Turn 1.

Martin’s move forced both riders wide, handing Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini a race lead he kept to the chequered flag. Meanwhile, Martin recovered to catch and pass Bagnaia for second place at mid-distance.

Would Marc Marquez sign for 3rd in the championship or another win?

Bastianini’s victory also put the Italian within eight points of re-taking third in the world championship from Marquez.

The Gresini star finished 5.4s behind Bastianini and doubts his chances against the GP24 rider in Sunday’s full-length grand prix.

“We have our personal fight [for third in the standings] with Bastianini and it looks like when he is super strong, I am struggling a bit more, and the opposite. So let’s see,” Marquez said.

But if Marquez had to pick between third in the world championship or another MotoGP win, his priority is clear: “Another race win.”

Marquez’s options for a fourth grand prix victory before leaving Gresini are now limited to Buriram, Sepang or Valencia.

Of those, Marquez agreed that his home Spanish season finale could be the best chance, unless bad weather shakes up the order.

“Here [Buriram] is a good circuit and it has been a good weekend so far. But Malaysia is one of the worst circuits for me. You never know… At least we need to have one race in the rain, no?” Marquez said.

Some forecasts suggest a chance of rain in Thailand tomorrow.

“But I would prefer the rain in Malaysia!” Marquez laughed. “Let’s see, at least one wet race [I hope].

“But apart from the jokes, Valencia maybe I will have another [victory] opportunity… Of course we will try, but it will be difficult.”

MotoGP hasn’t witnessed a grand prix that featured more than one change of the lead since the British GP back in August. In Austria, Jorge Martin led for a lap before being overtaken by Francesco Bagnaia in a battle that thrilled for a minute but no more.

Marc Marquez led lights-to-flag in Aragon, while there was only one change of lead apiece at both Misano races. In Indonesia and Japan, Martin and Bagnaia respectively went unchallenged from Turn 1 to the chequered flag.

Last weekend’s Japanese GP at Motegi perhaps represented MotoGP’s nadir race of the current aero and ride height device era. Bagnaia jumped Pedro Acosta off the line to go from second to first at Turn 1 and wouldn’t be headed again. Martin – who came from 11th – put him under a bit of pressure late on, but nothing that amounted to a genuine battle.

Marc Marquez put in an impressive ride from ninth to get to third, the Gresini rider doing most of the interesting overtaking in that race along with Enea Bastianini, who was fourth. Those two got close in the closing laps but, again, nothing came of it.

It was hardly worth the early alarm most fans in Europe had to endure to watch their favourite sporting competition. And it’s no wonder that Marquez made a point of pointing out it was “a boring race” just moments after jumping off his GP23. If he thought it wasn’t very good – and he was actually taking part – then what was the rest of the world meant to think?

Not every race can be a classic. But Motegi was a new low point for the current era of MotoGP regulations that has been steadily coming in the second half of the season, with each race since the British GP generally lacking in much substance.

Motegi is the most demanding circuit for braking, necessitating mandatory use of Brembo’s 355mm discs. It is perhaps the circuit, along with Red Bull Ring and Assen, that most prominently highlights the destruction aerodynamics and ride height devices have wrought on the once great racing spectacle MotoGP used to offer not very long ago.

The track’s stop-and-go layout means everyone is accelerating out of corners more or less the same, while the wake generated by bike aerodynamics lead to a lot of disruption on the front end when a rider goes into braking zones.

Grand prix winner Bagnaia explained exactly what the problem was for riders behind when giving his theory for why Pedro Acosta crashed out of second while chasing him on lap three of 24.

“With Pedro, I had to push a bit more in the first part of the race because I think he was pushing a lot to take back this position, because when you are close to the guys in front of you – under 0.5s – it’s very tough to manage the front,” Bagnaia said.

Martin, who was in Bagnaia’s wheel tracks for most of the grand prix, backed this up: “Coming from the back it was difficult to overtake the riders. I had to use a bit more tyre than Pecco I think. So, I started to close the gap but when you are closer than half a second everything became quite difficult with the bike.”

