2024 Motegi MotoGP Race Result: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered

By Zara Daniela |

After their Moto3 and Moto2 colleagues did a great job setting up an intriguing Sunday show in Motegi, the premier class didn’t really bring out the fireworks. However, it was another dominant display from Pecco Bagnaia, the world champion doing an impeccable job on route to his eighth victory of the season and his first success in Japan. Jorge Martin was happier than usual with second place, considering that his battle started in 11th position on the grid and he ended up limiting the damage in the world championship as much as possible. Similarly, Marc Marquez overcame a third row start and some illness overnight to replicate his sprint feat in the main grand prix and take another third place from ninth on the grid. 

Bagnaia was quick to take the lead off the line, ahead of poleman Pedro Acosta, with Brad Binder making another quick start to climb into third, ahead of Enea Bastianini. Marquez and Martin pulled off another solid start, up into 5th and 6th positions on the opening lap, while Jack Miller impressed going from 14th grid slot to 7th place and Maverick Viñales did the opposite, going from the front row to the bottom of the top 10. 

Bagnaia, Acosta and Binder were untroubled on the opening lap but there were plenty of battles behind them, Martin taking advantage of some early mistakes and moments from Bastianini and Marquez and taking over 4th place by lap two. Miller also briefly demoted the two Ducati men, but Marquez soon reclaimed 5th on lap three and Bastianini further demoted Miller by lap four. Franco Morbidelli, Aleix Espargaro and Marco Bezzecchi completed the top 10, dropping Viñales to 11th, however, the Spaniard was soon promoted back into the top 10 after Acosta crashed out of second place at the final corner of lap four.

The poleman’s déjà vu mistake left Bagnaia untroubled at the front, with a 1.3 second advantage over the pursuit now led by Martin. The Spaniard had Binder and Marquez in tow, although the KTM man seemed to be struggling to keep up with Martin and by the time Marquez got past him on lap five, Martin had stretched an advantage of over a second over the Gresini rider. Binder soon had Bastianini breathing down his neck, the Italian having to play catchup once more. The next group led by Miller was over two seconds down the road, the Australian battling the likes of Morbidelli, Bezzecchi, Espargaro, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Viñales for 6th place. 

Back at the front, Bagnaia was keeping Martin in check in the early stages of the race, although the Pramac rider reduced the gap to under a second for the first time on lap seven. Marquez didn’t have the pace to match the leading duo and dropped two seconds behind his rivals, with a limited threat from behind as Bastianini was struggling to find a way past Binder and the duo were losing one second on the Gresini rider. Meanwhile, Morbidelli took over the group battling for 6th by lap nine but was not making any progress in catching up with the men ahead, 3.5 seconds behind Bastianini and not helped by harassment from Bezzecchi. 

There was some brief cause for concern on lap 10, as race direction waved the white flag, although there were no reports of rain. Bastianini certainly didn’t seem to be concerned about the conditions as he finally overtook Binder that same lap and found himself trailing Marquez by two and a half seconds. The Spaniard had the same gap separating him from the leading duo, so Martin had room to focus on reeling in Bagnaia. The gap between the two title contenders briefly reduced to six tenths of a second, but Bagnaia promptly picked up the pace to keep Martin one second away at the halfway point of proceedings. 

There wasn’t much action to enjoy mid-way through the race, as Bagnaia was out of Martin’s reach, Marquez dropped three seconds behind and Bastianini was reeling him in but still two seconds back. A mistake from Marquez running wide at the first corner allowed Bastianini to halve that gap a couple of laps later and we finally got a hint at a possible battle. Things were pretty quiet behind them too, Binder losing three seconds to Bastianini but held nearly three seconds over Morbidelli, with a lonely Bezzecchi in 7th and Di Giannantonio just as unperturbed in 8th. Miller was the only rider in the top 10 with a contender close in tow, Espargaro waiting to pounce for 9th position and carrying the flag for Aprilia after Viñales crashed out of 11th place a couple of laps earlier. 

With the sun starting to break through the clouds, the only storm that this calm was prefacing was the one for third place, as Bastianini closed within half a second of Marquez with seven laps remaining. Marquez got the message to match his rival’s pace, and the duo were the quickest men on track at that late stage of proceedings. While Marquez was doing just enough to keep Bastianini out of striking distance, Binder wasn’t as successful in the fight for 5th, where Morbidelli caught up with him and was glued to his rear wheel going into the final five laps. 

