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Writer's pictureOwen Bradley

MotoGP Qatar: Championship Chaos going into Finale at Valencia

Written by Owen Bradley

Credit: Visit Qatar and MotoGP


55k fans gathered in Qatar to watch the penultimate round of the MotoGP 2023 Championship. Going into the race, Martin was just 7 points adrift from Francesco Bagnaia.


1st Fabio Di Giannantonio

2nd Francesco Bagnaia

3rd Luca Marini

4th Maverick Vinales

5th Brad Binder

6th Alex Marquez

7th Fabio Quartararo

8th Enea Bastianini

9th Jack Miller

10th Jorge Martin

11th Marc Marquez

12th Johann Zarco

13th Marco Bezzecchi

14th Joan Mir

15th Augusto Fernandez

16th Franco Morbidelli

17th Raul Fernandez

18th Pol Espargaro

19th Takaaki Nakagami

DNF Aleix Espargaro

DNF Iker Lecuona


Grand Prix

Credit: Noushad Thekkayil


The 19th MotoGP race of 2023 got underway with a literal bang, as Jorge Martin struggled and squirmed to get away from his grid slot, potentially even damaging his suspension. Francesco Bagnaia managed to take a dominant lead which seemingly set the pace of the race, as title rival Martin was slipping further and further back through the field.


Behind, once the race had settled in, it became clear that overtaking was going to be exceptionally difficult to do, at least a clean pass. It was a bitter and frustrating race for Jorge Martin, who saw his entire championship hopes, slowly get the life drained from it. After the race, Martin stormed back into his pit box, evidently angry. As the other riders began overtaking Martin, the championship was slowly and surely finding it's way into Francesco Bagnaia's hands.


Despite coming into the Grand Prix separated by just 7-points, after the abysmal performance that was likely down to a mechanical issue, Martin is now 21 points adrift heading into the final Sprint race and final Grand Prix. Martin might be a sprint supremacist, but Bagnaia always seems to fight back in the Grand Prix.

Credit: MotoGP on Social Media


Luca Marini, the polesitter here in Qatar, managed to achieve a decent P3 podium finish, but it was the other Italian and the other Ducati of Fabio Di Giannantonio who would claim his maiden MotoGP win in extraordinary fashion, and hopefully a ride will which secure his future in MotoGP, perhaps with another team like VR46.


Overall, a disappointing race in terms of action, but a crucial race in this championship battle.


What did you think of the Qatar GP? let us know in the comments below!

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1 Comment


Guest
Nov 23, 2023

Another new winner, shows I think the competitive field and level of these riders that your winner could come from almost anywhere in the field, changing race by race. Its do apart from F1 far beyond just 2 less wheels on the road. It's a good situation for a finale and hopefully be a good battle, in some ways Bagnaia has quite a bit of pressure.... I expect a punchy Martin to go at it right from the start of the weekend 🤞

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