Marc Marquez is no stranger to big battles at Motegi, his 2017 tussle in the wet with Andrea Dovizioso one of the highlight races of the modern era as part of – arguably – the last genuinely exciting title battle there’s been in the premier class. And while in the 2024 Japanese GP he was one of the prime movers up the order, he explained that this was largely because he was picking easy prey.

“It was boring because there were no overtakes and I love overtakes,” he said. “It’s true that Pecco did the perfect strategy, which was starting on the first position and push, push. Just managing the tyres but trying to open the gap because he knows that Martin and me start behind.

“This kind of circuit, where it’s stop-and-go, if you start behind somebody you lose a lot of performance on the braking. And then you don’t gain on the exit because of the aerodynamics. It makes life a lot more difficult and you can just overtake the guy in front if you are three, four tenths faster. If you are just one tenth faster it’s impossible.”

If you think calling the likes of Brad Binder “easy prey” is a bit strong, just take a look at the final classification. The top four – Bagnaia, Martin, Marquez and Bastianini – were covered by 4.3s. A further 13.582s passed before fifth-placed Franco Morbidelli took the chequered flag. The speed of the top four in Japan, as it has been all year, was incredible. But it made for a results sheet reminiscent of MotoGP’s less competitive days in the last 2000s and early 2010s.

There were factors that didn’t help the race. Martin starting out of position following a crash in Q2 robbed us of the two title challengers starting much closer together. Based on the pace both had in the grand prix, perhaps that would have led to a closer contest – though the aforementioned overtaking issue would have remained.

One rider who defies conventional wisdom about modern MotoGP bikes is Pedro Acosta. The Tech3 GASGAS rider would have posed a big threat to Bagnaia in the grand prix had he not crashed out of second early on, marking a double DNF for the Japanese GP having fallen out of the lead of the sprint.

Marc Marquez’s cancelled lap in Q2 that would have seen him on pole dropping him to ninth removed another frontrunner out of the way. With Bagnaia, Acosta, Martin and Marquez involved in a race, there may have been a few more fireworks than we saw.

Marquez and Bastianini put on a good show in the latter stages of the sprint in their battle for second, but that was as enthralling as the Japanese GP weekend got. And unfortunately, the delay in cancelling Marquez’s Q2 time – which was later blamed on a system glitch – largely dominated conversation after the sprint anyway, which is something that has happened a bit too much lately.

The championship race remains tight, with Bagnaia’s brilliantly judged ride in the grand prix giving him just 10 points now to make up to get on par with Martin in the standings. But the fact Bagnaia has suffered seven DNFs and won eight grands prix and is still behind, while both riders haven’t actually done much in the way of on-track battling this year, has dulled the impact of this championship.

Motegi was a low point for the season, but was a continuation of a downwards trend we’ve seen since the summer break. The unknowns posed by Phillip Island’s new track surface should lead to a much more exciting Australian GP. But that will be an outlier in an otherwise lean period for action in MotoGP.

A new season will offer a much-needed reset, but Michelin’s front tyre aimed at coping better with heat and therefore make overtaking a bit easier won’t be introduced in 2025 now as had originally been planned.

And after the 2024 Japanese GP, that delay leaves an uneasy feeling that not a lot will be changing anytime soon…

Marc Marquez finished third in the 2024 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix but was just 0.036 seconds away from losing that podium to Enea Bastianini.

Marquez recovered from ninth on the grid in the sprint to finish third, and did so again on Sunday in the 24-lap grand prix.

The Gresini rider fended off Ducati’s Bastianini in the second half of the race and kept him just out of striking distance to the chequered flag.

The gap between the pair at the finish was 0.536s, but Marquez was actually just 0.036s away from having to give the position to Bastianini.

Marquez just exceeded track limits at Turn 4 on the final lap while heading Bastianini in their battle for third (see below).

On final laps, if a rider exceeds track limits by running onto green painted areas they are ordered to drop a position if they have not been able to show a clear disadvantage for going off track.

This applies when a place is being closely contested.

