As the day’s sunlight has barely crept up on the horizon, the banks surrounding the Angel Nieto Turn 8 and Peluqui Turn 9 are already buzzing with life. It can only be MotoGP Sunday at Jerez.

MotoGP visits a lot of iconic venues where so much of the series’ 75-year storied history has been told. But few seem to elicit the same emotional response for so many as Jerez. Speak to many in the paddock about the Andalucian venue – which hosted MotoGP on and off from 1987 before permanently becoming the home of the Spanish Grand Prix in 1989 – and they’ll all bring up how atmospheric the place is.

On MotoGP Sundays, the former circuit announcer used to play Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond as the mist slowly lifted from the hills to reveal the legion of bike-mad Spaniards awaiting something special. That part has sadly disappeared from the Jerez experience, but the fans remain.

Something special is par for the course at Jerez. Whether it was Valentino Rossi versus Sete Gibernau at the last corner in 2005, or Marc Marquez replicating this on Jorge Lorenzo in 2013, or any other countless dramatic moment, Jerez has made itself such a vital part of the calendar. That it staged the opening two rounds of the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign is as much a testament to its importance to MotoGP as it was a logistically convenient place to keep motorsport alive in an odd world.

Last weekend’s 25-lap Spanish GP is another special moment etched into the fabric of Jerez’s history. The battle between Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia for the win dripped with tension, as the pair had already come together controversially in Portugal. The pair’s skill to stay aboard when they connected at Turn 10 on lap 21 and, subsequently, reigning world champion Bagnaia’s skill to still take the lead, defend it next time around and then cement it with a new race lap record two from home in a statement ride, showed why MotoGP is a series worth investing in.

That it came in front of a MotoGP weekend attendance record of 296,741 people – taking the title away from Le Mans set in 2023 at 278,805 – further highlighted just how integral a stop Jerez (whose current contract with Dorna expires after next year, but will almost certainly be renewed) is on the calendar.

“Jerez is impressive,” Bagnaia, winner of the last three Spanish GPs, said. “All the track… but corners nine and 10 is something that makes you speechless. It’s incredible. Already when you do the sighting lap and around, you see people over at the trees. It’s something incredible and it’s difficult to see something like this, because Mugello is very big, has a lot of places too [for fans] and is impressive. But here, looking at corners nine and 10 is something that gives a lot of motivation to me. It’s fantastic and I love to race in Jerez for this. For me, yes, it’s one of the most characteristic races of the calendar. It’s one of the nicest. The battles here are always great. It’s one of the best.”

Bagnaia was full of praise for the Jerez crowd

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez, who celebrated a first Ducati grand prix podium in front of a rampant home audience, added: “It’s not because I’m Spanish, it’s just because already at 6:30 in the morning that Turn 9, 10 was full. I mean, for me it’s the best race of the season. Sometimes my friends ask to me ‘where can we go, we want to have a good race’. Jerez. It’s the best one and it’s something special, in the city, in the circuit. I’m proud. I’m proud because it’s the Spanish GP and it’s one of the best GPs on the calendar in terms of the fans.”

Jerez has generally been one of the calendar’s best-attended events but hasn’t cracked 200,000 for a weekend since 2015. This year’s Spanish GP saw the biggest attendance since 2009, back in the middle of what many will have you believe was MotoGP’s heyday.

What the 2024 Spanish GP has done is given incoming series owners Liberty Media a blueprint for what it needs to do to get people through the door. The cheapest weekend ticket started at €99 and was reduced to €79. That was for general admission only, but those were the areas of the track that had the liveliest atmosphere. Indeed, on the cooldown lap, the riders celebrated with the fans in those areas around Turns 9 and 10, while the sprint podium was staged there on Saturday afternoon.

Monaco isn’t the best track on the F1 calendar, nor does it often turn up exciting races. But even on a calendar overstuffed with street venues, the Monaco GP remains a unique moment of the year

Other events, to their credit – such as the French GP – are nailing the fan experience. But MotoGP needs a calendar jewel.

As brilliant as Le Mans is, MotoGP making the French GP its flagship event will never work. MotoGP won’t ever be the most famous event staged at Le Mans and it shouldn’t try to be. Assen has a strong claim to that crown, but the Assen circuit in use now – while still brilliant – is a shade of the iconic layout it used to be pre-2006.

Jerez, by contrast, has actually improved over its life. It got rid of the naff right-left-right section that comprised Turns 6-8 and opened up the circuit to connect Turns 5 and 6 by a downhill blast into a key action zone in 1992: During the first lap of last Sunday’s MotoGP race, Bagnaia executed a double overtake on the brakes on the outside of the track down into Turn 6 on Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin for second that justifies this change alone.

Phillip Island deserves a mention as possibly one of the best tracks on Earth. But its location – while spectacular – doesn’t lend itself to rammed tracksides and certainly comes nowhere near Jerez for atmosphere. Mugello is another wonderful track in a stunning location, but crowd figures (according to data provided by Dorna Sports dating back to 2006) have very rarely come close to Jerez’s numbers. 

