Bagnaia kickstarts title defence with victory in Qatar

The defending World Champion Francesco Bagnaia put on a masterclass display in the opening round of the 75th MotoGP season, hailing victorious ahead of Brad Binder and Jorge Martín.

The stage was set in Qatar for 22 of the fastest riders in the world to fight for the first Grand Prix victory of the year, three months in the making. 

The wait was extended by a few more minutes, however, when a problem was raised by Raul Fernandez as the green flag began waving post-warm-up lap.

Fernandez was seen signalling an issue as the start procedure began, delaying that start before his Trackhouse Aprilia was relegated to the pitlane and he opted to run the spare bike.

The delayed start was a blessing in disguise for Marc Marquez who looked to be having concerns with his bike in his Gressini Grand Prix debut. 

The race was reduced to 21 laps, with the lights going out and engines roaring just 10 minutes later.

It was business as usual from the reigning world champion, with Francesco Bagnaia absolutely blazing into the lead as the field set off through the opening corners.

Brad Binder was right behind the Italian, battling for second place with Jorge Martín through the opening laps.

It was a nightmare start for Aleix Espargaro, with the front-row starter dropping out of the top ten after the first lap.

However, it couldn’t have been worse for Jack Miller who, after capitalising on his Red Bull KTM’s impressive launch and moving into P6, crashed at the first corner of the second lap.

He was able to continue running, rejoining at the back of the 22-man grid.

Lap after lap, Binder challenged Martín into the first corner, however, the late-braking skills of the Prima Pramac rider allowed him to keep second place for the time being. 

On Lap 14, Binder got the move done, passing Martín into Turn 1 before running side-by-side and holding his own into the second corner.

19-year-old Pedro Acosta impressed on his MotoGP Grand Prix debut, taking the fight to Marc Marquez for P4. 

The interval between the two was just a tenth of a second, with Alex Marquez trying to close in on the KTM rider behind. 

Jorge Martín found his way back through on the South African, passing Binder as the fight behind almost came to a head.

Both Marquez and Acosta out-braked themselves, avoiding a big moment with 12 laps remaining.

On the following lap, the order reversed once again in P2 despite both riders running wide, with the straight-line speed of the GasGas Tech3 machine clearly superior down the main straight. 

This fight played handsomely into the hands of Bagnaia, who with 10 laps remaining, was running 1.1 seconds ahead of battle behind.

Acosta surpassed his expectations as the race passed half-distance, poetically storming down the inside of Marquez into the first turn. 

Marquez wasn’t settling for fifth, however, with the veteran overshooting a last-ditch attempt at relegating the rookie on the following lap. 

The #31 soon found himself on the rear of Jorge Martín, looking like a real threat for the final podium place.

The rookie ran wide on Lap 14, not only putting distance between himself and P3 but also allowing Marquez to sneak past.

He dropped back into the clutches of the younger Marquez brother, being picked off by the second-running Gressini and second-running factory Ducati simultaneously. 

He ultimately dropped further back, with his GasGas bike falling off as the Qatar GP came to a close.

The gap between Martín and Marquez sat at four-tenths, with that margin seemingly shrinking with 5 laps to go. 

Trackhouse Racing’s introduction to MotoGP went from bad to worse, with Fernandez unable to complete the opening race of the season and retiring his spare bike on Lap 19. 

As the field flew down the main straight to start the final lap, Brad Binder looked like he was struggling, falling dangerously close to Martín into Turn 1.

He stepped it up as the Prima Pramac rider chased him down in the final corners, crossing the line in P2.

Martín was forced to settle for a third-place finish, taking home a handsome haul of points in conjunction with his Sprint win last night. 

The win could have only gone to one rider, however, with Francesco Bagnaia riding a dominant race out front. 

The Italian crossed the finish line 1.3 seconds ahead of Binder to take Ducati’s 10th successive MotoGP win. 

Marc Marquez finished his first Grand Prix outing as a Ducati rider in P4 after battling for the entire 21-lap race, with his brother losing out to Bastianini for an eventual P6 finish.

Fabio Di Giannantonio finished two seconds ahead of the poor-starting Espargaro, with the Spaniard losing out off the line and never recovering.

It was an impressive showing from Pedro Acosta, with the 19-year-old rookie proving his place amongst the big boys.

Acosta finished his debut Grand Prix in P9, his bike dropping off in the closing laps. 

Maverick Viñales rounded out the top ten.

The MotoGP grid will have the next weekend off before heading to Portimao for the Portuguese Grand Prix from March 22-25.

Qatar Grand Prix Results:

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