But the guidelines for this also stipulate that the drop of a position will only happen if the rider who has exceeded track limits is 0.5s or under ahead of the competitor behind them.

In this case, Marquez was 0.536s clear of Bastianini at the chequered flag and was therefore deemed not to have gained a significant advantage over Bastianini.

A brief explanation from the stewards panel activity report said: “For riders closely contesting for a position, if a track limit infraction is made on the last lap (that the stewards determine has affected a race result, whether there is a change of position of not), the rider concerned must show a clear disadvantage.

“The guideline for ‘closely contesting’ is that the riders are separated by 0.500s or less at the time of the incident and at the finish line.”

Brad Binder was also investigated for the same infringement against Marco Bezzecchi, having run beyond track limits at Turn 4 on the last lap.

But because he was 0.869s clear of Bezzecchi, the KTM rider kept sixth position as this was not deemed a ‘closely contested’ moment.

Marquez came from ninth on the grid after his provisional pole lap in qualifying was cancelled for exceeding track limits.

Marquez felt aggrieved after the session because the notification of this penalty came after the chequered flag, leaving him without any time to try for a legal time.

This was later explained by race director Mike Webb as being the result of a system glitch that meant the automatic registration of the cancelled lap was not possible and notification was delayed as a result. 

MotoGP has a lot to thank the Marquez brothers for this week. Both Marc and Alex Marquez stole the spotlight in Aragon for very different reasons.

Marc Marquez’s domination of the Aragon weekend put to bed four years of misery and uncertainty for the eight-time world champion. And while repeating that at Misano this week in the same fashion is unlikely, it’s inconceivable that we won’t see him on top of the podium again at some point in the remaining eight rounds.

Alex Marquez’s controversial collision with Francesco Bagnaia late on in the Aragon GP has also dominated the news cycle. Bagnaia blamed Marquez for the incident and says the data shows he opened his throttle when the pair made contact.

These were claims the younger Marquez brother vehemently denied, who took to social media in a separate post to step in front of these claims after both had made their frank exchanges to the media on Sunday afternoon at Aragon.

Race Direction hauled both into its office, but no action was deemed necessary.

Many have taken the opportunity since to stoke the fires of 2015 – when Marc Marquez and Bagnaia’s mentor Valentino Rossi fell out in a blaze of controversy – and pointing out how this incident somehow clearly is a continuation of that.

While the tinfoil hat brigade on social media took up arms as soon as both riders had finished rolling through the gravel (and the fact we are yet to hear Rossi’s opinion), not much is likely to come going forward between Alex Marquez and Bagnaia.

Largely, this is because Bagnaia and Alex Marquez spend very little time actually racing each other. The situation Bagnaia found himself in at Aragon was unfortunate, but also avoidable had he picked his moment a little better than he ultimately did.

He has paid the price for that, with Jorge Martin finishing second to take a 23-point lead in the championship. If you believe in omens, and as history has often pointed to after the Aragon GP, the championship leader at this point goes on to win the title. The nightmare for Ducati of Martin taking the #1 plate to Aprilia next year gets a little more vivid every time Bagnaia loses ground.

Bagnaia will have something to say about that, but he does – for the second year in a row – come to the San Marino GP not 100% fit. Therefore, the aftereffects of Aragon could deal yet more damage to his championship points situation.

Will Ducati riders listen to orders?

Mentally, Bagnaia is in a precarious situation now. He’s endured his worst weekend of the year while future team-mate Marc Marquez has had his best. The dynamics of this could have a massive bearing on the destiny of the 2024 world title and could also set the tone for 2025 when the pair share the factory Ducati box.

Bagnaia will have a chip on his shoulder to get back to winning ways like he enjoyed just a few weeks ago in Austria and ideally do so in as dominant a fashion to rebalance that internal equilibrium in Ducati.

Talk must now also turn to factory orders within Ducati. It’s something the manufacturer has often shied away from in recent years and something Bagnaia himself has turned his nose up at, insisting he doesn’t want to win titles this way.

