“Welcome back.”
Welcome to a Triple Header of DRR posts over the last couple of days, and first up, is MotoGP’s 2024 Grand Prix of Aragon, its first race back on the calendar in three years, with montages of the classic battle between Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia still fresh in the memory. And it’s fitting that the weekend ultimately ran through these two men but in very different ways. For Pecco, a disaster. For Marc, redemption. Let’s talk about it.
1,044 Days
Full disclosure: if you’re a long-term reader of this site, I’ve been fully open in my Marquez fandom. I’ve been in awe of his ability from the moment he crashed on a 125cc warm-up lap in Estoril and still won the race to seal the title. He is a special talent, and when you see that with your eyes, it’s hard not to root to see more of it. But this, this was magic.
The story of Marc Marquez’s career has never been straightforward. From taming his ridiculous speed in Moto2 and nearly losing his vision in 2011, to managing superhuman feats as Honda fell down a rabbit hole as Ducati overtook and changed the entire dynamic of the sport from a performance standpoint. As Bologna mastered Pandora’s Box of aerodynamics, Tokyo was left behind, and Marc Marquez the plaster on a gaping head wound. Looking back on it, Marc’s 2019 season where he finished nearly the entire season first or second, was a walking miracle. So when Marc broke his arm in 2020, it felt like the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The very gladiatorial nature of MotoGP only harmed Marquez further, the rush to try and come back from what wouldn’t have been a season-ender, ended up changing the trajectory of his entire career. Four arm surgeries, the fourth curing an arm that had bent by over 30 degrees, the desperate nature of wanting to come back and win, via the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s best. Throw in two more counts of diplopia from a training crash and a huge highside in Indonesia.
I saw how broken Marquez was in Germany last year, a race weekend where Marc had crashed six times, took his broken finger and went home. The relationship was over. I feared Marquez would be too loyal to the factory which was a huge part of his success, but also a huge part of his failings. He still had tears in his eyes when he made the biggest no-brainer decision of all to become a Ducati Sattilite rider, a sign of just how difficult a decision it was for him to even leave at all.
It’s fair to say at times, I wasn’t sure if this day would ever come. A couple of years ago, I was adamant deep down that Marquez was going to be another Casey Stoner, a tale of brilliant success and the “Marquez” of his era, but a career worn down and cut short by chronic and mental fatigue.
And when the season started, the early teases I thought were Marquez’s best chance to win, and they all came and went. Narrowly losing to Bagnaia in Jerez, the revenge lunge at Le Mans as Martin escaped, the poor qualifying at Catalunya and Le Mans. The signature race in Austin was marred by a jammed front brake just as he had taken the lead. With the Ducati GP24 being the best MotoGP bike we’ve likely seen since the NSR500, the 23 was getting left behind.
Then Aragon happened. And I had honestly forgotten just how good Marquez was there. It’s anti-clockwise, Marquez’s speciality from his days of dirt-track training. But right from the start of the weekend, it was clever that this was different. Aragon had been resurfaced, and not particularly well. Low-grip, slippery conditions – Again, ideal for Marc’s talents and complete lack of fear in taking ludicrous amounts of lean angle. That alone made the difference, even after two days of rain on Friday and Saturday night in between.
It was the perfect weekend that Marquez had always been talking about. He led every practice session outside of the Sunday warm-up, not relevant given the wet track. He Grand Slams the Sprint despite nearly losing the bike twice, the first to ride in anger on a dirty track. After that, he was inch-perfect, pulling away from Jorge Martin and Pedro Acosta and eventually winning by three seconds. Sprint winner box, ticked.
And then he did it again in the Grand Prix. Took off from the lead, didn’t look back, and broke Jorge Martin again. Even set the fastest lap of the race in the middle as he turned up the wick. He was in another league. It was a Super Grand Slam weekend and it was the Marquez of old.
Now, I need to temper some expectations. This was likely a one-off for now. This won’t be a magical title campaign down the stretch, the GP24 will be back with a vengeance as we get to Misano’s double-header. Save that talk for 2025. But as a Marquez guy, given how far back this man was, and how dark his future at one point seemed, this… this was magical. I’ve always said, the sport is a more interesting place with Marquez at the front, and he’s been the antagonist this Championship has needed while Bagnaia and Martin take turns swapping out the “Bozo” gene.
It had been 1,043 days since Marc Marquez last won a Grand Prix. It was well worth the wait. And I suspect, it won’t be 1,043 until the next one. Welcome, to one of sport’s truly great comeback stories.
Oh Pecco…
On the other side of the coin, Francesco Bagnaia had the weekend from hell. From the first turn of the wheel, he looked like he was lost, competing with the Japanese Cup in free practise. As he so often does, he gets stronger as the weekend goes on, qualifying third. But then in the Sprint, a horror start off his dirty grid box derailed his Sprint, with a claimed dud Michelin front tyre leaving him hanging on to the final point in ninth place for dear life. It was like watching Bagnaia ride the 2019 Ducati again, where he couldn’t turn it to save his life. He got bullied off the apex by Fabio Quartararo of all people. It was startling.
