2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round Six – Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya
Catalunya – Sunday
Francesco Bagnaia- P1
“Today’s win was a very important one, both for how things panned out yesterday and also for last year’s results at this track. I tried to set the pace at the beginning and I thought it was the right one.
“As soon as Jorge (Martín) and Acosta got past me, I tried to stay with them, but I thought their pace was a bit too quick especially with regards to the tyre wear on the full-race distance. Then I saw that their pace got back to a rhythm that was similar to mine.
“Once I overtook Jorge, I noticed I had already pulled a 0.4secs margin on him in one lap, so the only thing I had to do was to make it to the finish line. I rode the final lap almost with the feet on the ground, to avoid surprises. Now the Mugello awaits, and I hope fans will turn up at the circuit as many as they did here.”
Jorge Martin – P2
“An important weekend. I think yesterday wasn’t a good day but I am really happy that we took the, how can I say, the weak points and then improve for today. I’m really happy that today we were able to fight for the victory, and I missed just the last five laps but for sure I started not that bad but the first corner I was super good on the outside, I already took five or six riders and then then my target was to go on the lead.
“But maybe with Pedro behind I pushed a bit too much, because I wanted to stay on the lead and he was really close, so I took a bit the rear tyre on the front and when Pecco catch me I had nothing else to fight with.
“I was struggling with the front at that point. And when he overtook me, I tried, you know, last map, but maybe I was sprinting too much. I think this map was just for the last two laps and I destroyed the rear tyre and from that point I had no front, no rear. And when I saw we had eight or nine seconds, it was no sense to try to fight. It’s better our second position than the points. Second position is the most we could take today and it’s a really good one so yeah let’s keep improving, let’s try to improve these weak points, try to be faster using less tyre because this is the key to fight for victories in the future.”
Marc Marquez – P3
“Happy riders are faast riders, so super happy about our race, you know, although we can, I’m not happy because we need to point on that qualifying practice, but okay, a part of that that we know, we performed well on the race and today on the main race, especially we thought a good start because the start was acceptable but it was not amazing. We have time and we have the potential to recover positions even if I choose that soft rear option. So yeah, we managed well.
“I’m very interested to understand and to analyse the data because in Honda, I really understand when was the soft option or medium option the good one. So here, still I don’t know, but today I decided to take that risk and that soft rear option gave me the problem. I say to my team, put me the medium from the warm -up to make the sighing lap. If I don’t have a good feeling, I will put the soft. On that sighting lap, the feeling was not good and then I put the soft. It was like this. We know and we had some guarantees and we analysed that that soft rear option wasn’t the limit but it was possible to finish the race. And yeah, we managed in a good way. It’s true that in the end, I suffered a lot to keep Aleix behind but also he was suffering with that medium.
“We are third in the championship after six races already. But we are third and it’s our real position because the two guys in front are a bit faster, especially if we want to fight with them, we need to improve the qualifying practice.
“I know that being the podium here in Montmelo for me is super special and super important because it’s one of that circuits that I hate. But a part of that, you know, when I say that it’s a difficult circuit for me, I never give up and I try to make that work to work better.
“Two years ago I was not able even to be in the top 10, so one year ago. Not just six months ago. So now we are there smiling and happy, enjoying, and for me this is the most important. And yeah, I was looking to enjoy it on the back again to make my career longer, and yeah, I’m enjoying.”
Aleix Espargaro – P4
“I gave one hundred per cent all the way to the final lap. The feeling was good throughout the weekend, but in the race, I didn’t have grip with the medium tyre. In any case, these past few days were wonderful, taking pole position, the sprint race, and setting the track record. It would be incredible to win in Mugello – Aprilia’s home track – in my last MotoGP season.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio – P5
“I’m really happy, we’re doing really well and the podium is getting closer and closer. It’s a shame about the first two laps, I have struggled to get into a rhythm and I lost a lot of positions. I remained calm, I said to myself: try to ride cleanly without using the rear tyre too much. I managed the tyres well and, towards the end, I was able to recover. It’s the first Top5 of the year, we’re competitive, the level of the bikes, both the new ones and those from the last year, is very high, we still have many aspects to work on, but I’m happy and can’t wait to arrive at Mugello.”