In 2022 Ducati did instruct its riders who weren’t fighting for the championship that they were free to win races, but do so in a way that wasn’t going to be too risky for Bagnaia when they raced him.

But arguably it needs to go further than that this year. There was no need for Alex Marquez to be fighting over third place with Bagnaia as hard as he was, which led to the tangle. That incident could very easily have ended Bagnaia’s season there and then.

While both riders individually can be blamed for their part, a strict instruction pre-race from Ducati could have potentially avoided it altogether.

But here’s the rub: Ducati needs factory orders more than ever, but it has engineered a situation for itself where it has a stable of riders who will have no interest – and, in their minds, no obligation – to listen.

At points last year when asked about factory orders, Alex Marquez was quick to point out that Ducati hadn’t spoken to him – but that he wasn’t contracted by the Italian manufacturer. Translation: ‘Gresini pays my wages and I do what’s best for my team’.

To boot, if Marc Marquez does further close the gap in the standings, Alex – while his own rider – isn’t likely to roll over for other Ducati riders in that scenario.

Ducati could put a bit of pressure on its satellite teams to follow orders. But Gresini isn’t factory supported, Pramac is on its way to Yamaha next year and VR46 won’t have much luck in getting Marco Bezzecchi to listen to those now he’s off to Aprilia.

Even within its factory team Ducati isn’t going to get Enea Bastianini to listen to any factory orders. Right now, he can say he’s still a title challenger at only 71 points adrift in the standings. But beyond that, he’s signed for KTM for 2025, and even a few years ago Bastianini didn’t exactly follow factory orders in his battles with Bagnaia late in the 2022 season.

Ducati has lost control over most of its stable – another direct consequence of Marc Marquez’s powerplay move to get into the factory team for 2025.

Ironically, though, it could be Marc Marquez who helps Ducati in this instance. Issuing factory orders on him right now won’t happen so long as he has a shot at the championship. But because of that, if his Aragon form continues he could prove vital in limiting Bagnaia’s damage to Martin in the standings on the days – like Aragon – where the reigning world champion falters.

Beyond that, though, Ducati will have to just sit back and hope the cards fall in its favour where its blushes are spared for the rest of 2024…

There are various theories about exactly when and why the Ducati Desmosedici became the most adaptable bike on the MotoGP grid, capable of winning with a range of riding styles.

But for reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia, the key moment came in 2020.

The Italian was just 15th in the standings during his rookie campaign for Pramac the previous season, when factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso finished title runner-up to Marc Marquez for the third year in a row.

Remaining with the satellite Pramac team but upgraded to the latest spec Desmosedici, Bagnaia was suddenly a much stronger force in 2020. 

Reflecting on when the Ducati became a more corner-friendly machine, after years of relying heavily on its straight-line performance, Bagnaia reflected:

“It changed a bit when the engineers understood that riders in Ducati can have different riding styles. It was in 2020.

“In 2019, the situation between factory teams and satellite team was quite different compared to now.

“My biggest problem was the braking, because I couldn’t do what I wanted with my engine brake.

“And as soon as we started changing it in 2020, when they started to adapt the engine brake to all the [different] riders, we started to increase a lot our performance.

“Because I was using a completely opposite engine brake [setting] compared to Dovizioso, who was the reference.

“As soon we started doing that, we started to see a bike that was turning, a bike that had a lot of corner speed. 

“And the good thing about our bike [now] is that many riding styles can adapt to our bike, because of that.

“We don’t have just one setting: one engine brake, one power delivery [etc]. We have more [choices] because every rider needs his own [settings] and we are working on our own every weekend.”

Marc Marquez, arriving at Gresini Ducati from Honda this season, said setting up the engine braking to suit his riding style is a top priority at each event.

“When we arrive at each race track, we have the data from [the Ducati riders] last year but especially on the engine brake each rider has his style,” said the eight time world champion.

“And that is what we take more time to set up in a good way, for my style.”

Marquez claimed his first Ducati wins with victory in the Aragon Sprint and Grand Prix.

The Spaniard will skip the GP24 model and move straight to a GP25 next year, as team-mate to Bagnaia at the factory team.

