2023-11-25 14:45:18
Published on November 25, 2023 at 3:45 p.m. – updated on November 25, 2023 at 3:54 p.m. Aurélie Sacchelli
Jorge Martin won the sprint race of the Valencia Grand Prix while Francesco Bagnaia could not do better than fifth, so that the Spaniard is fourteen points behind the Italian. But the Ducati rider still maintains a good advantage in view of the world title before Sunday’s race.
The title of MotoGP world champion will therefore be decided during the last Grand Prix of the season! Sunday in Valencia, Francesco Bagnaia will start four places ahead of Jorge Martin, and with an advantage of fourteen points over the Spaniard, in order to win a third consecutive title. The Ducati rider had a match point this Saturday during the sprint race, but he missed it, finishing fifth while his rival won. Starting sixth on the grid with a soft tire and a medium, four rows behind the Italian, who had worn two mediums, Jorge Martin had a great start, unlike last week when he slipped on the Qatari dust, which had cost him dearly. He quickly found himself third behind Bagnaia, who had managed to overtake pole-sitter Maverick Vinales for a while, before losing a place. The end of the first lap saw the leading drivers overtake and redouble, and we finally found Maverick Vinales, ahead of Brad Binder, Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia. This will be the final Top 5, but not in this order. On the sixth of the thirteen laps scheduled, Binder passed Vinales to take the lead of the race, then on the following lap, Martin overtook Vinales (in difficulty with his medium tire, like Bagnaia) then Binder to become leader. The ranking did not change thereafter, and it is therefore a ninth victory for Jorge Martin in a sprint race this season, and the twelve points that go with it, while Bagnaia only takes five. The gap between the two men is therefore only fourteen. Concretely, if the Spaniard wins the race on Sunday, the Italian will have to finish in the Top 4 to be crowned.
Quartararo shone… then fell
On the French side, there were hopes, but they were disappointed… Starting third, his best position of the season, Johann Zarco missed his start and found himself seventh. Warned for exceeding the limits of the track, he completed a fairly anonymous race, finishing ninth, six seconds behind the winner. So he takes a point. As for Fabio Quartararo, who had missed his qualifying, he made a magnificent start to move from fifteenth to eighth place, then continued his climb to find himself sixth after three laps. Well in rhythm, he tried to overtake Francesco Bagnaia to enter the Top 5 on the fourth lap, but he lost the front and crashedfortunately without getting injured or hitting the Italian, which would have been terrible in the title race.
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