Raul Fernandez – P6
“I was fighting for the podium until the last six laps. That was fantastic and I definitely learned a lot, fighting with Marc (Marquez) and Aleix (Espargaro) nearly until the end. I felt super good on the bike and while I didn’t feel I could extract enough grip from the rear tyre, anyway, we have to be happy. Yesterday we were fighting for the win in the Sprint race, we were on the front row and today fighting for the podium. Overall, it was a very positive weekend – I was working well, I adapted more to the bike, we found a good electronic setting and now I really feel comfortable, which is the key for me to be successful. I am very happy about it! I hope we can continue this way in the future and keep fighting for the podium.”
Alex Marquez – P7
“I had a good feeling throughout the weekend and today’s result shows it. I struggled a bit at the beginning of the race today, maybe also due to the fact that I didn’t want to destroy the soft tyre, but also in the battle with Enea and Brad. It’s good anyway, but it’s clear we need to find something extra during Fridays, starting from Mugello.”
Brad Binder – P8
“It was a bit tricky in the race today. We’d been good here all weekend but after six laps in the race the front tyre dropped off and in the last few weeks when I’ve ignored that strange feeling then I end-up crashing. So today I needed to be a bit careful and when I felt the limit coming I had to lower the pace. I could not make time on braking and entry and nursing it around meant there were not really moments where I could make pace. A tricky day.”
Fabio Quartararo – P9
“This was a pretty good result. There were also not that many crashers in front of me, so, for me, it was a really good race, considering how we’re going. We are less than 5s from fifth place, so this is really positive. The feeling was better than I expected, to be honest. We know what we’re missing, but we’re working on it, and I think that today it was quite a great race. It was nice: I saw Bezzecchi and Oliveira fighting in front of me on the last laps. I knew how difficult it is to stop the bike in Turn 1 and, considering how close they were fighting, I said ‘Okay, they are going to go wide’. I decided to brake super early to carry speed and I overtook them. I could also keep the position until the end, so I think we were clever, and I think how I raced was nice. We are going step by step: in Le Mans the pace was good and here it was great. Hopefully we can make more good steps in Mugello and at the private Valencia test afterwards. I feel like we’re making progress, I feel like we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, which is great.”
Miguel Oliveira – P10
“The race today was not easy, I can hardly find positives. The grip was very poor from the beginning and although I tried to manage it as best I could I was still sliding, trying to manage the tyre. The pace was decent, but it was just not enough to challenge for anything better. Finally, finishing P10 is ok but I’m still disappointed about today’s performance – it was not ideal. Yesterday we had an issue with the front tyre, which didn’t help me to avoid the crash and today we just had low grip with the rear in general, so it was hard to make any moves and gain places.”
Marco Bezzecchi – P11
“Today wasn’t an easy race, I had the same braking problems as all the weekend. I have a strange feeling when entering corners. On critical tracks on the front tyre, like this one, everything is more complicated. Let’s not give up, let’s continue to work with the whole Team to find a solution. We arrive at Mugello, our first home race, we need all the support of our fans.”
Maverick Vinales – P12
“It was a difficult weekend. I didn’t have grip in the race and I was losing a lot in braking. The image of me saving the highside reflects the difficulties here at Montmeló extremely well. Now we need to look forward and focus on Mugello.”
Pedro Acosta – P13
“It was the first weekend during which we were constantly competitive, which is a great thing for us. We were doing a really good start to the race, but I made a small mistake, on a tricky track. The positive point for us is that we have been able to be competitive and at the front on a track that is not necessarily our best, so all we can do now is focussing on Mugello next week, and I am sure that we are going to have a good one in Italy!”
Takaaki Nakagami – P14
“It’s been a long and tough race, but we’ve managed to get to the points and finished as the first Honda in the final standings. We now head to Mugello with a clearer idea to keep improving and developing the bike”.
