Метка: Dutch GP

Martin ‘had no chance to be first’ throughout Assen MotoGP weekend

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MotoGP standings leader Jorge Martin feels his Dutch Grand Prix grid penalty had no impact on his ability to fight for victory, noting he had ‘no chance to be first’.

The Pramac Ducati rider struggled for feeling on his GP24 in Friday practice and admitted then that he was surprised he was even inside the top 10.

Martin was able to challenge for pole, but couldn’t outpace Bagnaia, and could do nothing to beat the factory Ducati team rider in both races.

The championship leader – who is now only 10 points clear of Bagnaia – was hit with a three-place grid penalty for the grand prix for an infringement in qualifying, dropping him from second to fifth.

Martin was able to get up to second in the opening few corners but doesn’t believe the penalty denied him a chance to fight Bagnaia, who beat him by 3.676 seconds.

“No, I don’t think so,” Martin said when asked if the penalty hurt his victory hopes.

“I don’t think today I had any chance, or this weekend, to be first.

“Maybe in qualifying, I was close. Maybe I could improve a little bit that lap time, but in the race it was impossible.

“Pecco was on another level. Maybe something would be different [without the penalty], maybe I would have tried a move at the beginning, I don’t know.

“But I got the penalty, so there’s no sense speaking about that.”

Martin added: “Was a difficult weekend, at least on Friday and Saturday morning.

“We were able to turn it around with yesterday’s podium. The feeling wasn’t fantastic, but today I have no excuse.

“I have to congratulate Pecco, because he was riding on another level.

“I felt perfect, I felt I was riding really good, I saw the lap times and it was amazing how fast we were going. And still, he was pulling away with some tenths every lap.”

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bagnaia, who celebrated his fifth grand prix win of the campaign and matched Casey Stoner’s tally of 23 career Ducati victories, admits there was must-win pressure on his shoulders given his form all weekend at Assen.

However, he “didn’t care» about this, stating: “For sure, it’s a really great moment.

“But also in 2021, last part of the season, 2022 in the middle of the season, last year at the start.

“So, many times it happened to me that I was feeling fantastic with the bike.

“Any moment I think I know perfectly our potential, I know if we work well we can fight every time for a win, and we can have some race weekends like this.

“So, this is giving me a lot of motivation. When you start a race that everyone says you have to win, for the pace, for what you did all the weekend, a second position is already a loss.

“So, in terms of pressure, it’s more but I didn’t care and I just enjoyed everything. I love this track, I love going fast, and with this kind of feeling in this track, it wasn’t a problem. So, I just enjoyed everything.”

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Bagnaia dominates for Assen double ahead of Martin

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World champion Francesco Bagnaia swept to his second win of the 2024 MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix weekend after dominating Sunday’s main race ahead of Jorge Martin.

Having eased to victory in the sprint on Saturday, Bagnaia stormed to a third-successive Dutch GP win of his career on Sunday on his factory Ducati having controlled the race from the off.

Starting from pole, Bagnaia grabbed the holeshot off the line and was never headed in the 26-lap race.

Martin recovered early from a three-place grid penalty for irresponsible riding in qualifying, but could go no further than second to see his championship lead shrink to 10 points going to next weekend’s German GP.

Enea Bastianini completed the podium on the second factory team Ducati having come from 10th on the grid, showing great late-race pace to overhaul Marc Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Maverick Vinales in the closing stages. 

At the start, just as he did in the sprint, Bagnaia got the best launch to hold the lead as Vinales on the Aprilia slotted into second ahead of a fast-starting Martin from fifth.

Martin took second from Vinales into Turn 8 on the opening lap, with Marquez following suit on his Gresini Ducati at Turn 5 on the second tour.

Bagnaia had established a lead of 0.8s over Martin as he started lap three, though the Pramac rider would close this to 0.6s two tours later.

The lead would never shrink below this mark, however, as Bagnaia had the pace to keep Martin’s advances in check.

At the start of lap six, Bagnaia was a second clear and would grow this to 3.676s through to the chequered flag to become the first rider since Mick Doohan in 1998 to win three successive grands prix at Assen.

The battle for the final podium spot raged through to the final laps, with Marquez relinquishing third to VR46 Ducati rider Di Giannantonio at Turn 8 on lap eight.

Marquez appeared to point to the gap he wanted Di Giannantonio to come through on him, leading to speculation that a low front tyre pressure was causing concern.

