Pecco Bagnaia, the reigning MotoGP champion, emerged victorious in the opening grand prix of the 2024 season in Qatar. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez, a new addition to the Ducati team, secured fourth place. This win marked Ducati’s fifth triumph in the Qatar Grand Prix out of the last six races, although they did face defeat in the Doha Grand Prix at the same track in 2021.
The race was slightly shortened due to a technical issue experienced by Raul Fernandez and the Trackhouse Aprilia team, resulting in an aborted start. Fernandez started last after an additional warm-up lap and eventually retired from the race after completing 17 laps.
Bagnaia accomplished what he couldn’t achieve in the Saturday sprint race by quickly maneuvering his way to the front of the pack, compensating for a somewhat lackluster performance in qualifying. He was already in third place as he entered Turn 1, overtook Brad Binder at Turn 2, and successfully seized the lead from Jorge Martin at Turn 4.
Binder briefly surpassed Martin at the beginning of the second lap but was soon overtaken by him again two laps later. Bagnaia established an early lead over his pursuers, extending it to over one second when Binder once again managed to overtake Martin, engaging in a side-by-side battle through Turn 1 and managing to hold onto the position as they braked into Turn 2.
Despite Binder’s attempts, he was unable to significantly close the gap to Bagnaia. Consequently, the reigning champion secured victory with a comfortable 1.3-second lead. As a result, Bagnaia also claimed the championship lead after the first round, albeit with a mere two-point advantage over Binder and three points over Martin.
While Bagnaia maintained control throughout the race, rookie Pedro Acosta attracted attention with his aggressive performance in the initial laps. He skillfully made his way through the Marquez brothers until he found himself in contention for a podium position. However, Acosta’s fortunes quickly changed as he ran wide just two laps later, allowing Marc Marquez to overtake him. From that point on, Acosta’s tires deteriorated, causing him to drop down the order.
Martin briefly appeared to be under threat from Marc Marquez, but the challenge ultimately fizzled out. Marquez, the winner of the sprint race, finished in third place, just six tenths of a second behind Binder.
Bagnaia’s teammate, Enea Bastianini, rescued a fifth-place finish with a strong performance in the latter stages of the race, despite initially falling back. On the penultimate lap, he successfully overtook Alex Marquez from Gresini Ducati to secure the position. Fabio Di Giannantonio from VR46 Ducati, who had a frightening highside incident in the sprint race, redeemed himself by finishing in sixth place. This impressive result meant that six out of the top seven positions were occupied by Ducati riders.
Aleix Espargaro from Aprilia, widely regarded as having the best race pace for Sunday, encountered significant difficulties in the early stages of the race. He dropped from fifth place after the start to 10th place as early as the second lap. However, he managed to recover and finished in ninth place, overtaking the fading Acosta towards the end of the race. Acosta, making his debut, secured a commendable ninth-place finish.
Maverick Vinales completed the top 10 for Aprilia, followed by Fabio Quartararo from Yamaha, who emerged as the winner of the unofficial ‘Japanese bikes’ championship, surpassing Johann Zarco from LCR Honda.
Two Ducati riders, Marco Bezzecchi from VR46 Ducati and Franco Morbidelli from Pramac Ducati, found themselves outside the expected performance range. Bezzecchi struggled to adapt to the 2023-spec Ducati, lacking the familiarity he had with the 2022 version he used last year, and finished in 14th place. Morbidelli, who faced a challenging weekend due to an injury sustained in a road bike crash, achieved a reasonably satisfying 18th place.
Jack Miller, Binder’s teammate from the KTM team, crashed on the second lap at Turn 1 shortly after being overtaken by Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez. After remounting, Miller spent the rest of the race battling Luca Marini from Honda to avoid finishing last. Marini ultimately emerged victorious, crossing the finish line a mere 0.339 seconds ahead of Miller.