Race report

MotoGP Italian GP: Bagnaia wins sprint as Martin crashes out

Francesco Bagnaia claimed his first MotoGP sprint win of 2024 in the Italian Grand Prix of Saturday to cut the points deficit to championship leader Jorge Martin, who crashed out.

At the start of the 11-lap race, the factory Ducatis shot to the front from polesitter Martin, with reigning champion Bagnaia taking the lead from team-mate Enea Bastianini.

KTM’s Brad Binder jumped from 14th on the grid to take fourth behind Martin, with Marc Marquez dropping a place to fifth.

Heading into lap three, Bastianini was trying to retake the second position he had lost to Martin when he went too deep at the exit of Turn 1.

As the Italian tried to return to the racing line he was hit by the Pramac Ducati of Martin, with the contact sending his factory-run GP24 sliding into the gravel.

The incident between the two Ducati riders was investigated, but both riders were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Bastianini’s exit gave Martin some breathing space for a few laps, but it didn’t take long for Marquez to close in on the points leader on his year-old GP23.

After a fruitless attempt on lap five, Marquez was finally able to complete a move going into the opening right-hander on the following tour to claim second.

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team, special helmet

Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing Team, special helmet

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, special helmet

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team

Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing, Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3

By this stage of the race, Bagnaia was already sitting 1.3s clear in first position, a seemingly large advantage with half the sprint already over.

But Marquez was able to bring the gap down by half a second with four laps to go, giving him a faint hope of victory in the closing stages of the race.

Ultimately, Bagnaia was able to break away from Gresini rival to claim his first sprint win since last year’s Austrian GP, ending his streak of poor Saturday results in 2024.

The final place on the podium went to GasGas Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta, who was announced as a factory KTM rider for 2025 earlier on Saturday.

Acosta moved up to third place when Martin fell off his Pramac-run bike at the start of lap eight, his second major mistake of 2024 after his crash out of the lead of the Spanish Grand Prix in April.

Franco Morbidelli enjoyed his best result of 2024 on the sole-remaining Pramac Ducati bike, while Maverick Vinales was fifth on the top Aprilia after a sedate start from the front row.

Binder could only take sixth after his impressive start to the race, some four seconds off KTM stablemate Acosta, as Fabio Di Giannantonio guided his VR46 Aprilia to seventh place.

Alex Marquez (Gresini) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) were classified eighth and ninth respectively, while Raul Fernandez completed the top 10 for Trackhouse.

Further behind, Jack Miller (KTM) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) took 11th and 12th respectively, while Yamaha’s Alex Rins recovered from a poor start that dropped him to 17th to take 13th at the chequered flag.

Pol Espargaro took 14th on his wildcard outing for KTM, while LCR’s Johann Zarco was the only finisher inside the top 15 for Honda after factory rider Joan Mir crashed out.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was another former champion to retire from the sprint, the Frenchman’s race ending on lap two after Miguel Oliveira lost control of his Trackhouse Aprilia in front of him at Turn 10. The incident was investigated but no further action taken.

After his crash out of the sprint, Martin's lead is now down to just 27 points over Bagnaia heading into Sunday's grand prix.

MotoGP Italian GP Sprint result

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	11	19'30.251		177.4		12
2	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	11	+1.469 19'31.720	1.469	177.2		9
3	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	11	+4.147 19'34.398	2.678	176.8		7
4	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	11	+5.421 19'35.672	1.274	176.6		6
5	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	11	+7.693 19'37.944	2.272	176.3		5
6	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	11	+8.271 19'38.522	0.578	176.2		4
7	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	11	+8.571 19'38.822	0.300	176.1		3
8	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	11	+8.846 19'39.097	0.275	176.1		2
9	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	11	+8.984 19'39.235	0.138	176.1		1
10	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	11	+10.085 19'40.336	1.101	175.9
11	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	11	+10.199 19'40.450	0.114	175.9
12	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	11	+13.988 19'44.239	3.789	175.3
13	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	11	+14.137 19'44.388	0.149	175.3
14	P. Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	44	KTM	11	+18.259 19'48.510	4.122	174.7
15	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	11	+18.309 19'48.560	0.050	174.7
16	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	11	+19.374 19'49.625	1.065	174.5
17	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	11	+23.060 19'53.311	3.686	174.0
18	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	11	+24.596 19'54.847	1.536	173.8
19	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	11	+25.587 19'55.838	0.991	173.6
dnf	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	7	+4 Laps 12'26.953	4 Laps	176.9	Accident
dnf	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	4	+7 Laps 7'17.081	3 Laps	172.8	Retirement
dnf	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	2	+9 Laps 3'36.638	2 Laps	174.3	Retirement
dnf	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	1	+10 Laps 1'54.159	1 Lap	165.4	Accident
dnf	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	1	+10 Laps 1'54.430	0.271	165.0	Accident
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