Marquez and Bagnaia’s Spanish GP duel sent Jerez’ stadium section into a frenzy

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

And that, when it comes to defining an event, is the most important thing. Monaco isn’t the best track on the F1 calendar, nor does it often turn up exciting races. But even on a calendar overstuffed with street venues, the Monaco GP remains a unique moment of the year. The Circuit de la Sarthe where the 24 Hours of Le Mans is staged also couldn’t claim to be the most exciting of tracks. But it doesn’t matter because it’s Le Mans! Just those two words alone send racing fans into a fervour.

The 2024 Spanish GP wasn’t perfect, and it offered up some other lessons for Liberty to take heed of when it begins to shape MotoGP’s future.

Saturday’s sprint race, in which 15 riders suffered crashes across 12 laps owing mostly to damp patches they couldn’t see, made the series look silly. MotoGP’s biggest USP over almost every other type of world-class motorsport is that its racing is unrivalled. Demolition derbies do nothing to promote this.

The solution wasn’t clear-cut. Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, who fell at Turn 5 a lap after Alex Marquez, Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder slid off at the same place while fighting for the podium – thus gifting Vinales third – felt the sprint should have been red-flagged to at least make sure the track was actually safe. Team-mate Aleix Espargaro questioned whether the sprint should have started at 3pm at all rather than delayed while the problem areas were dried out.

The right answer here is a matter of opinion, but lessons do need to be learned from this for the future given Jerez is notorious for having issues with slow-drying damp patches when it has rained.

All of this led to a second moment of lunacy that MotoGP has been warned about even before the rule was implemented. The chaos of the sprint meant Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, who was already running ninth before a spate of late crashes having qualified a career-worst 23rd, found himself in third for the final laps.

Fending off KTM wildcard Dani Pedrosa, Quartararo celebrated a well-earned and unlikely podium given Yamaha’s current form. Taking to the podium in front of the packed banks of Turns 9 and 10, he was part of a special moment for those fans… until he was later hit with an eight-second penalty for contravening the minimum tyre pressure rule.

Quartararo enjoyed the highs and endured the lows at Jerez

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

With Yamaha setting his tyre pressures in the anticipation that he’d be mired in the pack, the Red Sea parting threw this strategy in the bin and there wasn’t anything the 2021 world champion could do to counter this. A great ride wasted by a bad rule.

He wasn’t the only one: Trackhouse Racing’s Miguel Oliveira telling the media on Sunday that the tyre pressure rule – like in full wet conditions – shouldn’t be enforced when a track is damp because a slight discrepancy in pressure isn’t the thing that will keep you from crashing. Of course, Liberty won’t be writing any regulations, but that shouldn’t stop it from engaging in constructive discussions with the FIM, the teams and manufacturers, and — in this case — tyre supplier Michelin on matters detrimental to MotoGP’s growth as a sporting product.

MotoGP now must start the build-up to the 2025 Spanish GP at Jerez by repositioning it as the series’ showpiece

However, neither of these issues ultimately overshadowed MotoGP’s best weekend in a long time, in a 2024 season that has genuinely been box office from the get-go.

While the rest of the season ahead will no doubt throw up more thrillers, MotoGP must now start the build-up to the 2025 Spanish GP at Jerez by repositioning it as the series’ showpiece.

Oh, and make Sunday morning Pink Floyd a mandatory part of the Jerez experience again…

A crown jewel? MotoGP’s Monaco? What will Liberty Media decide?

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

LCR Honda’s Zarco and Aprilia’s Espargaro were battling at the outer reaches of the points in Sunday’s grand prix at Jerez when they collided at Turn 5 on lap 10.

The incident was placed under investigation by the FIM stewards panel, but no further action has been taken following a hearing involving both riders.

However, Zarco says double 500cc world champion Spencer – who has helmed the FIM stewards panel since 2019, which was created in the wake of the infamous Sepang clash between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez to take penalty judging out of the race director’s hands – is not fit for his position.

In a lengthy attack, the Frenchman said at Jerez: «Me, in my opinion, because I went to the race direction and Freddie Spencer was watching the action with us.

«And it seems he was looking at me like he wanted to know what I wanted. He wanted for me to complain about Aleix.

«I said ‘I will not complain’ but I said to him he is not good for this job because he doesn’t take the right decision in the right moments.

«So, ‘don’t ask me what you have to do’.»

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team, Johann Zarco, Team LCR Honda crash

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

When it was put to him it sounded like Spencer was waiting for Zarco to decide what should be done, he added: «It seems it is like this. I went to the race direction and he was looking at us, because I was with Aleix, like we are two children and they want to do a moral lesson.

«But ‘no Freddie, maybe you have a lot of passion but you don’t take the right decisions. You are not in the right place’, and we need to move things on because the action of Brad [Binder] yesterday [in the sprint] – if there is not [Marco] Bezzecchi [on the outside] – can happen because Pecco [Bagnaia] was surprised by Brad, he picked up the bike and he hit Bezzecchi.