Joan Mir – P15
“A tricky weekend comes to an end, but we knew this would be the case for us at this track. We’re trying a few things here this weekend that will help us a lot in the future, but this weekend was complicated. I am confident that we will be stronger in the next races and be able to return to what we were doing in the first race. Let’s keep working and focusing on the long term, a step is coming.”
Johann Zarco – P16
“It’s been a difficult race. I wanted to push, but we had some limitations, and to avoid mistakes, I couldn’t do more. We are confident about the next race and test at Mugello, as we’d like to take a step and fight for better positions”.
Luca Marini – P17
“Today was my best race as a Honda rider, I was feeling very strong at the start. I was behind Nakagami in the slipstream a lot and this was raising the temperature of the front. I felt more pace but couldn’t overtake him and honestly, he was riding well. The spin we had here is always difficult for all riders, so we can’t lose our focus and be smart on where to work. I think we are doing this as the bike is improving and I am feeling better. There’s more to come.”
Enea Bastianini – P18
“It was a frustrating race for me, as a long-lap penalty came at halfway point as I was forced to run off the track after an overtake manoeuvre by Alex Márquez, in a situation where I had no other option but to cut the first chicane. I hope there’ll be more consideration in the future in this type of situations, as I feel that I didn’t deserve this penalty. On the contrary, I thought Alex was the one who had to give me back the position, but it didn’t go this way. Now we need to focus on making amends in the next race.”
Stefan Bradl – P19
“The Sunday races are always really important for us in the Test Team to get the data to understand things even more, so finishing the race was our first goal. Even if I was not at my 100% physically, we were still able to do the job which is important.”
Alex Rins – P20
“It was a really tough race. It all began at the start. The launch from P8 was not bad, but I was so close to hitting Jorge Martin that I had to go into the long lap, and then I was in last place. I tried to recover some positions, and I tried to ride as smooth as possible to manage the tyre, but it felt like everything was working in a bit of a strange way. The bike and the tyres, I was spinning a lot, like way too much – it never happened like that before. So, let’s analyse and let’s look forward to the next race weekend in Mugello.”
Augusto Fernandez – DNF
“It is a shame to crash early in the race, but I did a good start and was feeling like I could fight for something close to the top 10, which would have been a top step for us. It is a bit tough, but let’s head to Mugello with positivity, because we were a bit more competitive this weekend.”
Jack Miller – DNF
“After what was a promising start to the Catalunya GP, it was massively disappointing to crash out of the race during the early stages. As a circuit, Barcelona is known for its low grip surface, which presents a unique challenge every time we show up here. The tarmacs usually a bit dirty as well, so these are real points of focus for us before and also during the GP weekend.
“We were pretty quick during the opening practice sessions which falls in line with how this year has played out so far, earning a direct spot into Q2 after Friday which was nice. That’s always a pleasure and sets up for positive future sessions.
“As for the Sprint Race, not the best day but also not the worst day. It was actually a pretty similar story to Le Mans in the sense of understanding the grip window. I was struggling with the last sector, and a quick buzz over the data showed we were missing some lean angle through there.
“Wasn’t able to use the front as I would have liked, so again, really just trying to understand the grip window. We struggled to run the 39’s in the Sprint, which we were running comfortably in the sessions prior, which again is a head-scratcher.
“Unfortunately, that all translated to what happened at (turn) 10 during the race. I got on the brakes but was pretty straight up and down – I was struggling in that final sector again – but got to the apex and it just went with no real warning.
“Extremely disappointing for myself and the team to let them down – we’re striving to be better – so this isn’t ideal. All we can do is focus on what we can improve for Mugello especially in these warmer conditions and in race trim.
“The positive is that we were right in there fighting with the boys at the time, so we’re not slow, we’ve just got to stay on the bloody thing.
“It’s not easy at the moment, but I know we can turn things around together with the people around me, so our focus will remain on going forward.”
