Pecco Bagnaia wins in stunning fashion ahead of Brad Binder and Jorge Martin to lead the championship out of the Lusail International Circuit

Jorge Martin following taking victory in the opening sprint race of 2024 starts from pole position for the first Grand Prix of the season. Aleix Espargaro who was tipped as the pre-race favourite following his late race pace in the sprint started from second place with Enea Bastianini in third. Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder who finished second in the Tissot Sprint headed the second row in fourth ahead of Francesco Bagnaia in fifth and Marc Marquez in sixth.

The lights were waiting to turn on and Raul Fernandez had a problem at the start and the start of the race was delayed, Fernandez would have to start from the back of the grid, the race distance was reduced to 21 laps.

The lights went out and it was Martin who took the holeshot into turn one ahead of Pecco Bagnaia who passed Binder at turn two and Martin at turn four to take the lead. Marc Marquez was fourth with Espargaro down in ninth place.

Binder out-braked Martin into turn one on lap two to move into second place, Jack Miller crashed at turn one also but he was able to rejoin.

Alex Marquez and Bastianini battled for fifth place during the triple right-handers on lap two with Bastainini coming out on top.

Pedro Acosta was the fastest rider on track in seventh place, he passed Fabio Di Giannantonio at turn 16 on lap two.

Alex Marquez got the better of Bastianini at turn six with Acosta passing the Italian at turn 16. On lap four Martin passed Binder at turn ten to retake second place. Acosta passed Alex Marquez at turn ten on lap five to move into fifth place behind Marc Marquez.

On lap eight Pecco began to stretch a small gap from Martin and Binder passed the Spaniard for second and held of the Prima Pramac Racing Ducati rider in turn two.

Pecco pulled out a 1.1 second lead, Martin passed Binder into turn one on lap ten with Marquez and Acosta running wide at turn one but didn’t lose any positions.

Binder on the following lap repassed Martin into turn one and both ran wide trying to hold position and they lost 0.3 seconds to Bagnaia.

Acosta after following eight-time world champion Marquez he slipped up the inside at turn one on lap 12 and moved into fourth place.

Acosta went wide at turn 12 on lap 14 and allowed Marquez through back into fourth with the GASGAS starting to skate around with seven laps remaining.

Acosta was starting to go backwards, he ran wide at turn 16 and allowed Alex Marquez through and Bastianini then overtook the rookie into turn one and the Tech3 rider was in seventh.

Di Giannantonio passed Acosta on lap 19 at turn ten for seventh with Espargaro looking ominous to take the Moto2 world champion for eighth.

‘The Beast’ Bastianini passed Alex Marquez for the final place inside the top five with two laps remaining.

Francesco Bagnaia took victory in the opening Grand Prix being the first rider to takeback-to-back victories since himself when he took four victories on the bounce in 2022 from Assen to Misano. Binder brought home second place with Martin in third.

Marc Marquez on his Ducati debut finished in fourth with Bastianini in fifth and Alex Marquez in sixth. Di Giannantonio took seventh place on the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Ducati ahead of pre-race favourite Espargaro in eighth, rookie Acosta was ninth with Maverick Vinales rounding out the top ten.

Bagnaia leads the standings with 31 points ahead of Binder in second with 29 points and Martin in third with 28 points.

Featured Image: Ducati Corse, MotoGP.com