showed his late-braking prow-
ess at the final turn, passing Di
Giannantonio there on lap two
and Bastianini on lap three.
By the fifth lap he had another
scalp, making a move stick on
Alex Marquez at turn 10, the
second time of asking. And by
lap 12, he had bustled past older
brother Marc on the run to turn
one. With third-placed Martin
just one-tenth of a second clear
and well within reach, a po
-
tential giant-killing was on the
cards.
However, this cavalier ap
-
proach, while the leaders were
carefully conserving rear rubber,
was always going to have con
-
sequences for the closing laps.
there, the Italian's rhythm was
relentless. He never truly broke
clear, but with his lead never go-
ing under nine-tenths of a sec-
ond, the contest was a formality
from the midway point.
With Bagnaia quietly peerless,
it was left to Acosta to bring the
noise. There was a semblance
of a contest in the first 10 laps,
as Marquez, Bastianini, Alex
Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Fabio
Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati),
Espargaro and the class rookie
gathered behind the battling
Binder and Martin, once Jack
Miller (Red Bull KTM) crashed
out at the start of lap two.
It was then that Acosta began
his moves forward. Twice, he
VOLUME ISSUE MARCH , P97
MOTOGP FASTER
THAN EVER
Even by recent standards, Mo-
toGP times in Qatar were fast.
Saturday's Sprint was a stunning
11 seconds quicker than last
year's event. Meanwhile, Pecco
Bagnaia's speed on Sunday was
faster than the '23 race by around
eight-tenths of a second per lap.
One reason for the step forward
was the condition of the Lusail In-
ternational Circuit. MotoGP tested
here for two days a fortnight ago,
while the WEC car series raced
in Qatar just seven days before.
The track was well rubbered in.
And Luca Marini felt there was
another reason at play. "Nobody
talks about this, but the tires are
better," he said. "You can feel that
if you are pushing at 100 percent.
The track's also improved a lot
because, with all the rubber on the
ground, many riders have done a
lot of laps." Finally, each factory
finding aerodynamic improve-
ments and continually developing
its MotoGP machines are other
reasons for quicker lap times. "I
think in two years or three years,
the level of the bikes has im-
proved a lot," said Marini. KTM's
Sprint time was 16 seconds faster
than last year's, Aprilia's 14 sec-
onds quicker, and Ducati's 11 sec-
onds. It's hard to see Yamaha and
Honda catching up at this rate."
KTM REAPING
BENEFITS OF
WINTER WORK
"Sick to death of spinning laps" in
testing, Brad Binder could finally
demonstrate that KTM is closer
to Ducati than ever in racing trim
after notching up a pair of second
places in MotoGP's 2024 opener.
Briefly...