Bagnaia allowed Martin to get back within a second for the final four laps, but never let him close enough to contemplate an attack, despite Martin finding some impressive lap times late on, and the two rivals cruised to the chequered flag unchallenged. Similarly, Marquez was keeping Bastianini at bay, the gap yoyo-ing between half a second and eight tenths until the very end, when the Spaniard secured the final podium spot and the Italian missed out by half a second. Morbidelli took fifth place after eventually getting past Binder with three laps to go, but finished 17 seconds behind the victor. Binder settled for 6th, with teammates Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio 7th and 8th. Espargaro and Miller completed the top 10, with Johann Zarco robbing Fabio Quartararo of 11th position in the run to the line, as the Yamaha ran out of fuel again. Takaaki Nakagami celebrated his final home GP in 13th place, with Luca Marini and Raul Fernandez claiming the final points on offer.

Martin’s recovery and Bagnaia’s triumph leaves them separated by 10 points heading to Australia, while Marquez catches up with Bastianini – only two points behind the Italian in the battle for third. 

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time/Diff
1 1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 42:09.790
2 89 Jorge Martin Ducati 1.189
3 93 Marc Marquez Ducati 3.822
4 23 Enea Bastianini Ducati 4.358
5 21 Franco Morbidelli Ducati 17.940
6 33 Brad Binder KTM 18.502
7 72 Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 19.371
8 49 Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 20.199
9 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 30.442
10 43 Jack Miller KTM 31.184
11 5 Johann Zarco Honda 31.567
12 20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 32.299
13 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda 33.003
14 10 Luca Marini Honda 35.974
15 25 Raul Fernandez Aprilia 39.321
16 42 Alex Rins Yamaha 40.839
17 87 Remy Gardner Yamaha 59.547
Not Classified
  31 Pedro Acosta KTM 23:15.798
  12 Maverick Viñales Aprilia 19:33.809
  37 Augusto Fernandez KTM 10:46.773
  32 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 01:58.511
  36 Joan Mir Honda  
  73 Alex Marquez Ducati  
2024
16
MotoGP
Motegi, Japan
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Comments

coudda, woudda, shoudda ...   32 pts..   woudda put Brad way behind you

race sounded a bit processional, but am feeling the tension of 4 diff races in the standings.  

Pecco & Jorge 10 pts; Enea & Marc 2 pts; Brad & Pedro 2 pts; Franco down to Aleix - 4 riders covered by 2 pts, to decide the top 10 and Alex is still in with chance back a further 10 pts.   Mav is not safe either, only 29 pts ahead of that train.  Franco is improving weekly but doesn't loook like he can be a spoiler between Marc & Enea.

I’ve realised I’m spending more time watching the gaps on the timing tower graphic than the video broadcast at the moment. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Maybe there were some world champions having a race further down the field, who knows.

Roll on Phillip Island! 

it's tough watching when your eyes keep closing, I finally suffer from something with a posh name - an .....psy trouble is it's narcolepsy!  with the first race at 2.30pm I don't bother going to bed and then it hits me during Moto2 and I can see Dixon through one eye.  I've learnt to rest one eye at a time!  I felt like that Wil-e-Kiyoti cartoon!!!!

That Alonso is a bit special.  Para..... his fall was the funniest for several years, I spat my tea out!!  

Dixon very unlucky with the stopped race but should have followed the local knowledge just as we said at Mugello; "what's the local lad doing?" (Pecco).  

Whatever reaction Ducati had to MMs blown engine a week ago was, they will sort the mapping out before Oz and all the 2023s will be back to throttle maximus.  They just needed time (if they haven't already sorted it BTW.  After all MM was roughly where we'd expect and so were the VR46 lads).  They'll build a safeguard into the computer.  

Yamaha, slower than Honday.  Fabio runs out of fuel crossing the line -  again.  Clearly fuelling is a major issue.  I suggest Yamaha found the extra speed by inefficient use of camshafts and revs.  10% increase in power for a 20% increase in fuel consumption. Perhaps..... (for further reading go to the Cosworth page in Classic Motorcycle Race Engines by Kevin Cameron).  

I'm going to guess that Honda will go ahead of Yamaha now to the end of the season.  4 development riders v 2.  

Lovely moment when Luca Checcinello said that a top wig from Honda came over and said; "so why aren't you winning?".  
His answer wasn't; Freddie Spencer has a bad tummy San sir, but Jim Redmond has his leathers with him, like the old days boss!

…the turning down the wick on the GP23’s, thing.

It’s the most proven bike on the grid, across 2 seasons….and when was the last time a Ducati engine failed? It is literally a rock solid rocket, but at this level shit is gonna happen. 

So I’d put good money on the GP23’s being full fat as per normal.

it was reported that the part changed was not an engine part (because they are homologated and sealed), but something elsewhere (not specified) which was causing momentary loss of traction and an over-rev a'la Lorenzo and Rossi's famously spectacular blowups at Mugello years back.  So possibly a redesign to the ride height malarkey which was unhooking the rear tyre at a moment when the electronics was not able to catch an over-rev.

Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, in years past made painful errors with flywheel mass, something they were stuck with for a full season, being internal of the sealed crankcases.