Asked how the current factory-spec Desmosedici can be improved, Bagnaia replied:

“It’s impossible to have the perfect bike, but in some situations, we are missing more traction compared to the past and it’s something that I’m asking the engineers.”

Bagnaia starts this weekend’s Misano round 23 points behind fellow GP24 rider Jorge Martin (Pramac) with Marquez 70 points from the top in third on his GP23.

Marc Marquez finally ended his almost-three-year-long victory drought in last weekend’s Aragon MotoGP, a victory which came after a weekend he described as “perfect”.

Marquez topped all three practice sessions, took pole position by 0.8 seconds, won the Sprint in dominant fashion, and was five seconds clear of Jorge Martin in the Grand Prix on Sunday. 

Only the Warm Up, which was wet after overnight rain on Saturday and into Sunday morning, was not topped by Marquez, as he didn’t set a lap time.

“It was a perfect weekend,” Marquez told the post-race press conference. “We lead all the sessions, just the Warm Up that honestly speaking I decided with the team to stay in the box.”

Marquez went on to talk about the emotional build up of the almost three years he’d gone without victory, and the release he felt on crossing the line to take what was his 60th premier class triumph.

“In the race we have an amazing feeling from the beginning,” he said. “It was a super-long race, it was difficult to control the emotions in the last laps, but when I crossed that finish line I felt like I lost 3–4kg.

“Because [my] back, step-by-step, was heavier and heavier, and achieving this victory was incredible, and immediately I start to think about all the processes we had, about all the people around me, about all my family, my girlfriend, my brother [Alex Marquez].

“They helped me a lot, and especially Gresini team gave me the opportunity. I approach as a rookie rider, try to give everything, and we did it. We take another target and now we keep going.”

Marquez build a substantial advantage throughout the race, such that he had time to think about things in the final laps.

“Last three laps, my mind was in the podium already,” he said. “More than the podium, the garage, the Gresini garage is quite funny and happy, always is a party around them.

“Apart from that, the first thing was the people around me. When you are in a very difficult situation, when you are in a very deep situation, if you don’t have a really human team, really nice people, that they are suffering more than me — that made the difference.

“It was a very strange celebration because the adrenaline was higher in some other races — celebrating second places, third places — than today, that was […] emotion more than adrenaline.”

Having topped every session bar the wet Sunday morning Warm Up, Marquez admitted that he felt some pressure to complete his weekend with victory in Grand Prix.

“Today, I put pressure on myself,” he said. “As you saw yesterday in the Sprint, I was not enjoying because I knew that today is an important day and I knew that I had an important opportunity.

“So, for that reason, I tried to be focused. When you have the speed, then [it] looks like you can manage the situation, you are consistent, you are smart; but you are the same, just if you don’t have the speed it’s super-difficult to manage the situation.

“So, let’s see if we can have a better speed the next races and try to be close to these top guys.”

Victory achieved, it’s one Marquez considers alongside his 2021 German Grand Prix triumph, which was his first after breaking his arm at the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix.

“I put it in a very equal level as 2021 in Germany,” Marquez said. 

“When you have a lot of injuries, a very deep moment, the value of the victories is different. 

“It’s true that I won 60 times, but those two victories, together with the first one in MotoGP, are the most important ones because the confidence is given to you in a different way and gives to you that extra confidence.

“It was a long time that I didn’t feel good, and the laps this weekend were short. I was just riding, it was easy, I was just flowing but I was extra concentrated to not make any mistakes.”

Although this was Marquez’ 12th race weekend with the Gresini Ducati team, he said that he’d known victory was possible since his first time riding the Desmosedici in the Valencia test at the end of 2023.

“In Valencia test I realised that it [a race win] will arrive,” Marquez said. “There, I realised that we will have our opportunities. One thing is to fight for the championship, for that point we need to keep working.

“But in Valencia I started to understand that sooner or later it will arrive.”

The competitive gap between the GP23 and GP24 Ducati MotoGP bikes has become one of the big talking points following a British Grand Prix two weeks ago in which the 2024 machine held a clear advantage over its predecessor.

