Martin wins champion ahead of Marquez and Bagnaia in France
Even the most twisted of scriptwriters could not imagine a race like the one that took place this Sunday at the French Grand Prix, in which Jorge Martin took a prestigious victory, surpassing two-time world champion Pecco Bagnaia after the Italian had led. almost all the laps and couldn’t answer in the last two laps when I tried furiously. In addition, Marc Marquez, who started 13th on the grid and came from behind, made it to the front duo and eventually overtook Pecco on the last lap, which contributed to Martin’s victory and showed that despite riding a Ducati in last year, he is at the top. .level of the first swords of the Borgo Panigale brand.
With this victory and yesterday’s sprint result, Martin, who also won pole, is even further ahead of the championship with 129 points, compared to 91 for Bagnai and 89 for Marquez, who is already third overall and fully in contention for the title. title. “I tried a lot, but these two had more,” Pecco said, referring to Mark and Jorge. “After Saturday’s zero result, to be on the podium today is very positive,” said the Ducati team leader, who is hoping to find his teammate for next year among his two rivals.
Enea Bastianini, who was again fastest in the second part of the race, setting the fastest lap and finishing fourth despite a lengthy lap penalty, arrived just 1.6 seconds off the podium, finishing in the top four red bikes on the track. The Le Mans race, in which 119,145 people gathered in the stands this Sunday. Maverick Viñales could only finish fifth this time, and Fabio Di Giannantonio fifth, taking into account the long penalty loop.
Franco Morbidelli took advantage of his rivals’ falls to finish seventh ahead of last-start Brad Binder, while Aleix Espargaro, who had many problems and touches from the start, dropped to ninth position and Alex Marquez completed the top 10. .
On the third lap, fully back after setting the fastest lap of the race to that point, Pedro Acosta, in fifth place after overtaking Maverick Viñales, made an incredible braking attempt at turn eight to pass Fabio in one fell swoop. Di Giannantonio and Aleix Espargaro finished third. However, the GasGas driver lost control and suffered his first race accident of the season.
Shortly afterwards, on the next lap and into turn six, it was Marco Bezzecchi’s turn to crash while running sixth, just as he had on Saturday when he crashed while second in a weekend sprint in which the VR46 did not add points. .
Joan Mir also fell with 12 laps remaining, and local star Fabio Quartararo with 11 to go, ahead of Jack Miller.
Race classification for the 2024 MotoGP French Grand Prix: