Qatar MotoGP outcomes: Di Giannantonio wins, Martin struggles to tenth place
After a commanding Tissot dash victory on Saturday, Jorge Martin confronted tyre points and solely managed tenth place on Sunday.
An exhilarating MotoGP race underneath the floodlights in Qatar noticed an ebullient Fabio Di Giannantonio take his first ever MotoGP victory. Rounding out an all-Italian podium have been Ducati Lenovo’s Francesco Bagnaia, who elevated his championship lead, and Mooney VR46 Racing’s Luca Marini, who’s strongly tipped to default to Repsol Honda subsequent yr.
- Martin struggles to tenth place, blames tyre situation
- Bagnaia’s championship lead grows to 21 factors
- 37 factors up for grabs on the last spherical in Valencia
Di Giannantonio – Bagnaia battle practically ends in tears
Championship chief Francesco Bagnaia solely managed fifth place in qualifying, however rocketed off the road to get the holeshot into flip one. Behind him, three different Ducatis jostled for place – Marini and the Gresini racing pair of Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez. Di Giannantonio emerged because the quickest of the chasers, and located himself glued to Bagnaia’s rear tyre for a lot of the race.
Had he been given a contract renewal for subsequent yr, Di Giannantonio might properly have shunned attacking Ducati’s star rider and championship hopeful. But seeing as how he’s presently unemployed for subsequent yr, the outgoing Gresini rider made a courageous transfer to get previous Bagnaia on lap 19. What adopted was a hair-raising second as Bagnaia obtained sucked into Di Giannantonio’s slip-stream braking from 350kph into flip one. The championship chief practically bumped into the again of his countryman, solely narrowly avoiding contact, and working large into the tarmac run-off space. Fortunately, with a 5-second hole behind him, Bagnaia was in a position to rejoin in second place, the place he completed the race.
Jorge Martin sees championship hopes fade away
After a profitable outing in Saturday’s Tissot Sprint dash the place he halved his factors deficit to championship chief Francesco Bagnaia, Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin had a disastrous Qatar GP on Sunday, solely managing tenth place. The Spaniard blamed his poor efficiency on a tyre situation – he had huge wheelspin on the race begin, and appeared to wrestle for rear grip all through the GP, even trying again at his rear tyre instantly after crossing the chequered flag. The Ducati man was vocal concerning the situation in his post-race debriefs, saying that the tyre felt “like a stone” from the beginning, and he felt just like the championship had been “stolen” from him.
With his tenth place end giving him simply 6 factors, and Bagnaia selecting up 20 factors for his second place end, the hole on the high of the standings grows to 21 factors, with 37 factors nonetheless up for grabs on the last spherical in Valencia this weekend. After Sunday’s consequence, Bagnaia has one hand already on the championship trophy – the Italian can afford to complete each races (the dash and the primary race) in fifth place and nonetheless be assured the championship victory. If this have been to occur with Martin successful each races, the pair would find yourself equal on factors, with the title going to Bagnaia by advantage of his better variety of race wins over the season.
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