No more. Flywheels are now external, allowing them to tune mass, and therefore gyroscopic/engine braking forces at will. Light is great for corner entry, but difficult to control/optimise grip on acceleration, heavy will push the front on corner entry but makes it easier to find grip on the gas.

After 2 laps I skipped through in steps, nothing unexpected happened and I was all done after about 5 minutes. Spent the rest of my bikes time watching last weeks BSB. Proper racing.

as I found the race quite exciting. Watching the time gaps appear between groups and individual riders then watching them grow and shrink and grow again, sector by sector, lap by lap. My god, look at the braking look at the lean how is that even possible?  Will he bin it, will Martin get to Pecco (and then what?), will Bastiannini get to Marquez (and then what?) Oh, Speedy (PA31) is down, he's walking, no he's rejoined, oh he's being lapped, oh he's retired. Why is Zarco taking Taka out, why is Mir carrying another motorcycle? And where's Sonic (FQ20); he was flying during qualifying? I must be a simpleton. But I remember riding my brand new Z650 25 km to a small Italian trattoria to watch Kenny Roberts on a YZR500 take on a million RG500 Suzukis in 1979. It was mainly after midnight and it was the only TV I knew with satellite connection and it was the only place open 24hrs at the time. The TV was small and B&W, set high in corner and the sound muted. I'd sit and watch the often fuzzy pictures and saw drama on every lap. My coffees growing cold as I dived into another world trying to imagine how Sheene and Roberts and Ferrari could do the things they did and what could happen next. Sometimes the owner would join me, neither of us speaking while we watched maniacs on a silent TV. I would drink my cold coffee and ride home fast on the empty roads and lie awake wide eyed in bed. When I was 19 years old I could not imagine not watching every second of every race or closing my eyes to even take a sip of hot coffee. The riders were gods worth watching then and they are gods worth watching now.

Gods they remain.

The frustration arises when you realise the guy behind can’t bridge the 0.5sec gap to the guy in front because the closer he gets the less downforce is generated by aero under brakes. Worse, on corner exit, that same dirty air means less downforce and more wheelie, so they can’t get on the gas as hard either. Without a huge difference in pace or grip it becomes a conga line not a competition.

So gods yes, but the rules/engineers have given them feet of clay.

 

Until not too long ago, if the rider behind caught the one in front and got within one second, you knew there would be an overtake attempt within another lap or two and the excitement was whether he’d succeed or not. Now, the finishing order is largely set after about a lap, unless someone bins it, cooks their tyres, or misses their braking point. It’s time trials masquerading as circuit racing. Of course good racing does sometimes still happen, but quite often you can see the lie of the land after the first couple of laps and yesterday was one of those days. Hopefully the new regs in a few years time will improve things.

Only when they are so even - overtaking is still the same.  If there's a clear ability difference in any area a rider will exploit it and take a position.  the problem is when lining the rider in front up their own bike is going downhill.  

MMs bike did not have flywheel failure.  It had a con rod failure.  nothing dumps oil like a con rod failure, there's nothing else on the bike could do that.  The rod let go!  

The question then is; why did the con rod let go, snap in half and the lower half of the rod took out the front or back wall of the cylinder allowing oil and coolant out.  A rod is under stress in two places; revs beyond the red line and on the overrun, the overrun being the worse.  So engine braking set very harshly - that will do it.  

All this can be controlled with electronics and perhaps allow a little less full-on engine braking.  or engine breaking!!!!!

Obviously, not a flywheel failure. The flywheel was the mod. It might be a simple fix. On the other hand it may not be a simple fix. That's if they can be bothered to fix it for the few remaining races. They could, maybe, as you point out, safeguard it but if that resulted in less performance than the original, there's no point. No rider using a GP23 has anything to offer the title. They gave the GP23s a leg up and it has been withdrawn. They are back to a 'normal' GP23 motor. I read somewhere they use different masses depending on the circuit. Maybe this one was way outside of previous (tested during 2022 for the 2023 season) tested range. They spin fast, different mass and distribution can do many a strange thing.

As alluded by Wavey, I wasn’t saying the flywheel was the failure. As you say, it must have been a rod failure, not even a dropped valve will hole the cases/release fluids like that (don’t ask me how I know!). 

No, I was just mentioning in response to breganzane’s post that even though the engine is sealed they can still change some engine components that will drastically change the engine character/“revability”.

The flywheel thing would explain Bezz seemingly coming back into some sort of form. He could not get on with the GP23 initially, not at all comfortable on corner entry. A too heavy flywheel will give the feeling of being pushed into the corner, as the engine braking is less, the front less loaded, so the rider has to take up the slack with the rear brake = not easy and difficult to replicate at every corner.

But reducing the flywheel weight does some of the rider’s work for them, loading the front with extra engine braking, and best of all it is exactly the same every single corner.

But the rider’s right wrist and his electronics guy(s) have to be absolutely on the ball catering for the faster throttle/engine response.