On lap 19, Di Giannantonio checked up slightly at Turn 8 as Marquez was coming up his inside, allowing Aprilia’s Vinales to jump into third ahead of the pair of satellite Ducatis.

But the danger rider in the battle for third was Bastianini, who picked his way up from 10th on the grid to overhaul Vinales at Turn 16 on lap 22.

The factory Ducati rider moved 0.795s clear of the group behind, headed by Marquez – who recovered from an off at Turn 1 on lap 21 after being nudged wide by Bastianini to claim fourth – and Vinales initially.

But Vinales – who ran wide at Turn 15 on the last lap, ceding fourth – was demoted a spot to sixth after exceeding track limits at the last corner defending fifth from Di Giannantonio.

Brad Binder was top KTM in seventh after Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta crashed out of that position on the last lap.

Alex Marquez faded from the front row to eighth on the second Gresini Ducati, while Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez was ninth on his 2023-spec Aprilia ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.

Fabio Quartararo was the sole Yamaha at the chequered flag in 12th after team-mate Alex Rins crashed out at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

Johann Zarco was the top Honda in 13th on his LCR-run bike, with Joan Mir crashing out.

VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi also fell out of contention, while Aprilia duo Aleix Espargaro and wildcard Lorenzo Savadori did not take the start due to injury sustained in a crash in Saturday’s sprint.

MotoGP Dutch GP Race Results:



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Espargaro ruled out of Dutch MotoGP race after high-speed crash

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Aleix Espargaro will sit out Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix following a high-speed crash on the final lap of the sprint race, his Aprilia MotoGP team has announced.

Espargaro’s participation in the Assen contest had been in doubt since he fell off his bike at Turn 15 and had to be taken to the hospital for check-ups.

The Spaniard’s condition for the race was initially expected to be evaluated in the warm-up, but before the session officially began Aprilia revealed that he will in fact not take part in any action on Sunday.

“Dear Media, just to inform you that Aleix Espargaro will not race today, even in the warm up session, in order to speed up the recovery. Thank you,” read a short statement from the Noale marque.

 

In his absence, the factory Aprilia team will be represented by team-mate Maverick Vinales and wildcard test rider Lorenzo Savadori, plus Trackhouse satellite duo Miguel Oliviera and Raul Fernandez.

A CT scan during Saturday’s visit to the hospital had revealed that Espargaro suffered a simple fracture at the metacarpal 5 on his right hand.

The 34-year-old was visibly shaken when he lost the control of his Aprilia RS-GP on the final lap of the sprint while fighting for fifth place.

It was his second major crash of the weekend, having already suffered a nasty highside going into the final chicane in second practice on Friday.

He was still able to progress directly into Q2 and qualify fifth for both the sprint and the main grand prix, two-places behind team-mate Maverick Vinales.

With Martin having been handed a grid penalty for impeding Raul Fernandez in qualifying, he would have lined up fourth for the grand prix had he been able to take the start.

But with Espargaro now focusing on his recovery, Martin will move back up to fifth, while Team VR46’s Fabio di Giannatonio will complete the second row on the grid.

Aprilia has looked solid in the Assen weekend so far, with Vinales occupying the final spot on the podium in the sprint behind runaway race winner Francesco Bagnaia and second-placed Pramac rider Jorge Martin.

Oliveira missed out on a points finish in 12th, while Fernandez ended up 17th and Savadori crashed out with eight laps to run

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team crash

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team crash

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

 

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Martin hit with grid penalty for MotoGP Dutch GP after qualifying incident

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MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix after impeding Raul Fernandez in qualifying.

Pramac Ducati rider Martin qualified second on the grid at Assen and stayed there in Saturday’s 13-lap sprint, losing out to title rival Francesco Bagnaia.

A number of riders tripped over each other and aborted laps during qualifying, as they either sought tows or looked to stop being followed, with Martin among those caught up in this.

Video footage shows him backing off into Turn 1, with just over three minutes to go, and gesticulating at the traffic in front of him before looking behind him.

Trackhouse Racing’s Fernandez is behind Martin on track at this moment, but it is not clear at what point through Turns 2 and 3 – where the FIM stewards have identified the incident took place – that the Aprilia rider catches a slowing Martin.

Martin is then seen running well wide around Turn 4, with Fernandez coming underneath him before they make slight contact into Turn 5. The Pramac rider tagged the back of Fernandez as he slowed up to vent frustration at Martin.

