Di Giannantonio win extends MotoGP title fight

When Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) romped to the Sprint victory brimming with self-confidence and peerless speed, while title challenger Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) rode what looked to be a too-careful race to fifth place, many believed the Spaniard would head to the season finale in Valencia with a points advantage over the reigning world champ.

The pair lined up alongside each other on the second row of the grid separated by just seven points on Sunday night. But when the lights went out for the 22-lap Qatar Grand Prix, Martin’s rear tyre failed to find traction, flicking him left then right, as Bagnaia rocketed off the line from fourth on the grid to take the holeshot and Martin was mired down in eighth.

Pole man Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati) led the early chase behind the factory Ducati, with Sprint podium getter Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) all wedged firmly between the two title contenders. As the two Gresini Ducatis swapped positions on lap two, and Binder muscled his way through on Marc Marquez, Bagnaia made the most of the opportunity and fired in the fastest lap of the race.

Martin’s only stroke luck came on lap three, when his Prima Pramac teammate made a mistake and ran wide, gifting Martin seventh place, which soon became sixth place when he used the power of his Ducati to draft past Marc Marquez on the straight to start lap five, but it was the best the Spaniard could hope for as he battled with what he called “a bad tyre” for the remainder of the race, spending the remaining 20 laps defending as best he could, rather than attacking for positions ahead of him.

A win would have meant a worst-case scenario of two points separating the pair heading to Valencia, but the lack of rear grip meant Jorge Martin scored his worst finish of the year down in 10th, collecting just six points for his troubles. “I’m really disappointed that the championship is decided by a bad tyre,” he said after the race.

Up ahead, Di Giannantonio was on a mission to prove his worth in the paddock, passing Marini for second place on lap five, with Alex Marquez following suit shortly after, which picked up the Mooney VR46 rider to let Binder through as well. The South African quickly disposed of the younger Marquez for third place, while the elder Marquez was doing all he could to hold off a clearly faster Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) at the same time trying to pick his best place for a clean move on Martin.

Vinales made the first move, relegating Marquez back another position on lap nine, and taking two more laps to find a clean way through on Martin. Marquez eased past the Ducati rider soon after. But given Martin was the slowest man on circuit on lap 12, he was doing a brilliant job at defending in a bid to collect as many points as he could. Next through were Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM), but a mistake by Marc Marquez allowed the Prima Pramac Ducati pairing back through on the Honda man as he rode on the limit to extract the most from his RC213V.

By now it was a two-man show at the front, as Bagnaia and Di Giannantonio pulled away from the four-rider battle for the final podium spot. Sure, Bagnaia had a championship on the line, but his fellow Italian – who has so far failed to find a seat on the 2024 grid – had his best chance at his first-ever premier-class victory. As Alex Marquez and Marini began tussling for third place as Vinales joined the group with some impressive speed, Di Giannantonio began to make his intentions clear with five laps to go.

After a message on his pitboard said it was time to pull the pin, Di Giannantonio chose Turn 12 as his race-winning move, and while Bagnaia unsuccessfully tried immediately to regain the position, it all very nearly came unstuck for both of them at the end of the straight when Bagnaia got sucked into the Gresini Ducati’s slipstream. Forced to sit up and run off at Turn 1, missing the GP22’s rear wheel by millimetres, he rejoined the circuit a full 2.5sec behind Di Giannantonio, lucky to be still in a safe second place.

Fabio Di Giannantonio crossed the line to become the sixth different Ducati winner in 2023, the eighth different winner overall, as he starts his MotoGP sign-off in supreme style. Bagnaia held firm to collect 20 important championship points, while Marini won the battle for the final podium position ahead of Vinales, Binder and Alex Marquez.

With just 37 points left up for grabs at Valencia on one week’s time, 21 points now separate Bagnaia on 437 and Martin on 416.