MotoGP is back this weekend! Preview / Schedule

MotoGP 2024
Round One – Lusail, Qatar
Preview

MotoGP is back this weekend but for us Aussies that is going to make some real late nights or early mornings with the opening round unfolding in the desert surrounding Doha at the Lusail International Circuit.

There’s no doubt after pre-season that reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) looks like the man to beat. Team-mate Enea Bastianini has also looked extremely convincing on the other side of the garage now he’s back to full power after a 2023 season marred by injury. Could we now get the real continuation of that rivalry that started to really heat up in the latter stages of 2022?

The rivalry that did the same last season, meanwhile, also looks set to continue. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) had a pre-season shared between statement laps and signs he needed a little more time to settle in on the new bike, but we know when the lights go out he’ll be elbows out.  On the other side of his garage there’s a whole different conundrum after Franco Morbidelli was sidelined from pre-season though, so his progress will be interesting amongst the Ducati ranks.

Completing the top three in 2023 was Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), and on paper it looked like he had a tougher pre-season. New team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio, who very much picked up where he’d left off in terms of pace?

His former teammate, Alex Marquez, now has a new team-mate at Gresini Racing MotoGP too. For Alex Marquez, the goal for the year has got to be a Grand Prix win, as he’s now got Sprint victories and some podiums. For his new team-mate, eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez, it’s hard to tell what that goal really is. Pace? Proving a legacy? A ninth World Championship? Pure enjoyment? There are probably 93 answers to that question that people on all sides could argue, and we may never know the answer. However, we do get to come long for the ride. Qatar has never been his greatest track, so first time out as he’s still finding the limits may not prove a crystal ball, but it’s one of the most exciting moves in the history of the sport and we get to watch it.

That set of challengers is just Ducati…

At Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, there’s plenty to get excited about after a good pre-season and a really solid 2023 too, especially from Brad Binder as he finished just behind the top three. He also did it becoming a Sprint winner and taking some big podiums, satisfyingly sideways in the heat of the battle at the front. Can team-mate Jack Miller even out a tougher 2023 at times to bring great form to the new season?

At Red Bull GASGAS Tech3, meanwhile, Augusto Fernandez is looking for some steps forward as the spotlight continues shining down on rookie Pedro Acosta. The hype was only fuelled throughout pre-season but what can we really expect? A whole range of results from stunning to steady is likely the truth, none of which by itself will have much to say about what we’ll be seeing from him by Jerez or Silverstone or Motegi. (He does have until the Sachsenring to beat Marc Marquez’ record as the youngest premier class winner though…)

At Aprilia, it was an interesting pre-season. Aleix Espargaro’s experience of the new machine was a near-immediate storming of the top echelons of the time-sheets, whereas team-mate Maverick Viñales and Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing) took more time fitting the puzzle together. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) had even less of that as he sat out much of the Sepang Test after a crash.

At Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, the search continues to bridge the gap and unlock one-lap pace. But the new concession system has already seen the Iwata marque able to use more track time with race riders in pre-season, and we saw some updates appear too. Those race riders, 2021 Champion Fabio Quartararo and new arrival Alex Rins, will be very eager to get back to work and see where they fit in the pecking order over full race distance, not least of all with there new found top speed courtesy of a new engine package.

Honda likewise used the new concessions to field race riders in the Shakedown and, like Yamaha, won’t have their engine spec frozen. They also have some new faces to welcome, with Luca Marini (Repsol Honda Team) bringing his methodical approach to a factory team for the first time as he partners up with 2020 Champion Joan Mir.

Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda LCR) and his experience stays put, but he welcomes Johann Zarco to the Castrol Honda LCR side of the box – and in testing, the Frenchman was both very fast and very positive. We know it’s a whole new bike and we know they’ve moved forward, but how far forward is yet to be ascertained…

Moto2

Fermin Aldeguer (Sync SpeedUp) went on a serious run at the end of 2023, and despite that not ultimately proving enough to challenge for the crown, it was enough to make most believe he starts 2024 as the favourite for this one. His performances in testing also did little to dispel that as the Pirelli era begins, but there is a strong field looking to get in the way.

Last year’s runner-up Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) will be looking to go one better, and Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) wants that race win – and then another, and another in a serious challenge for the crown.

Celestino Vietti also moves to the coveted Red Bull KTM Ajo seat left by reigning Champion Pedro Acosta, and there’s more teased by testing: Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing) was just 0.044s adrift of Aldeguer, and Manuel Gonzalez (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) within the same tenth in third. Add in the likes of long-term frontrunners Jake Dixon (CFMoto Aspar Team) and Alonso Lopez (Sync SpeedUp) and the season promises much.

The rookies, meanwhile, are an interesting bunch too. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Deniz Öncü was top of the debutants in Jerez, but he’ll be battling a raft of former rivals in the fight for Rookie of the Year: reigning Moto3 Champion Jaume Masia (Pertamina Mandalika GAS UP Team), runner up Ayumu Sasaki (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team), Mario Aji (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), Xavi Artigas (KLINT Forward Factory Team) and Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team), as well as European Moto2 Champ Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP).

Moto3

Six of the top 10 from last year return to Moto3 for another season, with 2023’s star rookie David Alonso (CFMOTO Aspar Team) likely a favourite on the way in, but fellow sophomore Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was quickest in testing.

Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3), meanwhile, enters his third season as another pre-season favourite after leading the way for much of 2023, and the likes of Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) and Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) have already shown their speed at the front and won Grands Prix.

Then there are those with podiums looking for wins, like David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports), his new team-mate Joel Kelso and Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), as well as the veterans like Tatsuki Suzuki, now at Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP, who have a point to prove too.

In terms of rookies, we wait to see if 2023 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and JuniorGP title winner Angel Piqueras will be passed fit to debut with Leopard Racing after a pre-season training injury, and we know we’ll have to wait to see Xabi Zurutuza at Red Bull KTM Ajo as he is not yet at the age limit.

Tatchakorn Buasri (Honda Team Asia), Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Jacob Roulstone (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3), Noah Dettwiler (CIP Green Power) and Joel Esteban (CFMOTO Aspar Team) complete the list of exciting rookies to enter the Grand Prix scene. David Almansa (Rivacold Snipers Team) has already made too many appearances to fight for Rookie of the Year.

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