Initially releasing a document stating that Martin was being punished for an incident in second practice on Friday, the stewards quickly clarified the offence was in Q2.

Martin will drop from second on the grid to fifth, promoting Maverick Vinales to second, Alex Marquez to the front row in third and Aleix Espargaro to fourth.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The FIM document read: “On 29 June 2024 at 11:36.33, during the Qualifying 2 session at the Motul TT Assen, you [Martin] were observed to be riding slow on-line [and] disturbing another rider — #25 [Fernandez] – at Turns 2-3.

“This contravenes the specific instructions given to MotoGP competitors and teams [regarding] disrupting the session, and is considered irresponsible riding. It is therefore an infringement of Article 1.21.2 of the FIM Grand Prix World Championship regulations.

“For the above reasons, the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel has imposed a three grid positions penalty for the Motul TT Assen MotoGP race.”

As this was a first offence for Martin this season, the punishment has been kept lenient.

Martin’s penalty has been issued specifically for the Dutch GP, rather than the next grand prix in which he competes – wording that came into use last year after the controversy surrounding the changing of language used in a punishment given to Marc Marquez in Portugal.

Under the current wording of Martin’s penalty, should he be unable to take the start of the GP on Sunday due to an injury, he would not have to serve that grid drop.

On a number of occasions since that alternate wording came into use, however, stewards’ notifications on penalties have been inconsistent as to which line they use.

Martin is now just 15 points clear of Bagnaia in the championship following the Assen sprint race. He explained afterwards that he struggled for front-end support through Turns 6 and 12 during the 13-lap race.

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Marquez explains Assen MotoGP sprint crash he ‘should have avoided’

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Marc Marquez says he is “upset” with himself after crashing out of the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix sprint race as it’s the kind of incident “you need to avoid”.

The Gresini Ducati rider started from seventh in Saturday’s 13-lap Assen sprint after crashing out late on in qualifying, but was running fifth after the first few corners.

On the second lap, however, Marquez touched the inside kerb at Turn 2 which forced his GP23 to hop slightly and sent him into a crash – marking his first sprint non-score of 2024.

Asked to explain what happened, Marquez – who is now 44 points off the championship lead — said: “Rider mistake. Of course, already in the first lap I touched the kerb a bit and I felt the bump.

“But on the first lap I used that line in a correct way because I was defending.

“But on that second lap, behind the other riders, I missed that point to go in and then I saw I was touching the kerb but I didn’t expect that hit.

“The bike jumped and I lose the front. So, it was a mistake that I am upset with myself because it’s the ones that you need to avoid.”

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez crashed in qualifying at the fast Turn 7 left-hander when he overtook a slower Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro, and noted that he went down after touching a bump rather because he was going too quickly.

That came after Espargaro had overtaken Marquez for track position at the last chicane before starting that flying lap.

Asked if he was upset with it, Marquez noted that it is normal for riders to be touring and fighting for track position in qualifying, and that the Espargaro moment was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Everybody was waiting for a slipstream,” he said. “I go out from the box and I saw everybody was waiting. And in that point, I will not push because I was fourth.

“So, all the riders who were waiting were slower than me in the classification. So, then when one pushed the other ones tried to find the place.

“But it’s something normal. It’s not the first time that somebody did this to me or that I will do to somebody. So, this is something that is OK.”

He added: “In some circuits, that can be here [Assen], Phillip Island, high-speed circuits where it can be like this.

“But this is racing. Today I go out from the box and many riders go out of the box [behind me].

“Last year I was the one who was waiting. Pecco [Bagnaia], as you see, did the perfect strategy.

“Martin was also there in the group waiting a bit and he took the perfect reference.

“This is racing and it’s something that if you are not on the line and you don’t disturb the riders, you need to survive.”

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Bagnaia takes dominant sprint win, Marquez crashes

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MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia dominated the Dutch Grand Prix sprint to narrow Jorge Martin’s points lead in the standings, as Marc Marquez crashed out.

Having topped both practice sessions on a Friday for the first time in his MotoGP career and taken pole with a lap record, Bagnaia led from start to finish in the 13-lap Assen sprint.

The factory Ducati rider seized the holeshot off the line and resisted the early attentions of Pramac counterpart Martin before streaking clear by over two seconds to the chequered flag.

This has allowed him to close down Martin’s championship lead to 15 points ahead of Sunday’s grand prix at Assen.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales completed the podium, while championship contender Marquez crashed out of the podium battle on lap two and is now 44 points adrift in the standings.

