MotoGP 2024

It was a bit of a strange race at The Misano World Circuit that worked for some and didn't for others. Well done to the podium finishers.

 

Long time no post/ write from me
Yesterday Sept 22 2024 race comments.
Ya, maybe some spoilers here, sorry.

Points for the championship are super close, who will win?
Will Marc Marquez take it?
Yesterday, Ducati celebrated 100 race wins.

As for the race, I was in awe watching Martin and Bas, so close in their distance apart, at the limit of the whole race, two pros who know how to ride.
Yep, I was envious and yes, impressed.
Bas's pass was fair.

Looking forward to Yamaha's improvements.
Big news I hear is the switch (next year) from inline 4 to V4.
Quat, with Yam improvements so far this year seems to have gained some finishing positions.

I believe 6 more races remain to decide the season.

 

The fight for the riders' championship is still very much ON after Jorge Martin won the Indonesian GP.

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Even closer now, after the Japan week-end
It"s a pure internal Ducati fight though.

 

The difference at the top was 21 points before this weekend and now it has come down to just 10 points.

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Although Martin is still a Ducati rider, Ducati certainly would prefer to have Bagnaia champion rather than Martin... next year Martin will be with Aprilia, and Pramac (current Martin team) will be with Yamaha.
Ducati as manufacturer is pretty sure to win the championship, the official Ducati-lenovo team currently leads in front of Pramac (but has no guarantee to eventually win) and they hope for Bagnaia to pass Martin.

 

Jorge Martin is surely giving Francesco Bagnaia a run for his money.
If he win the championship, Ducati will see their champion defecting to the enemy, but it's a situation of their own making.

 

And then they were two ... The championship now cannot escape Martin or Bagnaia. With the sprint win yesterday and second place today, Martin increased his lead by one little point to now have 17 points more than Bagnaia. I wonder if the other Ducati riders (who cannot win the championship anymore) will actually help Bagnaia; today Marc Marquez put a lot of pressure on Bagnaia before crashing himself (a better result for Bagnaia would have been Marquez between him and Martin, but being passed by Marquez would not have been that good).

 

If the 2025 Ducati is another level better than the 2024 version, I fear next year will be a lot more boring with Marquez likely dominating. He's already doing amazing things with a 2023 bike!

 

Thailand Oct 27, 2024.
Dry Sprint, Wet Race.

I enjoyed both.
FWIW The Sprints I am finding a bit more entertaining. Perhaps because of sy short attention span

The racer
Just great.
Bag master class. Jorge intelligent. Marc, well just being Marc, I wish he did not crash.
Marc next year on a 2025 Duc, ya, I can agree he will be a "threat" for the grid and even treat for us fans.
And poor Quat. 4th for the first part and then a crash.
I love rain being the Great Equalizer.
With Quat a former World Champ I was hoping for a strong race from him.
Perdo, the rookie, can we saw he will be seasoned for next year and regularly attend podiums.

I recall 17 points to decide World Champ and 3 races remaining, with two Sprints.
Next race Malaysia Oct 31, 2024, includes a Sprint.

 

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Now the next GP has been moved from Valencia to Barcelona; not sure how it will come out since apparently it's the turn of Barcelona to be hit by heavy rains (hopefully not as deadly as in Valencia though).

 

Malaysia Nov 03, 2024
First 5 or so laps of GP.
Those laps were skillful; exciting, a master class of how to be the best.
No spoilers, except the championship continues.

Yes, Valencia flooding/ natural disaster.
Much property damage much human suffering.
Moving the race to Barcelona..... 2 or 3 weeks from now I hear.

 

The first part of the Malaysian GP was epic! Nice battle and overtakes and everything clean. Whoever wins the title, deserves it.

 

And props to the riders who, nearly to a man, all said “We should not be racing in Valencia”.

 

If the riders don't (want to) race at Barcelona, Bagnaia has already lost is title and Jorge Martin is champ !

Bagnia said he doesn't mind; I guess Ducati will take notice of that !!!!

 

Next year is another year - Ducati will have Marc Marquez as official rider alongside Bagnaia.
For this year, Jorge Martin would still be winning the championship as a Ducati rider, even though he's leaving. And even with a race in Barcelona, Bagnaia is already not in the best position to win over Martin.

 

It's "Mission Impossible" for Bagnaia who is 24 points behind Martin.
To win the championship, he would have to win the last race (25 points), and Martin not to finish.
How likely is that to happend ?

 

There are 37 points up for grabs with the sprint race included. But I agree that Bagnaia needs a DNF from Martin to have any chance of winning the title.

 

You are correct; I forgot about the Sprint !

 

Sprint won by Bagnaia, but Martin third - so now, an advantage of 19 points for Martin before the last race. He's unlikely to lose that many points even if Bagnaia wins, he only needs to be in the top 9 - which should be easy without taking any risk (10th would not be enough since they would have the same number of points and Bagnaia would be champion, having more race wins).

 

Today is the day... Nov 17, 2024.
Last race of the season.

19 point lead for Martin.
I think the calculation is Bag must win and Mar must finish 9th or better, then Mar is World Champ.

One never knows, engine failure, self crashing, pack crash, or just a back-of-the-pack position could take Mar out with zero points, so if Bag get 1st or 2nd, Bag is World Champ.

Yeah, I am excited to watch

 

Can someone tell me time and channel today?

 

Race just ended, won't spoil it for you

Happy with the outcome!

 

If you missed it today, both the Sprint and Race are on TruTV channel Monday evening around 6:00 Eastern time.