2024 Solidarity Barcelona MotoGP: Bagnaia keeps title hopes alive with sprint win
Bagnaia roജlls championship to Sunday’s grand🏅 prix after sprint win
Francesco Bagnaia has kept his 2024 MotoGP title hopes alive with 𝓡victory in the Solidarity Grand Prix sprint race as championship leader Jorge Martin was third.
With 24 poi🎃nts splitting Martin at the head of the standings from Bagnaia, the Pramac rider needed to outscore his rival𝓰 by just two points on Saturday to be crowned champion.
But Bagnaia converted♑ pole position into his seventh sprint of the season, while team-mate Enea Bastianini mugged Martin on the las💦t lap to demote him to third.
It means the pair go into Sunday’s grand🔯 prix split by 19 points now, with Martin needing to finish at least ninth to win the championship.
Bastianini grabbed the holeshot into Turn 1꧂ from seventh on the grid, though Bagnaia swoopܫed up his inside through Turn 3 to head the pack.
Martin slotted into third after the opening melee, while Pedro Acosta - who briefly ran in the podium places - lost his Tech3 GASGAS’ front fairing after 🐷contact with Marc Marquez.
Bagnaia led Bastianini by 0.4s over the line after two laps, befo🌟re Martin threw 💞his Pramac Ducati underneath him to take second into Turn 1.
Bastianini would retake second from Ma🍌rti♛n at the same place a lap later, with the pair trading the pace on the fifth tour.
Martin squeezed Bast🐽ianini to the outside of Turn 1, which brought the likes of Alex Marquez, Aleix Espargaro and Franco Morbidelli into play.
This squabbling also gave Bagnaia a 1.3s lead, which would only come down in tꦯhe final laps as the reignin🍒g champion ensured his vital sprint victory.
He took the chequere🐼d flag 0.942s clear of Bastianini, who snatched second from Martin at Turn 5 on the final lap.
Espargaro was fourth on the first of the Aprilias having started second, and🌃 celebrated his penultimate MotoGP race in front o💯f his home fans with a cooldown lap on one of his old 125cc machines.
Ale🌞x Marquez completed the top fi🐠ve after a late mistake at Turn 10 dropped him off the back of Bastianini.
He headed Morbidelli (Praꦆmac), while Marc Marquez was seventh afte🍌r his lap one contact with Acosta.
Marco Bezzecchi was eighth for VR46 Ducati, while Brad Binde🧸r came from 18th on the grid to take the final point in ninth ahead of Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
Top Honda was Johaꦚnn Zarco in 11th, while Michele Pirro won𝕴 the contest of the test riders for VR46 in 21st ahead of Honda’s Stefan Bradl.
Acosta retired after after his lap on🤪e tangle with Marquez.