Bagnaia led Martin, Alex Marquez, Vinales and Marc Marquez off the line on the opening lap of 13 in the sprint.

A mistake for Martin at Turn 8 on the first lap gave Bagnaia crucial metres to preserve his lead through to the end of the tour.

Martin held onto second to start lap two, while Marc Marquez’s race ended at Turn 3 when he appeared to clip the inside kerb with his right knee and crashed out.

Into the final chicane at the end of lap two, Vinales launched his factory Aprilia up the inside of the remaining Gresini Ducati of Alex Marquez to snatch third and quickly pulled away.

By the start of lap five, Bagnaia was half a second clear of Martin and brought that gap up to over a second three tours later.

The Ducati rider continued to extend this advantage, though had some jeopardy to contend with when he was handed a warning for exceeding track limits too many times.

However, he would keep things clean through to the chequered flag to register back-to-back sprint wins in 2024.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Martin ended up 2.355s behind Bagnaia on his Pramac-run Ducati, while Vinales was 1.7s adrift in third.

Enea Bastianini rallied from 11th on the grid to take fourth on the second factory team Ducati, while Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the top five for VR46 ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was promoted to seventh at the chequered flag after Alex Marquez was hit with a three-second time penalty for failing to serve a long lap for repeatedly exceeding track limits.

This dropped the Gresini rider one spot to eighth, while the final sprint race point went to Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.

Pedro Acosta struggled to 10th on his Tech3 GasGas, while last year’s Assen sprint winner Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) could do no more than 11th.

Top Honda honours went to Joan Mir in 14th, 21.791s off the leader, while team-mate Luca Marini retired on lap five after his RC213V expired coming out of the last corner.

Aleix Espargaro crashed out on the last lap in a fast accident at Turn 15 while fighting for fifth, marking his second fall of the weekend after a nasty spill on Friday.

Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori also crashed out of the race.

MotoGP Dutch GP — Sprint results:



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Bagnaia smashes lap record to take pole, Marquez crashes

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World champion Francesco Bagnaia headed Jorge Martin in a tight pole battle at the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix, as a late crash for Marc Marquez left him seventh.

Bagnaia and standings leader Martin traded all-time Assen lap records at the start of the Q2 session, before the former smashed it with a 1m30.540s with just under six minutes to go.

So good was Bagnaia’s lap that he felt he could bail out of the session early, though Martin put it under threat on his final tour – coming up 0.081 seconds short.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales completed the top three, 0.330s further back, while Alex Marquez heads row two on the first of the Gresini Ducatis as team-mate Marc Marquez crashed late on to end up seventh.

Bagnaia set the tone for the record-breaking Dutch GP qualifying on his first flying lap, setting a 1m31.048s.

But Martin obliterated it with a 1m30.877s seconds later on his first flying lap, and was on course to better it next time around before making a small error at the last corner.

On the first lap of his second run, Bagnaia lit up the timing screens and produced a 1m30.540s to go 0.337s clear of the field at the time.

With the rest of the pack tripping over each other looking for tows, Bagnaia’s lap came under no threat as the clock ticked down to the chequered flag.

Once Martin got a clear run, though, on his last flying lap he started to put Bagnaia’s lap record under threat.

But he narrowly missed out with a 1m30.621s to secure second, while Vinales leapt up to third on his final effort with a 1m30.951s.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Alex Marquez was fourth on his Gresini Ducati ahead of the second factory Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro and Q1 graduate Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46).

Espargaro was involved in a scuffle with Marc Marquez in the closing stages of Q2.

The Aprilia rider put on a hard move on Marquez for track position at the final chicane, before the latter returned the favour at Turn 7 while pushing on his last lap.

Marquez got through but crashed on the exit, leaving him down in seventh on the grid ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.

Brad Binder was the top KTM in ninth ahead of Q1 pacesetter Pedro Acosta – who crashed at the end of the opening qualifying segment — while Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez rounded out the top 12.

Fabio Quartararo was denied a place in Q2 by just over two tenths on his upgraded Yamaha and will start 13th ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, who took a tumble late on in Q1 at Turn 5.

Johann Zarco was top Honda in 19th for LCR Racing.