Team Managers
Luigi Dall’Igna – Ducati Corse General Manager
“It was another tight race. We’re witnessing a time of incredible races for the fans, whom I think are enjoying a lot, not so much for myself because the tension is always sky high and I’m exhausted! It’s incredible to see these champions giving it all on the track. After last year’s results we chose to select this circuit as out test track with Michele (Pirro), and I believe this helped us find some valid solutions to improve our bike set-up. The guys have done an excellent work once again to prepare this event the best way and to put the riders in the best possible condition to do well.”
Massimo Rivola – Aprilia Racing
“We expected more from this race, given the results from last year. Congratulations to Pecco for his race, also considering the bad accident last year. Aleix rode a strategic race, but it wasn’t enough to take the podium at the end of the race. Unfortunately, Maverick found himself in nineteenth place on the first lap and coming back from that was extremely complicated. It was great to see Trackhouse so competitive and hopefully they will continue to grow. We’ll head to Mugello now, hoping to see the grandstands full like in recent races.”
Pablo Nieto – Pertamina VR46 Team Manager
“I can only be happy with Fabio’s weekend: he demonstrated that he has excellent potential. It’s a shame about the start, he lost a lot of positions but he finished with a truly impressive pace, managing the tyres in the best possible way. He can really do well and make another step. I’m very sorry for Marco, he’s had a lot of problems on this track since Friday. We need to reset, analyse the data as best we can and get back competitive at Mugello, our first home race of the season.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Trackhouse Team Manager
“There’s a happy Team Manager here. Of course, from the front row after yesterday, we wanted to do something good and with both boys in the top 10 – Raul in P6 and Miguel in P10 – I think we have to be satisfied. The race here is always difficult, you see many riders making mistakes. At the end, the grip made it hard to stay on the bike but I think Raul brought it home very well in sixth, although he lost a place on the last lap, but you need to accept that; when you can’t fight any more you just create chaos and that’s not worth the risk. It’s better to bring it home in sixth than a DNF from fifth. We are very happy with that and already looking forward to the next round. Mugello is always a nice event and with these results in the bag, we can’t wait to start again next week.”
Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Team Principal
“We have mixed feelings after this weekend. I feel it has been positive but we had a difficult Saturday, although we showed good performance, we could not capitalize. On Sunday it was much better but still I feel we could have done better. Anyway, overall I think we come away from Barcelona with a positive weekend – positive feelings as we keep the momentum with both riders comfortable on the bikes, able to score good results and of course, particularly for Raul, here was a very good weekend. He had a crash in the Sprint but was leading after some great overtaking and I think in today’s race he managed the situation very well; he was very smart during the race. Finishing in 6th place I take as a positive sign. Miguel struggled to make progress through the race and had the pace to do much better if he had found more rear grip. So, we go to Mugello and will aim to keep the positive momentum and extract more from the bikes. With this positive experience, especially from Raul, we are looking forward to next weekend.”
Francesco Guidotti – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager
“A bit of a shame for Jack with an early crash and he didn’t make any strange move. We know the grip is very low here and maybe at the start of the race he didn’t have the pace he wanted and tried to catch the group. No big drama because it had been a good weekend otherwise. Mugello is one of his favorite tracks so let’s see if he can show his real potential there. Brad tried really hard to stay with the leaders and was managing it until the front feeling started to drop and he also didn’t have the best grip from the rear. He controlled what he could and brought the bike home. Let’s try again in Mugello where Pol [Espargaro] will also join us and where we’ll also have the Monday test to work.”
Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director
“Our team had two very diverse experiences today. Fabio made the most of our package during the Race. He made sure he was in the right place at the right time and did a great job capitalising on every overtaking opportunity. We can’t be satisfied with a ninth place in general, but considering the struggles we faced this weekend, we gladly take these seven points. Álex, on the other hand, had a day to forget. From start to finish, nothing went his way. Luckily, we have another race weekend next week. We will now head to Mugello, where we just tested, giving him the opportunity to make a quick comeback.”
