MotoGP: More records for Michelin as Bagnaia wins in Catalonia
Round 6 of the 2024 MotoGPTM World Championship was won by Francesco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati Team), with Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGPTM) claiming the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya's other two podium placings. Michelin's tires contributed to new track-lap, race-lap and shortest race-duration records for the challenging, low-grip circuit near Barcelona. Read on to find out more about how the Spanish weekend unfolded...
- Bagnaia got away strongly from second on the grid and led for the first four of the afternoon's 24 laps before relinquishing top-spot to Martin. Undeterred, however, he made maximum use of the grip and consistency of his medium MICHELIN Power slicks to regain the lead with five laps to go. A run of quick laps helped to claim his maiden Catalonia GP victory by a margin of 1.7 seconds. In the process, he completed the distance in 40m11.726s to shave 10 seconds off the previous shortest race-duration benchmark.
- Martin qualified seventh and produced a solid performance on the same tire-pairing as Bagnaia. The fast pace of these two riders from lights-out to the flag was such that third-placed Marquez crossed the line more than 10 seconds adrift.
- Marquez entertained with yet another thrilling comeback, this time from 14th on the grid. He came second in Saturday's sprint race and made the bold choice of fitting the soft rear MICHELIN Power just moments before the start of the grand prix. The move paid off, since he succeeded in passing pole-sitter Aleix Espargaro (4th, Aprilia Racing) to clinch third place four laps from home.
- Espargaro established a new lap record for the circuit when he qualified on pole with a 1m38.190s. He went on to claim the sprint race but announced his intention to retire at the end of the season.
- Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) came third in the sprint and started Sunday's grand prix well to clock the afternoon's best race lap (1m39.664s). However, a mistake on Lap 10 saw him fall down the order after figuring in second spot behind Martin
- The MICHELIN Power Slick range was competitive all weekend, despite the little grip provided by the Catalonia track. The venue's existing lap record was beaten a first time by Espargaro during Friday's Free Practice, and then again by several riders during the next day's Q1 and Q2 runs. Espargaro finally posted the new reference for the circuit (1m38.190s). Most of the riders chose the medium compound front and rear for the grand prix, but some had a last-minute change of heart and four of them – including Marquez – switched to the soft rear on the pre-grid. Both options finished on the podium.
- Martin continues to top the provisional championship standings on 155 points, tailed by Bagnaia (116) and Marquez (114).
- The Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya also hosted Rounds 5 and 6 of the ENEL MotoETM World Championship which were won respectively by Oscar Gutierrez (Axxis-MSI) and Kevin Zannoni (Openbank Aspar Team). The MICHELIN Power MotoE – which incorporates more than 50 percent renewable or recycled raw materials – contributed to a new MotoETM track record.
- Next round: Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo, Mugello, Italy (May 31-June 2).