One week after Bahrain uncover the F1 World Cupwhich apparently in the first race will have no more story than knowing who will be third at the end of the season since the first two places are very reserved for the Dutch Max Verstappen and the Mexican Czech Perezthe illuminated night of Doha will baptize the MotoGP championship, which does have excitement and uncertainty because, probably, as happened last year, it will not be decided until the last weekend of the season, in the Ricardo Tormo circuit, Cheste, in Valencia.
While Jaume Masiá (Moto3) y Pedro Acosta (Moto2)the brand new 2023 champions of the small displacements, have made the leap to the next category, Qatar will see how, once again, the silent and very polite Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, already two-time MotoGP champion, is trying to repeat the title against an impressive group of riders and brands that aim to dethrone him. All his eyes, without a doubt, are fixed on Marc Márquezeight-time world champion, who has made the jump from Honda to Ducati to try to return to being the same as before.
Thirteen champions on the grid
This year’s championship will have 21 weekends, which means 42 races qualifying for the World Championship, the short ones, the ‘sprint’, on Saturdays and the traditional GP on Sundays. The MotoGP grid will have a whopping 13 riders who have won at least one world title, as there are, like the Catalan Marc Márquez, who has already won eight titles.
The world champions are: ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Maverick Viñales, Fabio Quartararo, Franco Morbidelli, Enea Bastianini, Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder, Joan Mir, Augusto Fernández, Alex Márquez, Jorge Martín and the aforementioned Marc Márquez. The mere presence of this group of champions already turns the top category into a true spectacle, since all of them will fight, from the first race, for the podium.
All eyes on Marc Márquez
“I know that everyone expects me to win from the first day, from the first race, but people must remember that I have been on the cross for four years, four empty seasons, four years suffering and that it has been a long time, two years, since I have won. a race. This will not be easy. Nothing is easy. And, therefore, I must give myself some time and not want to run as much as my fans expect. To return to being the same as before, I must first smile again and I am working on it,” says Marc Márquez, already 31 years old, just turned.
MM93 he plays it by having abandoned Hondathe brand with which he dominated an entire decade and which made him the best driver of all time, to make the leap to Ducati and have, once again, a winning motorcycle, although the one from Cervera (Lleida) will have to settle for racing with the ‘Desmosedici’ 2023. Still, many see him among the favorites for the title.
‘Pecco’ Bagnaia and the history
The champion, the two-time champion, sorry, the three-time world champion moves in suede shoes. Silent, smiling, not very talkative, the Italian Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia He has become the monarch of the highest category and, now, he wants to definitively enter the history of motorcycling with a third consecutive major title. He has everything, absolutely everything, to achieve it, because in addition to his enormous quality and champion’s mind, he adds the best motorcycle, on the street, on the grid. His Ducati ‘Desmosedici’ It is not like the others: it is the bike of the two-time champion. He has earned it.
Bagnaia does not want controversy, he does not seek controversy and he even allows, tolerates, that drivers of the same brand, such as Enea Bastianini o Jorge Martin, their two great scepters would fight with their same weapons, or almost. As head of the brand of Borgo Panigale He could have raised his voice, but he didn’t. He is a clean champion, very clean.
‘Pecco’ Bagnaia undergoes renovation with the Ducati team. / Ducati media
Jorge Martín, the alternative
If something has been won, throughout his superb 2023, the Madrid native Jorge Martín (Ducati)26 years old, is to be considered the first great candidate with the possibility of dethroning, throughout the new year, the champion ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia. Martín, the fastest rider on the MotoGP grid, no matter the day, the circuit and, normally, not even the weather, he is always on the first starting row, which places him as one of the candidates for the podium in each career.
Many may still consider him somewhat immature to win the world scepter, but the behavior of ‘Martinator’Last year, in moments of maximum tension, he has been excellent and who knows if what the Madrid native was missing was fighting for the title and not winning it. Overcoming this phase is what puts you, once again, on the front line.
19 pilots finish contract
We could make mistakes with some, but, at the very least, 18 riders on the MotoGP grid expire at the end of the seasonwhich turns, at the very least, the first half of the 2024 World Cup into an exciting scenario, in which everyone, everyone, will try to shine to either renew their brand in better conditions or attract the attention of other firms to make the jump to another mount.
