MotoGP: Bagnaia takes sprint win, title fight goes down to wire
Polesitter and factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia scored victory over his teammate Enea Bastianini and title rival Jorge Martin in the Barcelona Grand Prix sprint. The result means the championship will be decided Sunday in the final MotoGP race of 2024.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Bagnaia recovered from a relatively poor getaway from pole to score a much-needed victory in Saturday’s half-distance race and take five points off Martin, who lost second place to Bastianini on the final lap.
It means the two title contenders are now separated by 19 points in the standings with a total of 25 on offer in the grand prix on Sunday. Martin should end up beating Bagnaia for the title unless he crashes out.
Aprilia’s Aleix Aleix Espargaro was 4th after a slow start down in 8th.
Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez rounded out the top-5.
Morbidelli finished sixth while six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez had a difficult race en route to seventh after his Gresini GP23 bike was damaged when it clipped the Tech3 GasGas machine of Pedro Acosta on the opening lap.
2024 MotoGP Barcelona GP – Sprint results
| Pos | No. | Rider | Nat | Team | Behind | Gap | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | +0.000s | 0.000 | 12 |
| 2 | 23 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | +0.942s | 0.942 | 9 |
| 3 | 89 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | +1.270s | 0.328 | 7 |
| 4 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +1.857s | 0.587 | 6 |
| 5 | 73 | Alex Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | +1.942s | 0.085 | 5 |
| 6 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | +5.263s | 3.321 | 4 |
| 7 | 93 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | +5.303s | 0.040 | 3 |
| 8 | 72 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | +5.507s | 0.204 | 2 |
| 9 | 33 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +5.573s | 0.066 | 1 |
| 10 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +5.937s | 0.364 | 0 |
| 11 | 5 | Johann Zarco | FRA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +7.413s | 1.476 | 0 |
| 12 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +8.344s | 0.931 | 0 |
| 13 | 36 | Joan Mir | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +9.387s | 1.043 | 0 |
| 14 | 25 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) | +9.652s | 0.265 | 0 |
| 15 | 10 | Luca Marini | ITA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +11.838s | 2.186 | 0 |
| 16 | 42 | Alex Rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +13.217s | 1.379 | 0 |
| 17 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +17.017s | 3.800 | 0 |
| 18 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) | +17.746s | 0.729 | 0 |
| 19 | 43 | Jack Miller | AUS | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +18.533s | 0.787 | 0 |
| 20 | 37 | Augusto Fernandez | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) | +20.153s | 1.620 | 0 |
| 21 | 51 | Michele Pirro | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | +20.547s | 0.394 | 0 |
| 22 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | GER | HRC Test Team (RC213V) | +24.604s | 4.057 | 0 |
| 31 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16)* | DNF | 0 |
* Rookie