Martin on top of MotoGP world
Francesco Bagnaia might have won the Barcelona finale, but he had to concede the MotoGP title to Jorge Martin, who completed his redemption mission in 2024.
Third place in the Solidarity Grand Prix was enough for the consistent Martin to win the 2024 MotoGP World Championship and write both rider and team into the history books.
The 26-year-old gave Pramac Racing a special maiden MotoGP title, having finished 10 points ahead of Bagnaia after a second successive exhilarating championship battle.
Even though Bagnaia resisted a challenge from Marc Marquez to take a , Martin only had to finish in the top nine and was never threatened in third.
Although the #1 Ducati won a record 11 Grands Prix, consistency and Sprint success was the key for Martin, who only one three GPs, but finished on the podium in all-but four.
To make the maiden world championship even sweeter for Martin, it came a year after he fell second best in his first bout with Bagnaia.
But in 2024, a season where Ducati let him go, Martin got revenge and rode his name into MotoGP history books.
He admitted he struggled to hold back the tears as he crossed the line.
“It sounds amazing, I don’t know what to say – I’m completely shocked,” Martin said.
“This is for my people, for my family, for the people that are supporting me, this is for them.
“In the last laps I couldn’t even ride, I started crying a bit. It was a really emotional race.
“It’s been a long journey, a lot of crashes, big injuries and finally we are back here. So thanks to all the people, thanks to the fans, it is also for Valencia – a Spanish rider.”
The finale was held in Barcelona for the first time due to the tragic floods in Valencia.
After Bagnaia won the Sprint, he faced a 19-point deficit ahead of the final race of the year.
Bagnaia started on pole and had Espargaro and Marc Marquez between him and Martin, while Miller started his final race for KTM in 17th.
Although the factory Ducati did what he needed to do from pole, Martin also nailed his objective.
The Pramac Ducati rider bolted past both Espargaro and Marquez to shoot from fourth to second and sit right behind his title rival.
Maverick Vinales went off in an otherwise clean opening corner as Bastianini leaped from eighth to fourth as Espargaro slipped to fifth.
Miller had made some early ground and settled into 13th.
At the end of the first lap Bagnaia had pulled two tenths on Martin, who had Marquez to worry about.
The #93 was lightning in the slipstream, leaving the #89 with no choice, but to concede second place at the end of the main straight.
The leading pair exchanged fastest laps as they pulled the best part of a second on Martin by Lap 6 where Marquez started to think about threatening Bagnaia’s lead.
Further back, Espargaro and Bastianini put on a grand show wrestling for fourth and the Aprilia rider won the first contest.
To make matters worse for the #23, the Italian went off at turn 1 and fell two spots to seventh.
As the race approached the second half, it became a tense stand off with little splitting the top two and a second back was Martin leading a five-bike train.
However, a battle between Espargaro and Alex Marquez for fourth released the pressure off Martin, who was soon a second up the road.
One rider who could not make it to that distance was Joan Mir, who had another crash on his Repsol Honda.
With 10 laps to go Bagnaia was able to open half a second on Marquez for the first time, while Martin was doing exactly what he needed to do, being on his own in third.
However, there were still plenty of pensive onlookers as riders still could not afford to make a mistake.
On Lap 17 Bastianini was back making moves, launching a successful dive on Pedro Acosta for sixth, while Binder followed through.
As the chequered flag neared, Bagnaia kept itching further ahead of Marquez to ensure there would be no fight for victory.
Bagnaia took the chequered flag 1.4s ahead of Marc Marquez with Martin taking the title 3s back.
Alex Marquez raced his way to fourth with Espargaro completing the top five as Miller ended his KTM career in 13th.
Image: Gold and Goose
2024 Solidarity Barcelona Motorcycle Grand Prix Results
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time/Diff |
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | 40m 24.74s |
| 2 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | +1.474s |
| 3 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | +3.810s |
| 4 | Alex Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP23) | +5.322s |
| 5 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +5.753s |
| 6 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +7.081s |
| 7 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP24) | +7.393s |
| 8 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pramac Ducati (GP24) | +8.709s |
| 9 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | +10.484s |
| 10 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16)* | +10.618s |
| 11 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +10.756s |
| 12 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) | +13.464s |
| 13 | Jack Miller | AUS | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +14.560s |
| 14 | Johann Zarco | FRA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +19.469s |
| 15 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) | +22.195s |
| 16 | Luca Marini | ITA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +23.890s |
| 17 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +23.960s |
| 18 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) | +29.001s |
| 19 | Augusto Fernandez | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) | +29.145s |
| 20 | Michele Pirro | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP23) | +37.295s |
| 21 | Alex Rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +39.138s |
| 22 | Stefan Bradl | GER | HRC Test Team (RC213V) | +47.654s |
| Joan Mir | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | DNF |
2024 MotoGP World Championship standings
1: Jorge Martin 508 points
2: Francesco Bagnaia 498
3: Marc Marquez 392
4: Enea Bastianini 386
5: Brad Binder 217
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