Welcome one and all, to the first race weekend of the 2024 MotoGP season! And my god what an epic we have waiting in the wings for us! 2023 saw the successful defense of his crown by Francesco 'Pecco' Bagnaia, who will thus go into this season with the covetous Number 1 plate proudly displayed on the front of his Ducati Lenovo motorcycle. But there are plenty of hungry young riders just waiting for the opportunity to steal away his crown, and with 2024 continuing the Tissot sprint races introduced in 2023, combined with a record breaking 21 races this season, every single point matters.
So what are the big ticket news items before the season starts? Well, if you have any interest at all in MotoGP, you will have heard about Marc Marquez. The Spanish sensation roared to infamy in our sport even before joining the top league, bringing with him two crowns from the lower leagues, but what really secured his name as a legend was his first year in MotoGP, where he became not only our youngest ever race winner (at the time), but also our rookie champion. Since his debut, Marquez has won the top prize in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and he did it all with the Repsol Honda team. Marc could have been the most accomplished rider in the history of MotoGP, but the racing gods are cruel and love their drama. In 2020, Marc suffered a debilitating crash in the opening round, which has affected his performance (exacerbated by many hasty, unwise attempts of early comebacks and other crashes) meaning that the eight time world champion has not won a race in over 800 days. In Marc's absence, the Honda team have struggled to innovate, to the point where the impossible has happened. In 2024, Marc Marquez will not be a Honda rider. He will instead be competing with the Gresini outfit, aboard the 2023 (championship winning) Ducati. Nadia Padovani's team have been singularly impressive in just their two years back at the top table, taking Enea Bastianini to race wins and eventually, the second seat in the factory Ducati outfit. With Frankie Carchedi (a championship winning crew chief) alongside him, and a friendly atmosphere with his brother Alex as his team mate, could Marc pull off one of the most enterprising come backs in MotoGP history, and win a ninth world title? Personally, I could never count against Marc, and I'm sure he's going to pull at least one upset this year.
But he's the obvious big story; let's move on to the other contenders.
Every single Ducati rider (across the various teams) is a MotoGP race winner. This year's field is so stacked with talent it's actually crazy. So let's break this down into teams:
Ducati Lenovo Factory Team
Ok, we have to start with the champions. Pecco of course is this year's favourite, he won the title the past 2 years, and is Ducati's only successful title defender. He also dominated in winter testing, like, way under the previous lap record, dominated. Which you know, is great for Pecco fans. On paper. Personally? I have this feeling that with all the competition he's facing, Pecco may bottle it this year. Don't get me wrong, I adore Bagnaia, I think he's a very clever rider, and he's absolutely taken the most out of the incredible leap forwards that Ducati have made - he's a very worthy champion. But, with the dominance that Ducati have displayed, neither of his titles should have come down to the wire, particularly in 2022. Pecco is mistake prone when he starts feeling the pressure. He rides tight, settles for positions a lot lower down than he can actually achieve, and in a grid like this year's? Personally, I think he may be in trouble. Especially when you consider that the fight will be coming from within this year. Enea Bastianini had a shocker of a 2023 season. Plagued with injury from the opening rounds, we never got the beast that was promised from Enea's 2022 season (which got him promoted ahead of Martin to the Factory seat). But this year, at full fitness, and very aware that the upper Ducati management will firmly have Jorge Martin in their sights, I think we're going to get a very aggressive Bastianini from the get go, and this is a man who managed a podium on a 3 year old bike spec in his rookie season. Write off Bastianini at your peril.
Prima Pramac Racing
With Franco Morbidelli (might I remind you the vice-champion of 2020) making the move over to the Prima Pramac squad alongside Jorge Martin (last year's vice-champion), this is probably my pick for the most talented line up on the 2024 grid. Martin will absolutely be looking to go that one step further than he managed last year, and with a factory Ducati seat on the line, he will be I think the most important challenger for the crown, Martin has been on a gruelling training regime over the winter break, and by his own admission he has lost a lot of weight, which I think just highlights his hunger. But what about Franco Morbidelli? His last few seasons have been plagued by injury and a less than competitive Yamaha, but Morbidelli is not one to ignore. He's very fast, and very smooth when he gets into his rhythm, not to mention clever when it comes to managing tyre wear. Of course, he's not having an optimal start to the season, a big concussion at a private test in Portimao knocked him clean out of both pre-season tests, but I believe that from around the mid-season, Morbidelli will be one to watch out for - maybe not a championship contender, but a thorn in Pecco's side? Absolutely.
