Label: katar

Mar122024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Bastianini half-satisfied: The tactic did not pay off

Enea Bastianini regrets that he started Sunday's race too cautiously and consequently lost contact with the leading group. Bastainini made an encouraging start to the first race weekend in Qatar after finishing third in qualifying, bettering team-mate Francesco Bagnaia. But neither in the sprint race nor in the Sunday main race did he manage to keep a high position. He finished the sprint in fifth place, but on Sunday, after having a lot of braking problems, he finished in sixth place. After the end of the weekend, he regretted in particular his approach in Sunday's race, which he started very reserved in order to save the tires for the last part. The team's rival Bagnaia, however, took the exact opposite tactic. At the beginning, he made his way into the lead with aggressive driving, and later on

Mar122024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Binder: We're close, but we haven't proven yet that we can beat Ducati

MotoGP News

Brad Binder was once again outstanding on the opening weekend of the new MotoGP season. The South African finished Saturday's sprint race and Sunday's main race as the best of the riders not sitting on a Ducati motorcycle. The victory eluded him in both cases, as he had to admit superiority to Martin on Saturday and to Bagnaija on Sunday. "In the sprint, I wore out the rear tire a lot in the opening with aggressive driving. That's why I was smarter on Sunday, because the race is twice as long." In the last two seasons, when we are watching the dominance of Ducati, the KTM and Aprilia teams are the only ones that manage to compete with them. It is Binder who often confuses Ducati racers in the fight for the top spots. Based on what was seen last weekend, he is convinced that KTM failed to close the gap to the Duc over the winter

Mar112024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Espargaro: Before the race I was sure I was going to win

MotoGP News

Aleix Espargaro had very high expectations before the first race of the season, but in the end it turned into the first nightmare. After his excellent rhythm at the end of Saturday's sprint race, many placed the Spanish racer in the narrowest circle of favorites to win Sunday's race. But his dream of victory was dashed already in the first lap, when he slipped from second to ninth after the start. He was unable to catch the lead group in any way. He crossed the finish line in eighth place, just three tenths of a second ahead of rookie Acosta. A disappointed Espargaro cited a lack of tire grip as the main reason for the poor performance. "I had problems with the rear tire. Already in the warm-up, it didn't give me any grip." "On Saturday night I was sure that I would win on Sunday. But then the race turned into a

Mar112024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Acosta on his first race: Like losing your virginity - everything is great until you mess up

MotoGP News

Pedro Acosta impressed already in his first race in the MotoGP class. After starting from tenth place, he quickly made his way among the best and was in the game for a long time even to get on the podium. In the last part, however, he paid the price of inexperience and, after problems with worn tires, finished in ninth place. In an interview with Spain's DAZN, he humorously compared his first race to losing his virginity. He was understandably very satisfied with his performance, and he is also proud of the relationship he managed to establish with the team members in a short period of time. "The opening part of the race was very good. The first fifteen laps were like a dream. It was almost too good for the first time and of course then it broke a little. It was like a loss of innocence. Everything is great until at some point you mess up. And I I'm with

Mar112024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Bagnaia: I could drive even faster

MotoGP News

After winning the race in Qatar, Francesco Bagnaia admitted that he could have driven even faster, but he preferred to focus on controlling the lead. The current world champion led all the laps of the opening race of the new season after taking the lead after just a few turns, which was never threatened for a moment. As he said after the race, he had such a plan from the very beginning. To get a small lead and then watch the tire wear. When asked if it was the best possible start to the season, he replied: "For sure. It was important that we changed the strategy a bit in the opening laps compared to Saturday. In the opening I tried to be a bit more aggressive, because I was aware that if I got into the lead I would be able to control the lead." "The sprint race was a good remedy for that

Mar112024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Quartararo: The lag behind competitors is bigger than ever before

MotoGP News

After the first race of the season in Qatar, Fabio Quartararo was very disappointed with the uncompetitiveness of his bike. As he pointed out, the gap behind the competitors is bigger than ever before. The Yamaha team recorded its first winless season in 20 years last year. Even after the first race of the new season, it seems that a real miracle will be needed to prevent this from happening again this year. Quartararo finished the Saturday sprint race in twelfth place after major problems with tire wear, and crossed the finish line in eleventh place on Sunday. Teammate Alex Rins finished sixteenth. After the end of the race, the French racer was very harsh in his assessment of the situation in which the team from Iwata finds itself. When asked if this was the worst bike of his career, he replied: "Considering what the current level is

Mar102024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Bagnaji season opener in Qatar

MotoGP News

Francesco Bagnaia is the sovereign winner of the first race of the new MotoGP class season in Qatar. Due to the problems of Raul Fernandez, it started with a delay of several minutes and was consequently shortened by one lap. The reigning world champion took the lead in the opening laps of the race and his lead was never threatened thereafter. Brad Binder and Jorge Martin joined him on the podium. https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1766885254046867537 Marc Marquez finished fourth ahead of Eneo Bastianini and Alex Marquez. Last year's winner Fabio Di Giannantonio was seventh. Aleix Espargaro failed to take advantage of the second starting place and after a bad start, he finished in eighth place. Pedro Acosta is on his first in the MotoGP class after a good start where he was even in the fight for

Mar102024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Quartararo worried: I don't know what will happen in Sunday's race

MotoGP News

Behind Fabio Quartararo is a very demanding sprint race, which he finished without points in twelfth place. The French racer is worried about tire wear for Sunday's race, as it should already be very high in the sprint race. "As far as the result in today's sprint is concerned, I didn't expect anything better. We already had a similar rhythm in testing and in the first training sessions. I'm more worried about how I will finish Sunday's main race. Already today, we had extremely high wear on the tires, which were not offered practically no grip anymore. I barely stayed on two wheels. I don't know what will happen tomorrow as we will use the same tires." The world champion of the 2021 season emphasized that a similar problem had already been detected during testing, but not to this extent. "We had similar weights during testing

Mar92024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Marquez is enjoying riding a motorcycle again

MotoGP News

Marc Marquez was very pleased after finishing fifth in the sprint race in Qatar. As he pointed out, he is enjoying riding a motorcycle again, which allows him to fight for the top places even on a track that is not his favorite. The Spaniard was in contention for a top-three finish for a long time before he made a mistake at the finish. Nevertheless, he is not too worried about this, as he has achieved the goal he set for himself before the start of the season. Today's result should only confirm that the decision to leave Honda and transfer to the Gresini team was correct. "Regardless of what will happen, I am sure that the decision to transfer was correct. As I said on Thursday, the goal for this season is to fight for a place in the top six in every race. Why? Because, when you feel in this group

Mar92024 by Tomaž StrgaršekNo Comments

Martin's first sprint race in the new season

MotoGP News

Jorge Martin is the sovereign winner of this year's first MotoGP class sprint race in Qatar. Second and third place went to Brad Binder and Aleix Espargaro. https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1766500704267428303 Current world champion Francesco Bagnaia finished fourth. The Italian drove most of the race in third place before being overtaken by Espargaro at the start of the last lap. Marc Marquez was fifth ahead of Eneo Bastianini, Alex Marquez took seventh place. Pedro Acosta finished eighth in his first career sprint race. Maverick Vinales, who won the last available point, and Jack Miller completed the top ten. The winner of last Sunday's race, Fabio Di Giannantonio, is third after crashing in the tenth turn