MotoGP Dutch GP — Q2 results:

MotoGP Dutch GP — Q1 results:



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«Strange» to talk to Ducati boss Dall’Igna after MotoGP split

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Jorge Martin admits he finds it «strange» to talk to Ducati’s MotoGP chief Gigi Dall’Igna after being passed over for a factory promotion for the 2025 season.

The Spaniard was initially chosen to partner Francesco Bagnaia at the works Ducati squad on the back of his stunning form with Pramac before Marc Marquez’s refusal to join Pramac forced the Borgo Panigale marque to make a U-turn on its original decision.

That prompted Martin to take things into his own hands and join Aprilia on a multi-year deal, ending a relationship with Ducati that has existed since he stepped up to the premier class in 2021.

But while they may be going their separate ways next year, Martin is still contracted with Ducati until the end of the season and has to work with the Italian marque to clinch the 2024 titles.

Speaking at Assen about how his decision to join Aprilia has changed his mindset, the championship leader stressed that it’s important for him and Ducati to remain honest with each other in their dealings despite the difficult situation they find themselves in.

«For sure, it’s strange when I speak with Gigi and the guys, the Ducati engineers,» he said.

«A bit strange, because they ask me a lot of things about what’s going on on the track. It’s difficult to be honest.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

«But I guess they want to help me, so I will try to be honest with them, try to explain what happened and try to improve. I hope as I give information, they give me back information.

«This is the key. I will try to get help from them. But it is a bit strange when they come in the box and to speak with them.»

Martin has spent much of the year battling questions about his future and was himself eager to have clarity on his future before the summer break.

With the Aprilia deal now firmed up, the 26-year-old admits he is more «relaxed» and can focus on racing for himself, instead of trying to prove to Ducati that he is worthy of a factory seat.

«I’m more relaxed now,» he said. «I feel much more relaxed in the box.

«I don’t know I was obsessed to demonstrate Ducati that I was the one. Now I feel I have to demonstrate any more.

«It’s just racing for myself to try to be up with better rider everyday. This is my main goal.

«I don’t have to race anymore to prove Ducati anything, just to prove myself that I can believe in myself and I can do the goals that I have in my mind.»

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Martin has led the championship since the start of the year and takes an 18-point lead into this weekend’s Assen round, with Bagnaia his closest challenger in the title battle.

Asked if he wanted to prove Ducati made the wrong call to overlook him for Marquez, he said: «No, no, no. Not at all.

«Even if I had a 100 points lead I wouldn’t be a choice! It’s not about proving anything.

«It’s more about working on myself to be a better rider, in Valencia at the end of the year and to be a better rider next season.»

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Marquez doesn’t feel «guilty» for Pramac/Ducati MotoGP split

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Marc Marquez says he ‘doesn’t feel guilty’ about Pramac leaving Ducati for Yamaha for the 2025 MotoGP season because he feels “I didn’t do anything”.

On Friday afternoon at the Dutch Grand Prix, Pramac confirmed Motorsport.com’s earlier reports that it would be ditching Ducati for Yamaha from 2025.

The move comes in the wake of Ducati’s decision to promote Marc Marquez to the factory team next year after the Spaniard refused a works bike at Pramac.

With Jorge Martin leaving for Aprilia, Ducati’s decision to promote Marquez was likely to lead to Pramac signing a deal with Yamaha.

But Marquez – who was sixth-fastest on Friday at Assen – believes his own future plans have had nothing to do with this.

“I don’t feel guilty about Pramac leaving Ducati, because I didn’t do anything,” he said.

“It is true that as a Ducati rider I would have liked them to continue, because it would be two more bikes on track, more information and it is an important team within Ducati.

“As a MotoGP fan I think it is good news. On the one hand, selfishly speaking, I prefer two more Ducati on track, but as a fan it was the normal step, that one of the Ducati teams would go with Yamaha, for the championship to have four Japanese bikes, two Italian bikes less on track.

“It opens more options to other manufacturers, sponsors…”

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo has been pushing the Japanese marque to find a new satellite team, having been without one since the end of 2022.

The 2021 world champion says he has spent the last few months persuading Pramac to make the switch and feels it will be “a big help” to Yamaha in 2025.

“I think one of the reasons that we signed also with Yamaha was this was something really important for us,” he said, referring to his own two-year extension with Yamaha.

“It’s a few months I’m pushing with the Pramac team that they have to come with us, and finally today it’s official.

“It’s going to be a big help for us in the future.

“Also last year they won the teams’ title, so that we have one of the most experienced teams in the paddock is really important.”

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