Nicolas Goyon – GASGASG Tech3 Team Manager
“It is difficult to hide our disappointment after today’s race! In yesterday’s sprint, Pedro Acosta learnt a lot after struggling with the front end of his bike, so today he rode very smartly. He took a small risk on the tyres choice, not the most popular, but he was confident to go with a medium at the front and a soft at the rear, and we could see that he was really fast. It is quite easy to crash on this track, which he did, but we have to be positive because he crashed while fighting for the win. I would like to thank him for his never give-up attitude, because he rejoined the race to finish P13 and pick up a few points, a small reward after such a great weekend from his end. Augusto Fernandez was also having a decent pace early into the race, but he also crashed. Great shame, but we are moving to Italy with a lot of positives for the next round in Mugello.”
MotoGP Catalunya Race Results
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | F Bagnaia | Duc | 40m11.726 |
| 2 | J Martin | Duc | +1.740 |
| 3 | M Marquez | Duc | +10.491 |
| 4 | A Espargaro | Apr | +10.543 |
| 5 | F D Giannatonio | Duc | +15.441 |
| 6 | R Fernandez | Apr | +15.916 |
| 7 | A Marquez | Duc | +16.882 |
| 8 | B Binder | Ktm | +18.578 |
| 9 | F Quartararo | Yam | +20.477 |
| 10 | M Oliveira | Apr | +20.889 |
| 11 | M Bezzecchi | Duc | +21.023 |
| 12 | M Viñales | Apr | +22.137 |
| 13 | P Acosta | Ktm | +31.967 |
| 14 | T Nakagami | Hon | +32.987 |
| 15 | J Mir | Hon | +33.132 |
| 16 | J Zarco | Hon | +34.554 |
| 17 | L Marini | Hon | +36.689 |
| 18 | E Bastianini | Duc | +50.615 |
| 19 | S Bradl | Hon | +55.295 |
| 20 | A Rins | Yam | +1m03.428 |
| Not Classified | |||
| DNF | F Morbidelli | ||
| DNF | A Fernandez | ||
| DNF | J Miller | ||
MotoGP Championship Standings
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | J Martin | 155 |
| 2 | F Bagnaia | 116 |
| 3 | M Marquez | 114 |
| 4 | E Bastianini | 94 |
| 5 | M Viñales | 87 |
| 6 | P Acosta | 83 |
| 7 | A Espargaro | 76 |
| 8 | B Binder | 75 |
| 9 | F Di Giannantonio | 62 |
| 10 | M Bezzecchi | 42 |
| 11 | A Marquez | 42 |
| 12 | F Quartararo | 32 |
| 13 | M Oliveira | 29 |
| 14 | R Fernandez | 28 |
| 15 | J Miller | 27 |
| 16 | F Morbidelli | 15 |
| 17 | A Fernandez | 13 |
| 18 | J Mir | 13 |
| 19 | Zarco | 9 |
| 20 | T Nakagami | 8 |
| 21 | A Rins | 7 |
| 22 | D Pedrosa | 7 |
| 23 | L Marini | 0 |
| 24 | S Bradl | 0 |
2024 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar (Updated)
| Rnd | Date | Location |
| 7 | 02 Jun | Italy Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello |
| 8 | 16 Jun | Kazakhstan Sokol International Racetrack |
| 9 | 30 Jun | Netherlands TT Circuit Assen |
| 10 | 07 Jul | Germany Sachsenring |
| 11 | 04 Aug | Great Britain Silverstone Circuit |
| 12 | 18 Aug | Austria Red Bull Ring-Spielberg |
| 13 | 01 Sep | Aragon MotorLand Aragón |
| 14 | 08 Sep | San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini Misano |
| 15 | 22 Sep | India Buddh International Circuit |
| 16 | 29 Sep | Indonesia Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit |
| 17 | 06 Oct | Japan Mobility Resort Motegi |
| 18 | 20 Oct | Australia Phillip Island |
| 19 | 27 Oct | Thailand Chang International Circuit |
| 20 | 03 Nov | Malaysia Sepang International Circuit |
| 21 | 17 Nov | Comunitat Valenciana Circuit Ricardo Tormo |