«So, in that moment there is an opportunity for Brad because also Brad could take into consideration that [overtaking] three can be tricky.

«So, accept this and control. And at this moment Aleix agreed with me.

«Anyway, the riders are working to have this group together to have the right to speak and then get the right people to make the decisions.

«Aleix today, it’s just a pity that we crashed and just everything after was wrong. And I repeat Freddie Spencer is not the right guy in this place.»

Zarco says he was «kicked out» of race direction for his outburst.

For Espargaro’s part, he says that he locked the front wheel at Turn 5 which sent him down and into Zarco – but was unhappy with the battle with the Frenchman up to that point.

Johann Zarco, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

«I was very unhappy because I said to Johann, we are in P14, he hit me three or four times, you need to have more respect,» he said.

«He said it’s my way of riding, overtaking like this. Okay, it’s not my way of riding. This is why to avoid the contact I locked the front and I crashed.

«Because the easy thing for me at that corner was to touch him a little bit. We saw that yesterday no penalty coming in this. But it’s not my riding style.

«I don’t want to do that. I locked the front to avoid the contact.

«This is what I said to Johann. And he said, okay, I understand you, but then Johann was really angry with all the race direction panel for other actions of yesterday and he doesn’t hide the emotions.»

Inconsistency in the application of penalties was a key complaint amongst riders last year, while others – most notably Cal Crutchlow – have since 2019 been extremely vocal in their dislike of the job Spencer has been doing.

Pramac Ducati rider Martin threatened to take a 47-point lead in the championship as he led the field on the 11th of 25 laps ahead of Bagnaia and Marquez.

But a crash at Turn 6 flipped the grand prix on its head, with Bagnaia released into the lead and forced into a thrilling scrap with Gresini Ducati’s Marquez for the win.

Beating Marquez by 0.372s after putting in a stunning Jerez race lap record of 1m37.449s on the 23rd tour, Bagnaia is now just 17 points behind Martin having crashed out of Saturday’s sprint.

Marquez celebrated a first grand prix podium as a Ducati rider and his first since last year’s Japanese GP, while VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi got his first rostrum of the campaign in third.

Converting pole to the holeshot, Marquez led the field through the first few corners as Martin slotted into second ahead of Bezzecchi and Bagnaia, who started seventh.

Signalling his intent from the outset, Bagnaia staged an incredible double overtake on the brakes on the outside of Bezzecchi and Martin into the Turn 6 hairpin to move up to second.

At Turn 13 at the end of the opening lap, Bagnaia scythed through Marquez when the door opened slightly in the middle of the corner.

But Marquez moved to retaliate instantly, attempting to retake the lead into Turn 1 on lap two but forcing both to go wide and allowing Martin into second as Bagnaia narrowly held onto first.

A mistake for Bagnaia at the final corner allowed Martin to come through to the lead and dropped the factory Ducati team rider to third, though only briefly as he outdragged Marquez to get second back as they began lap three.

Marquez was overtaken by Bezzecchi on lap four, while the top two – headed by Martin – streaked six tenths clear and then to almost a second come the start of the ninth tour.

What was shaping up to be a duel for the win between the two GP24s of Martin and Bagnaia ultimately didn’t materialise as the former lost the front end of his bike under braking for Turn 6 on lap 11.

This released Bagnaia into a lead of eight tenths as that also became the gap separating Bezzecchi and Marquez.

But Marquez soon upped his pace and moved through on Bezzecchi in a battle on the brakes at Turn 6 on lap 14.

This gave Bagnaia a 1.2s lead over Marquez, but would be chipped away by the Gresini rider as the pair traded fastest race laps.

At the start of lap 20, Bagnaia was now only half a second clear of Marquez and on the next tour the Gresini rider launched his GP23 up the inside of the Italian at Turn 9.

Bagnaia forced the issue into Turn 10 and the pair made contact, though the factory Ducati rider was able to take the lead back through Turn 11.

Marquez tried the same move on the next tour but Bagnaia had already anticipated it and ran defensively into Turn 9 to ensure his rival ran wide on the exit.

Bagnaia made a decisive break on lap 23 when he fired in the fastest lap of the race, which put his lead up to half a second and out of reach of Marquez.

Marking his second grand prix win of the season, Bagnaia is now just 17 points adrift of Martin in the championship.

Bezzecchi ultimately ended up 3.5s behind Marquez in third, with Alex Marquez fourth on the sister Gresini Ducati ahead of the second factory team Ducati of Enea Bastianini.

Brad Binder was the top KTM in sixth from VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, Trackhouse Racing’s Miguel Oliveira, Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta – who survived early contact with LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco.

The final points went to Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing), Joan Mir (Honda), Alex Rins (Yamaha), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha).

Jack Miller (KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Pramac) collided late on at Turn 5 to join the considerable list of retirees, with the stewards set to investigate the incident after the race.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Johann Zarco (LCR) also collided at Turn 5 during the race, which is another incident under investigation.

KTM wildcard Dani Pedrosa fell off his bike on lap four, while Augusto Fernandez (Tech3) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) retired in the pits.