2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round 11 – Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich
Red Bull Ring – Spielberg
Excerpts from Thursday Press Conference
Jorge Martin – Prima Pramac Racing
Great weekend at Silverstone and you’re now back at the top of the Championship at a good track for you. Is this an opportunity to build on your three-point lead?
“Yeah, for sure it is a really nice track for a lot of us, it is beautiful and for Ducati, it is super nice, it will be different as we have a lot of strong rivals here. My target is to keep improving, it was a nice weekend at Silverstone but even if we have taken the lead now, I think it is not that important. The important thing is to build some confidence, last year here wasn’t that good for me, so even if I was fast, the results weren’t good so hopefully we can improve those results, those feelings, and be stronger than last season here.”
Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team
The Red Bull Ring is one of your favourite tracks, do you see yourself as the favourite and how confident are you that you will be back at the top of the Championship come Sunday?
“It is one of the best tracks for our bike, it suits the style of this circuit perfectly, but I love these kinds of braking points as you have to be very precise and be very strong in those sectors and I like the circuit for that. Let’s see, leading the Championship at the moment is not that important, it is like starting from zero again, 10 races to go and there are just three points between us. It is true that in the second part of the season, we have to improve the Sprint because it is where Jorge is making the difference and we need to try and be smooth and perfect all of the time.”
Enea Bastianini – Ducati Lenovo Team
Do you feel the Enea of 2022 is back and do you think you can maintain this performance?
“Yes, it will be good if we can maintain this performance for the rest of the season, and I am very happy because I won the Sprint for the first time and usually, I am not one of the best in that race. I try to improve every time and from the past, this circuit is good and for Ducati, I think it will be the best one but we will have to see other factories as we have seen KTM to be very competitive here many times. I am ready and confident to have a good result so let’s see.”
Marc Marquez – Gresini Racing MotoGP
Do you think you can go one better here in 2024?
“Of course, I lost three victories nearly in a row on the last lap here at the Red Bull Ring, it is a circuit that I like and a circuit that I normally feel well at. Now I am riding the best bike here at the Red Bull Ring, which is the Ducati, but these three guys are riding the same bike. They are actually faster than me, so I need to keep going, keep pushing, keep learning and let’s see if we will be closer.”
Pedro Acosta – Red Bull GASGAS Tech3
Do you think this track will allow you to fight at the front this weekend?
“Our bike was built a few kilometres from here and we don’t really know why it is one of the best tracks for our bike, and for the four riders from the Pierer Mobility Group. I think it will be match point to start to recover confidence and make a good result in the next races.”
10 races completed, 10 to go, are you confident that you can quickly get back to the level of those first races?
“Yeah for sure, the last few races were maybe a combination of factors that was not helping us to be competitive and I think now, counting Austria plus Aragon, Misano and others will help us a lot to be competitive again and also how the factory is working and with Pol riding here and how much we are listening to Dani and Pol in the past couple of months, for sure we will are going to make a big step to the front.”
Brad Binder – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Last year you were the only rider really that gave Bagnaia something to think about in the Sprint and the Grand Prix, is it possible to repeat the same this weekend?
“That’s the goal, we always seem to find something at this Grand Prix every year, honestly I think it suits our bike really well. I think our bike works with the late braking and the stopping and going, it really helps us. For sure the last few events haven’t gone our way at all and we expect to do a lot better. I am really excited to get back on track, it is a track that I have always had good memories at and I have been able to rise to the occasion even it has been a tough season until now, in the past, it has been a turning point for us and I hope it’s the same this time around.”
This season started brightly with a double podium in Qatar, can you put your finger on why KTM hasn’t been able to maintain that performance and how hopefully are you that things will turn around soon?
“Qatar was really good; it was great to get two seconds, however in the race, I could see that there were some places in particular that we were struggling with compared to our competitors and there were other places that I could make up a lot of time in Qatar. In the next few races, we started to see some things that were a little bit tricky and it was clear that we had to make some changes if we wanted to try and find our way further up the grid. The biggest thing for us was that I kept falling off a lot and we needed to find a way to get some confidence with the front and that is one thing we have got right. The team are working incredibly hard, and the guys at the factory are non-stop, so for me, it is a matter of time until we get the podiums and hopefully the wins again.”
Ai Ogura – MT Helmets MSI
Congratulations! It’s the dream of every rider to ride in MotoGP, you are the first rider to come through the Asia Talent Cup… fast forward 10 years from there and you will be with Trackhouse Racing in MotoGP. How special is that feeling?
“It is really special and I am happy that finally, I can make this step, MotoGP is the maximum and you cannot go any higher so I am really happy to make the last step and now I can’t wait to see what I can do there.”
How exciting is the challenge to be working with Aprilia and Trackhouse?
“It looks like the team and the bike are really competitive, so I think I am in the next place for next year and I can’t thank the team enough.”
You are the first rider to come through ATC to MotoGP, what would you say to your old self?
“I would just want to say congratulations to myself, it is just unbelievable and it all started from the Asia Talent Cup and a few guys from the Asia Talent Cup I am still working with them. I just can’t thank everybody enough who was in this project, they are all nice guys and I am really happy to make MotoGP after competing in this Cup.”
MotoGP Championship Standings
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Martin | 241 |
| 2 | Bagnaia | 238 |
| 3 | Bastianini | 192 |
| 4 | Marquez | 179 |
| 5 | Viñales | 130 |
| 6 | Acosta | 122 |
| 7 | Binder | 114 |
| 8 | Di Giannantonio | 104 |
| 9 | Espargaro | 99 |
| 10 | Marquez | 92 |
| 11 | Bezzecchi | 61 |
| 12 | Morbidelli | 61 |
| 13 | Oliveira | 51 |
| 14 | Quartararo | 49 |
| 15 | Fernandez | 46 |
| 16 | Miller | 42 |
| 17 | Fernandez | 15 |
| 18 | Zarco | 14 |
| 19 | Mir | 13 |
| 20 | Nakagami | 10 |
| 21 | Rins | 8 |
| 22 | Pedrosa | 7 |
| 23 | Marini | 2 |
| 24 | Bradl | 0 |
