ROUND 19 / NOVEMBER 17-19, 2023
LUSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / DOHA, QATAR
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P48
MOTOGP
SPRINT RACE
Luca Marini sent the place buzzing
in Q2 with a record-breaking lap
of 1:51.762, heading the front row
from Diggia and his teammate, Alex
Marquez.
Marini got the start into turn one,
leading Marquez as Bagnaia and
Martin barged into each other over
third place, thankfully with no dam
-
age to either rider or bike.
Martin took over third, and Diggia
had gone backward to seventh,
as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda)
and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac
Ducati) all forged ahead.
Further back, Aleix Espargaro's
miserable weekend (see Briefly sto
-
ries) continued as he came together
with Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo
Team), Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA
RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia) and his
good friend from qualifying Franky
Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yama
-
ha). The accident was, of course,
worst of all for Oliveira, who suf-
fered yet another take-out and this
time broke his right shoulder blade
in a similar fashion to the injury that
befell Bastianini in the first race
of the season in Portugal. He will
be off the bike until the February
Sepang test next year.
Espargaro also suffered a big hit
to his ankle and did manage to start
the Sunday Grand Prix, although his
participation in the season-ending
Valencian MotoGP is in question.
By lap two Martin had worked
past Bagnaia, pushing the World
Champion aside at turn 10, and a
corner later, Alex Marquez dived up
the inside of Marini only to run wide
and have the Italian snatch the lead
back. Diggia then nipped past Bag
-
naia for fourth, signaling a terrible
lap two for Bagnaia.
73 ALEX MARQUEZ
4TH/6TH MOTOGP
"We fixed yesterday's issues, but
I struggled in the battle with [Brad]
Binder and that cost me a lot of time,"
Alex Marquez said on Sunday. "We
did a good race, but today Fabio was
really great, so aside from the com-
pliments to him, we will also study
something from his side in order to
keep growing."
MYOWNRACE
Jorge Martin started
off on the right foot by
winning the Sprint Race,
but it all went wrong in
the Sunday GP.
"Mapping 8" and
Diggia goes into full
attack mode. Half a
lap later, he passed
the number one.
