An all-timer of a duel between Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia was the rightful headliner of an excellent Spanish Grand Prix, as both cut into Jorge Martin's points lead. But there was also a weekend-conditioning wet qualifying and a deeply messy sprint, and while nobody put together a truly complete three days as a result, there were some proper disasters on the other side of the coin, as reflected in our regular rider rankings. Scoring the grid in order based on their performances not just in the main event but also Saturday’s sprint race, it’s obviously all subjective - but comes not just f ..read more

Ever since Marc Marquez get himself a Ducati, the MotoGP world has been waiting eagerly to see a head-to-head victory fight between him and reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia. That's exactly what the Spanish Grand Prix became - and it was absolutely worth all the anticipation. Does Bagnaia's defeat of Marquez show Ducati's current number one has his famous new stablemate covered? Or does the fact Marquez is so quick on a Ducati (and an old-spec one at that) already show Bagnaia will need to raise his game? That's one of the big debates between Simon Patterson, Valentin Khorounzhiy and ..read more

Was defeating Marc Marquez for the Spanish Grand Prix win a crucial psychological victory for reigning MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia that proved he is still Ducati’s top dog and best-placed to go on and take another title? Or was the fact Marquez came so close to beating him on a year-old satellite bike and in only his fourth race weekend on a Ducati a sign of much more to come and evidence he’s going to topple Bagnaia? Neither of them actually leads the championship right now - that’s still Jorge Martin despite his crash from first place at Jerez. But which of Bagnaia and Marquez has most to ..read more

Johann Zarco has revealed he let loose on chief MotoGP steward Freddie Spencer in the aftermath of the Spanish Grand Prix, after being summoned to discuss his crash with Aleix Espargaro. Espargaro crashed his Aprilia coming through Turn 5 while racing Zarco for 16th and took the LCR Honda out as well, both exiting the race on the spot. Yet any annoyance Zarco had regarding the accident absolutely paled in comparison with him feeling affronted by the stewards' panel after being summoned to discuss the accident - with Zarco indicating he felt chief steward Spencer was trying to coax out a compl ..read more

Reigning MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia defeated Marc Marquez in a spellbinding duel for victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, after points leader Jorge Martin crashed out. Bagnaia, who had exited the sprint in a collision with Brad Binder, clawed back 25 points against Martin thanks to rebuffing a tour-de-force late charge from Marquez, who celebrated his first grand prix race podium as a Ducati rider. Starting from pole, Marquez managed to stay ahead of Martin this time - albeit the championship leader did take second by sliding up the inside of Marco Bezzecchi and Binder at Turn 1. That also p ..read more

MotoGP's Spanish Grand Prix sprint ended in chaos after track conditions played a major part over 60% of the grid having crashed at some point during the 12-lap event. Only 15 riders of 25 made it to the chequered flag in the sprint, and five of those 15 did so after picking up a crashed bike. The race was officially declared a dry one despite heavy overnight rain on the southern Spanish coast that continued into the morning and meant qualifying took place on a wet surface. But while slicks were now clearly the tyre of choice and the pace was indeed representative of a dry race, problems with ..read more

Honda MotoGP rider Joan Mir was left none too impressed by being barged out of the way by a recovering Marc Marquez in the Jerez sprint - but most of his irritation was not aimed at Marquez. Instead, the 2020 champion deemed the penalty handed out to Marquez in-race as being unacceptable and not in line with past precedent. Marquez was fighting back through the field after crashing out of the lead, and removed Mir from the top 10 with an over-ambitious lunge into the final corner on the ninth lap. Once again, big time contact at Jorge Lorenzo corner ?@marcmarquez93 had to drop a position aft ..read more

Yamaha has lost its first podium of the 2024 MotoGP season as Fabio Quartararo was penalised for a tyre pressure breach in the aftermath of the Portimao sprint. Quartararo finished third on the road - from 23rd on the grid - in a delirious 12-lap race in which 15 riders crashed, the 2021 champion fending off KTM tester Dani Pedrosa by 0.050s at the line. Pedrosa, however, now returns to a MotoGP podium for the first time since his 2017 season-finale win at Valencia as Quartararo's breach comes with an eight-second time penalty. This would normally be completely ruinous to his race, but becau ..read more

Marc Marquez secured the first pole position of his tenure as a Ducati MotoGP rider in a wet qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix. The six-time MotoGP champion already led the 30-minute pre-qualifying practice session in the wet, and looked a heavy favourite for pole. But having jumped to the top with a 1m46.773s - a lap around 11 seconds off dry pace - late on in Q2, Marquez then caught a big moment in Turn 1 that looked like it would thwart his and Gresini's pole bid. This was because not only did it write off his then-current lap, but it also compromised his timing - as, having be ..read more

Reigning MotoGP world champion Pecco Bagnaia has zeroed in on what he believes is the cause for the chatter woes that he and the rest of Ducati’s cohort have experienced throughout the opening races of the 2024 season. And he's also revealed that he sees that cause as also being a contributor to the record-breaking pace of sensational rookie Pedro Acosta so far this year. Despite enjoying a flying start to his Spanish Grand Prix weekend as he went fastest overall and under his own outright lap record from 2022 on Friday (something unexpected from the usually slow-starting Italian), Bagnaia ac ..read more