At Silverstone, Gresini Ducati rider Marc Marquez admitted that at some tracks there was a clear gulf, with the Spaniard noting his deficit over a race distance in Britain was around four or five seconds.

Ahead of this weekend’s Austrian GP, reigning double world champion Francesco Bagnaia told DAZN that the gap between both bikes is “strange” as the GP24 hasn’t evolved much across the first 10 rounds while the GP23 – according to him – has received updates.

With three GP24s locking out the top three in both races at Silverstone, it suggested that the latest Demosedici takes its edge at circuits with a greater emphasis on power.

While the difference in engines between the GP24 and GP23 won’t be huge, the factory ride height device of the former seems to help in this area.

The Red Bull Ring – scene of this weekend’s Austrian GP – is another power-focused track. After Friday practice, the competitive order was much like it was at the British GP: three GP24s leading the way, with Marquez fourth on his GP23.

Bagnaia led the way on outright lap times with a 1m28.508s, setting a new lap record, while Franco Morbidelli was his closest challenger on the Pramac GP24 – the Italian posting a 1m28.789s. Third was championship leader Jorge Martin with a 1m28.827s, while Marquez was fourth on a 1m28.858s.

At the end of Friday’s running, Bagnaia has a clear advantage in terms of raw speed. While 0.350s covering the top four isn’t much – 0.281s of that gap belongs in Bagnaia’s back pocket. Winning the Austrian GP in the last two years, it’s no surprise he has come out of the blocks swinging on Friday in the 2024 edition.

Long run worry for Marc Marquez

While long-run data isn’t wholly representative of what we will see on Sunday afternoon, it does offer a glimpse as to what the pecking order – particularly in the GP24 vs GP23 stakes – could look like.

And it’s not positive for Marquez at this point of the weekend.

Taking into account the most representative long running for the top four, which in this instance is the runs in which they used the same tyre consecutively, Bagnaia also leads the way here.

Using the medium rear tyre for his first two runs in the hour-long second practice on Friday afternoon, Bagnaia managed a 1m30.026s on the 15th lap of that compound’s life. Looking at his average on that tyre (excluding unrepresentative laps and those cancelled for track limits) his pace currently sits at 1m29.865s.

Morbidelli’s strong start to the Austrian GP on the day he was announced as a VR46 Ducati rider for 2025 puts him second on this chart. He also used the same medium rear tyre for two consecutive runs, though his was only five-laps old for his second run compared to Bagnaia’s 10-lap old rubber.

Morbidelli’s best on a 10-lap old tyre was 1m30.078s with an average of 1m30.073s. Team-mate Martin did most of his work on Friday on the soft rubber and put in an impressive turn on it.

The championship leader did back-to-back runs on a single soft rear, with his tyre aged at 12 laps for the second of these runs. His best on it was a 1m30.405s on the 16th lap of that tyre’s life, while his average pace worked out at 1m30.155s. Certainly looking to the sprint, where the soft will likely be used, Martin will be a major threat.

Marquez used one medium tyre for his first two runs in second practice. He did a 1m30.135s on a 10-lap-old tyre, while his average worked out at 1m30.239s.

Across a grand prix distance of 28 laps for the Austrian GP, Bagnaia is currently on pace to win on Sunday by 5.824s over the next-best GP24 – which, in this sample, is Morbidelli. That isn’t beyond the realms of possibility, either, as Bagnaia beat KTM’s Brad Binder by 5.191s in last year’s Austrian GP.

For Marquez, based on current projections, his gulf to the leading GP24 would be 10.472s at the chequered flag. Even to Martin using the above data, he is missing the podium by 2.352s.

Of course, racing is never that simple and Bagnaia is more than likely to see his advantage over the rest of the field cut down tomorrow as data is assimilated overnight.

Marquez had a scrappy start to the Austrian GP, ending FP1 down in 18th after a lap good enough for eighth was cancelled due to track limits. But there was a clear step forward in the afternoon, which is a trend that looks set to continue.

