Jerez Review

Going into Jerez there were many questions to answer. Will Vinales be consistent, is Bagnaia going to bounce back, could Martin stretch his lead and can Acosta continue his phenomenal start to 2024? All of that was met with the backdrop of rainfall on a damp Saturday on a track notoriously slow at drying.

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Qualifying

Q1 saw the Honda and Yamaha bikes struggle with conditions and this left them with no bikes in Q2. Jack Miller was the biggest name to miss out on qualifying for Q2 with Morbidelli and Binder picking up the top two positions in Q1. Q2 started with the Aprilla’s going out with a different tyre to the other riders. As the track came to life they were on the right tyre, but as that tyre became the one to be on, both Aprilla’s ended up switching tyre and thus contributed to their eleventh and twelfth positions.

Marc Marquez stormed to pole position at a track that nearly ended his career. Bezzecchi grabbed a first front row start of the season in second and Championship leader Martin finished up the front row in third. World Champion Bagnaia qualified in seventh with rookie Acosta down in tenth.

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Sprint

The rain from qualifying had gone but the slow drying track left plenty of damp patches for the riders to find. Tyre pressures ended up being a factor as multiple riders were punished with eight second penalties after the race. These riders included Quartararo who had started twenty-third and had fought through to finish third, just ahead of Dani Pedrosa, riding as a wild-card for KTM. That penalty handed Pedrosa a remarkable podium finish.

Bagnaia was down and out early on after being caught in a mid-field scuffle that left him nowhere to go. Binder, Alex Marquez and Bastianini all managed to then find the same damp patch and went down in unison at turn five on the eight lap.

Crashes ahead left Vinales well placed, only for him to fall on lap nine. This left Martin clear to control his pace at the front and win the sprint with Acosta behind. Morbidelli collected his best finish of the season in fourth. Only 10 riders managed to ride round without a crash or penalty, with others picking up their bikes after going down and carrying on.

In a race to forget for pole sitter Marc Marquez, having steadied himself in the lead he fell while leading for a second race in a row. He did fight back to end up in eighth.

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Race

After a good start for the main title challengers Martin led Bagnaia, with the latter pushing to close the gap. That pressure forced Martin into his first mistake of the season, crashing out of the lead.

Bagnaia controlled the race until a late charge from Marc Marquez who was able to close him down and pass him twice, but Bagnaia was able to pass straight back. In one very aggressive move Bagnaia forced his way back through and left tyre marks on Marquez's back and shoulder. Marquez settled into second for the last lap or so as it was clear he could not repass Bagnaia again.

Both riders celebrated as winners with Bagnaia fighting back into title contention and Marquez getting a first race podium with Gresini.

Bezzecchi’s weekend form resulted in some points with a third placed podium finish. Vinales and Acosta failed to make a big impact within the race finishing in ninth and tenth.

Aleix Espargaro crashed again early on in the race and will need to produce some results in what has been a disappointing start to the season, especially when compared to his teammate Vinales. Jack Miller was another to crash again which will only pile more pressure on his seat for 2025.

Following the test at Jerez that starts straight after the race weekend, the MotoGP grid goes to Le Mans from 10th to 12th of May.

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