Another horror start in the race, sinking as far back as seventh, but his pace was stronger, mounting a late attack on Alex Marquez in a fight for the final spot on the podium. But when Alex ran wide at the bottom of the wall, he took the inside line on the right-hander over the crest, Bagnaia took the long way around the outside, they hooked bikes and both crashed.
It’s gotten ugly in the post-race debrief since then. Alex Marquez claimed he didn’t see Bagnaia, while the Italian claimed Marquez opened the throttle on purpose to cause the wreck. Marquez has refused to apologise for it, and it’s been tense in their respective camps.
My take? It was all so unnecessary. Marquez running wide was an honest mistake, and he’s recovering as best he can. Bagnaia did get alongside him on entry, so Marquez has got a chance to see Pecco. However, Pecco swept to the inside for a late apex when he knew where Marquez was and expected him to back out when Marquez had no obligation to by a good two to three feet. For me, it’s a racing incident, and the stewards’ report was remarkably clear – Lack of grip off the racing line was the mitigating circumstance, and no rider was predominantly to blame.
Understandably, Marquez was trying to keep position, but I do have to wonder why Pecco, the comfortably faster rider with time on his side, felt he had to take such a risky gambit swinging across the outside. The wild thing is, after the Marc Marquez fights in Jerez and Portimao, this is the third time this season Bagnaia has committed to a line assuming the other rider will bend to his will. He’s 3-0 in making contact, and twice he’s crashed. At what point is it fair to question the World Champion’s risk perception?
In any case, he leaves Aragon with just one point. With Jorge Martin riding safely in second on both occasions, just like that, he has a 23-point lead in the standings again and Pecco is once again, chasing the Spaniard. Misano will almost certainly be better for the reigning Champ, it’s his training ground. But just how many of these questionable weekends can Pecco afford to have?
The Lightning Round
On a sad note, someone we’ve loved; talked about and admired on Motorsport101 is going through a horrible time. TNT Sports broadcaster and World Superbike Champion Sylvain Guintoli’s son has been diagnosed with cancer. As someone who had to see his then two-year-old sister fight Leukaemia, it broke my heart to hear the news that the world can sometimes be so cruel. From all of us here at M101, best wishes and all our love to Ginters, the family and TNT’s colleagues.
One had to wonder – Where the heck was Aprilia this weekend? Given their previous success in places like Austin, Argentina and Catalunya, a greasy, slippery track should have been perfect for their aero-friendly bike, but they could barely scrap a Top 10. Miguel Oliveira didn’t make it past Lap 1 (Despite a great 5th in the Sprint), Raul Fernandez got done for tire pressures and Maverick Vinales may as well have taken the weekend off.
A salute to Taka Nakagami, who this weekend announced his MotoGP retirement at year’s end. He’s been a wonderful servant to Honda, almost too loyal as his prime years were spent trying to placate such a flawed machine. Gutted Aragon reminds me of his 2020 race where he qualified on pole. What could have been… A great talent, and he’ll continue to be a great asset for Honda as they climb out of their hole. All the best to him, and to Somkiat Chantra who will become Thailand’s first MotoGP rider in 2025. Buriram will be BUZZING.
Speaking of Ginters, was wonderful to see Jake Dixon dedicate his Moto2 win to the family, a touching gesture off a brilliant performance, for me, his best in the class. Rode level with Tony Arbolino for a while, measured the conditions and then pulled the pin with three to go. Superb riding. And with Roberts crashing out late, Sergio Garcia nowhere all weekend, and Ai Ogura only in eighth, Dixon’s now past Fermin Aldeguer and only 43 points off the top of the standings. Moto2’s title fight now looks wide open:
Garcia (162), Ogura (-12), Lopez (-29), Roberts (-32), Dixon (-43), Aldeguer (-50)
And sincerely, I hope Joe Roberts is okay. The commentary team at TNT implied that he’d changed character since finding out he didn’t get the Trackhouse gig and he punched the ground in disgust when he crashed. He’s a good man and I hope he doesn’t take this too hard. He’s in a title fight right now and the #1 Kalex, just as their chassis seems to be doing well again. If he can keep his focus, he can turn this into a positive. And hey, I wonder how Gresini feel about Aldeguer after another needless crash this weekend…
Dre’s Race Rating: 4/10 (Dull) – Look, this wasn’t a classic by any means, Marquez dominated from the front, Martin wisely took the 20 points and the riders were incredibly spread out as the race went on. This isn’t going to be remembered for the action… but when you see Marc Marquez bow in front of his fans after nearly three years without a win and see Aragon cheering his name… Who gives a fuck, honestly? See you in Misano.
