![]() ![]() He’s the man everyone is talking about ahead of the Qatar MotoGP season opener. Will Marc Marquez’s bold team switch win him a seventh World MotoGP title in 2024? 2023 MotoGP World Champion rider Francesco Bagnaia of the Ducati Lenovo Team celebrates after the Valencia Motorcycle Grand Prix, the last race of the season, at the Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia, Spain 3. If last season was any guide, then the 2024 MotoGP campaign might turn out to be one of the most competitive title fights in recent history with several highly-talented riders entering the championship mix. ![]() Last season, the Spaniard relentlessly battled Bagnaia right through to a final race title showdown in one of the closest MotoGP rider championships ever. The 2023 MotoGP runner-up Jorge Martin is also riding the same technical specification Ducati as Bagnaia at the satellite Pramac Racing team. His Lenovo Ducati teammate, Enea Bastianini, put an injury-ridden 2023 season behind him to record the second-fastest time in Qatar pre-season testing and is primed for a breakout season. Now 27, Bagnaia is entering the prime of his career on a spectacular Ducati machine – a frightening proposition for his fellow competitors heading into the 2024 season.īut he won’t have the riders’ championship all his own way. Two weeks ago, Bagnaia’s GP24 Ducati was the class of the field in Qatar pre-season testing with the Italian smashing the one-lap record at Lusail. Just as he did last year, world champion Francesco Bagnaia heads into a new MotoGP season as the clear title favourite on the back of his 20 world riders’ championships. Can anyone stop the MotoGP world champion? Fabio Quartararo (left) and Alex Rins at the 2024 Monster Energy Yamaha M1 bike launch at Gerno di Lesmo, Italy on Febru 2. Monster Energy Yamaha last won the Qatar MotoGP in 2021. Yamaha is the most successful manufacturer at the Qatar Grand Prix, with 10 MotoGP victories. In 2024 pre-season testing in Qatar and Malaysia, there have been positive signs for Yamaha – but so far they still lack the raw, one-lap pace of the Ducati.ĭuring the Qatar Grand Prix, Quartararo and Rins will likely rely on Yamaha’s nimbler handling and braking advantages around the Lusail circuit to challenge the more powerful Ducati bikes. Monster Energy Yamaha were the last team to beat Ducati for a MotoGP world championship during Quatararo’s iconic 2021 title run. Rins’s season was derailed by injury – but not before the Spaniard pulled off an on-track miracle for his underpowered LCR Honda team bike, securing the Japanese manufacturers’ only 2023 victory at the US MotoGP in Texas. It was the first time Yamaha failed to win a single Grand Prix since 2003. ![]() Quartararo, who became France’s first-ever premier-class world champion in 2021, endured a brutal 2023 season, finishing the campaign winless. ![]() This season could be a make-or-break year for the famous Yamaha brand with the team assembling two of the most gifted riders to supercharge their 2024 campaign: Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha newcomer Alex Rins. Winless in 2023, Monster Energy Yamaha have worked hard in the offseason to narrow the gap with the dominant Ducati machinery. Can Yamaha return to winning ways in 2024? Here are three major offseason talking points ahead of the all-important Round 1 at Lusail International Circuit: 1. This year’s race will mark Qatar’s 21st MotoGP event as it joined the Grand Prix calendar in 2004. Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 In Gaza, football means life amid Israel’s continuing war list 2 of 4 Sikandar Raza: The Pakistan-born cricketer who rules Zimbabwean hearts list 3 of 4 Girona: From defeating Napoleon to dreaming of ruling Spanish football list 4 of 4 How has the Taylor Swift effect boosted American football? end of listīagnaia and his Ducati Lenovo outfit will be the team to beat once again in a season that features 21 rounds, finishing in Valencia, Spain on November 17. ![]()
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