Marquez has also proven on countless occasions this season already that he and his Gresini crew often bring their best to Sunday’s race. His marches through the field from outside the top 12 at the French, Catalan and German GPs to the podium speaks to that.

But his hopes of breaking his victory duck on the Ducati this weekend look very difficult after Friday’s practices…

Marc Marquez’s first season on the Ducati MotoGP bike with the Gresini team has been a welcome return to form for the six-time premier class world champion.

Turning his back on the final year of a factory Honda contract to take up a year-old Ducati for 2024 was one of the biggest risk of his MotoGP career to date, but one that has ultimately paid off.

Scoring nine podiums across sprints and grands prix in the first half of the campaign, Marquez also secured himself a factory Ducati contract for 2025.

It’s a marked departure from the form he showed on the difficult Honda last season, with Marquez managing just four rostrums in total.

But his wait for a first win since the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP goes on. At the time of writing, 1020 days have passed since he took his 59th MotoGP victory.

He’s come close at certain points in 2024, most notably when he was just 0.372s behind Francesco Bagnaia at the Spanish GP when the pair battled hard for victory.

Stronghold venues in COTA and Sachsenring didn’t yield the expected return to the top of the rostrum. At Austin, he crashed due to a brake issue having just taken the lead, while a tough weekend in Germany put him out of victory contention – though he still finished second from 13th.

“We were very close in these first 10 races to win, or to have my first victory with the Ducati,” he told motogp.com after the British Grand Prix.

“But in the two good circuits for me, Austin and Sachsenring, they were very difficult weekends, especially in Austin when I was leading with that brake problem.

“But let’s see. Still 10 races remain. It’s true that we have three riders faster than us, which are the three riders riding the 2024 Ducati. They are super-fast and also riding in a good way.

“So, we will try to do our best and keep enjoying. This is the most important thing. And try to have that good feeling on the bike.”

Marquez did concede at Silverstone that the GP24 has noticeably taken a step forward from the GP23 he is riding at certain tracks: “At the moment, on average, we are four-five seconds slower in the race [compared to the GP24]. So we need to improve more than two or three tenths per lap if we want to fight with them.

“That is a lot. Sounds not so bad, but it is a lot! [Austria] will be difficult. But our target is that top four, five and – if we can – fight for the podium as we did in another races.”

The upcoming Austrian GP – where Marquez has never breached the top of the podium – is likely to see a similar picture to the British GP, with the GP24s stealing a march on the GP23. That isn’t to say Marquez can’t win at the Red Bull Ring, but the following round in Aragon presents a much better opportunity.

Five-times a winner at Aragon, the anticlockwise layout plays into Marquez’s riding style. He was second there on the Honda in 2021 while his right arm was still recovering – and over 30 degrees out of rotation – after breaking it at Jerez the year before, and came close to winning in a battle with Bagnaia.

Marquez won four on the spin at Aragon between 2016 and 2019, the latter being his most dominant with a winning margin of 4.8s to Andrea Dovizioso.

Back-to-back Misano rounds following Aragon should also play into his hands. The San Marino GP last year represented one of his better showings on the Honda with a seventh-place finish. The Ducati is always competitive at Misano, but the key factor for Marquez will be the fact that – for the first time since Qatar this season – he’ll start a race weekend not facing such a task in setting up his GP23.

Finishing fourth on his Ducati debut in Qatar in fourth having had two days of testing at the track before the round, logic dictates that the Emilia Romagna GP should present him with his best shot at victory since his narrow defeat in the Spanish GP.

Indonesia hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for him, having been forced to withdraw in 2022 due to concussion, and crashing out of last year’s contest. But Japan, Australia and Thailand – while perhaps favouring the GP24s slightly more – have all been strong venues for Marquez during his title-winning years and even recently when times were tough.

Malaysia should follow a similar pattern to the Emilia Romagna GP, given he has knowledge of Sepang on the GP23. But, his understanding of the bike and its set-up have changed significantly since then. That is true of Valencia also, where he first rode the bike last November, but its anticlockwise layout plays better to his strengths than Sepang.