Only Italian ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, which has just been renewed by the champion Ducati for two more years; his compatriot Luca Marinithe stepbrother of Valentino Rossiwhich debuts with Honda; Brad Binderthe leader of KTM and the Frenchman Johann Zarcoin the Honda subsidiary team, have a contract for 2025. All the others will try to improve their income, their motorcycle or change teams.
Is there life beyond Ducati?
The championship, the organizers, the Dorna company and the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) They try to make the World Cup as equal as possible and that is why they have just modified the rules so that brands that are going through a technical moment and low competitive level, such as the Japanese Honda y Yamahahistorically dominant in the category, are back on their feet, giving them room to train more and have certain advantages throughout the season.
KTM y Aprilia They have already proven to be very close to Ducati, but the Japanese still have to take several steps to be able to definitively get into the group of candidates for the podium, something that, at this start of the campaign, has not yet been demonstrated.
The Catalan Marc Márquez wants to go back to being who he was. / Alejandro Ceresuela
Against the Copa Ducati
Many fear that the MotoGP World Championship becomes a ‘Ducati Cup’. The former Italian pilot just expressed it recently Andrea Doviziosoalthough never from a derogatory point of view but considering that if the best end up riding in the brand new ‘Desmosedici’, as has just happened with the signing of Marc Márquez by the signature of Borgo Panigale, it is evident that only the red bikes will fight for victory in each GP.
Everything seems to indicate that the jump KTMwhich already has a very, very, competitive motorcycle in the hands of Brad Binder and Jack Miller and the aerodynamic revolution led by Apriliawith advice from technicians from F-1, have converted the motorcycle Aleix Espargaró y Maverick Vinales on a potentially winning bike, which could be a sign that the fight has become even this year.
Pedro Acosta is already here
If there are eyes for ‘Pecco’ Bagnaiathere are eyes for Marc Márquez. If there are eyes for Jorge Martinthere are eyes for Aleix Espargaró. If there are eyes for Enea BastianiniThere are eyes, of course, for Pedro Acosta. He ‘Mazarrón shark’, The young man who, in just 30 months, has brilliantly and spectacularly won the two minor titles, Moto3 and Moto2, is presented as one of the great attractions of this brand new 2024.
Acosta, who says he is in no hurry to make a place for himself in the category (a lie! Believe me), has carried out the best pre-season training of his life, attracting the attention of all his colleagues, engineers, team leaders and brands in the category. highest category. Acosta, KTM’s brilliant signing, will fight soon, very soon, with the rubbing, which is a good KTM, for the top-5. Or so those who know best think.
Pedro Acosta, the most dangerous debutant. / Emilio Pérez de Rozas
Fermín Aldeguer is next
Even for them, the pilots, no matter their age, the category of MotoGP It is the greatest thing, his dream, his objective. Therefore, the displacements of Moto3 y Moto2 They continue to be the best springboard to aspire to one of the big motorcycles. Nobody wants drivers who are not champions. Winning minor titles makes you great. That is why the impressive end of last year’s campaign starring Fermín Aldeguerwho won everything in the final sprint, even against Pedro Acostamakes him the great favorite this year to win the middleweight title.
Aldeguer is so good (and has proven it), so much so that Ducati has already signed a pre-contract for him to race quietly this year in Moto2 and, in November, they will tell him which team he will most likely wear his world title in the category. intermediate. Aldeguer, who is only 18 years old, is next. Everyone who knows says it.
David Alonso is Spanish (Colombian)
He is Spanish, but he races under the Colombian flag. That is, he is Colombian. The young man David Alonsoonly 17 years old, disciple, of course, of Jorge Martínez ‘Aspar’has become, after a spectacular preseason, the great favorite to win the Moto3 title in 2024, after starring in a wonderful and striking 2023. Alonso has a privileged head and is already running like a true veteran.
If the title escapes Alonso, which could be anything, the next one is José Antonio Rueda, 18 years old, another kid who has been pushing from the promotional categories and who, yes, is ready to fight for the podium in (almost) all the grand prizes. Without Jaume Masiáthe champion, nor Ayumu Sasaki, the runner-up, these guys have it easier.
2024-03-05 06:28:06
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