VR46
Marco 'Bez' Bezzechi and Fabio 'Diggia' Di Giannantonio were the biggest surprises of the 2023 season. Bez was immediately fast, taking many wins in both Sprint races and Sunday races, and he wound up being 3rd in the championship standings last year, with better consistency and less eagerness caused crashes, Bez is a dark horse for this year's championship, but I wouldn't bet against him. But the surprise contender, by far, is the fell good story of 2024. Diggia, who so nearly wasn't a part of this year's grid, has found a home with the VR46 outfit. Ironically, him almost losing his seat is the reason he's still a part of the grid, having found the perfect set-up when it seemed no loss to mess around with the base set-up. This of course led to that beautiful win in Qatar at the end of last season, and with Qatar being our opening round again for 2024, I'm really hoping we get a second bout of brilliance from Diggia. Do I think he's a likely championship contender? Maybe not, but he is fast, and he deserves his spot on the grid.
So who else is there to challenge for the crown? Or are we finally accepting that MotoGP has just become the Ducati cup?
Well, not quite. Of course, there's going to be no combating Ducati in the constructor's this year, with 8 bikes on the grid it would be irresponsible to claim that there were any hope, but the other factories show that there are one or two men who could be quite the thorn in Ducati's side.
Brad Binder for instance. The South African has been incredible in his 3 seasons in the premier class, with a win in his debut season and many podiums besides, Brad has never been a qualifier, but on a Sunday? You just try and get in his way. Binder does need to sort out his qualifying, as soon as he edges further up the grid than 6th, you can guarantee he'll be on the podium, but 'Big Balls' Binder seems to like the challenge of rising through the ranks. Despite that, the KTM is possibly the only bike that can hold a candle to the Ducati's speed, and Brad is capable of being a championship competitor, he just needs to put that whole package to use.
And he'd better be doing it fast. While Brad is KTM's golden boy for now, the Austrian outfit are not known to be patient for results, and with a talent pipeline as chock-a-block as theirs, well, we need only keep our eyes on Pedro Acosta to determine Brad Binder's fate should he not deliver the goods.
Pedro Acosta. The once in a generation talent. They crop up every few years; Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, and they are always absolute dynamite. Pedro Acosta took the paddock by storm when he joined the Moto3 class in 2021, when he not only won his second ever race, but did it from a pit lane start, but went and won the entire championship that year as well. After taking an extra year to win the Moto2 crown, Acosta has arrived, aged 20, to take the MotoGP premier class world by storm. He's the only rookie on our roster this year (I did mention how stacked the talent was right?) But count him out of the championship at your peril. Acosta is hungry, young and determined. He doesn't want to be the next Marc Marquez, the next Jorge Lorenzo. he wants to be the first Pedro Acosta, and his star is only rising. This is a young man who has a lengthy future in our sport, but will he begin it by taking the crown straightaway? We shall see, but I will say, his testing times are worryingly positive...
Of course, I would never discount Yamaha. I know they're struggling, and I know there's work to be done, but Fabio Quartararo is a world champion for a reason and he is absolutely out-riding the limitations of the machinery he's been given. Not to mention, Alex Rins joining the Yamaha team is a mouth drooling prospect - lest you forget he was the only one in the Honda team last year to manage a race win, and with his previous experience at Suzuki in the year they won the championship, this partnership seems to have been written in the stars. Do I believe that they can be world champions this year? It breaks my heart to say it, but no, I don't think Yamaha have done enough development to catch up to Ducati. Do I think they have the most talented duo on the grid? Possibly yes, which is a warning shot for the seasons to come... If they can make Fabio believe in the project again...
Otherwise, well there's always Aprilia. The bike I must say is an incredible machine, and Aprilia have done a fantastic job in innovating around their incredibly lacklustre performance from the past. Plus its wonderful to see Aleix Espargaro this buoyed up from good performance. That said, he doesn't have the juice to fight for a championship - he's too emotional. And Maverick Vinales? Rumours suggest he's struggling with this new Aprilia set-up, and after 2 years on the bike with no win emerging... I think it may be curtains for Top Gun's career soon. Miguel Oliveira on the newly American owned outfit Trackhouse has however finally been given an up-to-date machine, and thus there may be hope from the Aprilia satellite team. If the man can remain uninjured that is.
Of course, we have another world champion on the grid, but Joan Mir's performance following his title win has been lacklustre if we're being kind about it. With only the 1 race win to his name and no podium since Mugello 2022... world champion or not, if Mir can't finagle the Honda this year, we may be one world champion less by 2025.
The Qatar opener has always been special, it brings us out of the cold, and ends our miserable drought from the lack of motorcycle racing. With a brand new crop making their way into Moto3 and some exciting rookies joining the Moto2 class, there is much to be excited for on this, the eve of the 2024 season. But all eyes are on the premier class and all the heartbreak, triumph, fury and elation that we will witness over the next 8 months.
This is MotoGP in its 75th year. Let's get it!
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