Throw in the slipper clutch, that allows enough engine braking but not so much as to lock or chatter the rear wheel….and the exhaust valve strategy, and there are a lot of plates to keep spinning!

I hope the new rulers don’t think we’ll remain excited watching the leading riders circulate alone ALL THE TIME with passing/racing/incidents further down the grid-that might satisfy F1 viewers but most of us aren’t so easily pleased. Show the talent of your production team and be a bit more equitable sharing out the coverage; if nothing else you’re risking certain demanding sponsors moaning about the lack of coverage. 

Oh, and is it just because Pedro is a VERY fast rookie and constantly finding where the limit is by going over it a lot, or is he already too good for the KTM? If it’s the latter then Pierer should realise, and quickly, it’s time to build the Honda/MM93-type bike that might only suit their champion elect-if not imagine Borgo Panigale getting hold of him in the next round of contracts.

They’ll never have a better chance IMHO..

absolutely right!  In the past, as soon as the leaders got boring, the camera went in search lower down the field.  Sometimes I also wish the camera would just sit still ahead of the bikes and just watch 15 bikes through so you could 'feel' the gaps all the way down.  

In Moto3 in particular, the rider in 14th after 14 laps is only one-second behind the leader in 'the train' but they haven't shown him once, not even once.  They should also find a better way of showing rain - especially this here 'mental rain', use a brain cell or two on that.  

The most boring thing about MotoGP though is Pecco, God he is dull.  They are all under the cosh lower down the field and it comes through in the interviews.  But he and Jorge are leading and Jorge has manned up this year, good for him but up until the end of April this year he was disliked by many people.  Somehow, i feel he's dealt with that.  I don't know what made him 'unlikeable' then but I don't feel it anymore.  

Given that I have Tinnitus, I'll mention that someone like Mark Marquez's English by now should have improved, they are all talking jibberish in parc ferme but its gauling missing half the words a man says who has spoken so much English without correction when they go to the second interview.  MM though still stands out head and shoulders above all other MotoGP riders as 'having a laugh' he always smiles at every situation and profers the funny side!  That's how racing should be when you're a multi, multi millionaire!

(+ you're on the money 749)

Up front, I’m being provocative for fun here, but mostly because the race isn’t worth talking about :-).

Given the Ducati cup is an Italian/Spanish series and has been for donkeys years, with the odd guest appearance by a token Brit, American, Aussie etc, shouldn’t we have learned Spanish or Italian by now? The riders talent lies in riding rocket machines at insane speeds, it seems a bit rich to expect them to also become proficient in other languages.

…they could have half the field pull in after 2 laps and you would never know it from the coverage.

Continuing your theme: they do a lousy job of capturing/conveying the sheer speed at most circuits. So many variations of a front-on, 3/4 or overhead shot give no sense whatsoever of 350kph.

I recall one camera shot a few years back, might have been Mugello, Marc and Dovi leaning on each other as they went past a stationary camera at +300kph it was just fucking epic! They got it! But there has been almost nothing since.

The Isle of Man footage is incredible, even our local tin-tops down here have some fantastic camera angles from kerbs etc. 

I have a vivid recollection from my first instructional trackday many years ago, a State Superbike champion cutting laps on an early R1 and demonstrating lines for us noobies doing an instructional track "walk and talk" around the infield: exhaust crackling on the downshift, peeling into the corner like a WWll Spitfire, revs rising as he tips over onto the smaller diameter edge of the tyre, bike squirming and howling like a live creature as he gets on the gas, a perfect black arc left in his wake as he explodes out of the corner....standing just a handful of metres away it was a uniquely visceral experience. I have wanted very few things in life as badly as I wanted to be that guy, and explains my bike/track life thereafter: +20 years on and I still want to be that guy, however impossible it is.

Fast forward a couple of decades in technology and I’m compmetely baffled: how can they not be able to capture it? Why is coverage much the same as it was 20 years ago?

 

When they first used shoulder cams I was struck by how much better it replicated the rider's viewpoint. It follows the rider's (insanely agile) body motion as well as giving that "from behind the screen perspective" that the nose cam misses. All of sudden, it was like "Yes! That's the real experience!" I haven't seen it used lately; I wonder if the riders found it cumbersome. As Seven4ninerR observes, they should have the tech to do a lot more - to be able to put a completely discreet camera+sensor pretty much anywhere without the rider noticing anything.

More onboard audio, too. And more trackside ambient audio too. I know to switch to ambient audio, but having periods of ambient on-track audio to break up the announcer narration would be most welcome.

Lastly, 360° cams? I've never played with one, but if it's possible to use the software panning in realtime, what a treat it would be to see alongside the riders when they trade paint and remove aero bits from each other's bikes.

Maybe Liberty can bring some new tech to the viewer experience.