Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1517309
temperatures were a common complaint, meaning it was more comfortable to train sev - eral bikelengths back. At first, it appeared Marquez was capable of overhauling Martin in third, getting to within two-tenths of a second of his compatriot on lap 18. Yet, despite battling rear chatter, the Pramac Ducati man was conserving rubber all along for a final push. Soon, he was edging clear of Marquez and back within range of Binder, just three-tenths of second off the South African starting the final lap. In the end, he was never close enough to pass. Marquez was content with fourth and admitted he had no answer for the Ducatis of Bag - naia and Martin. "I had a go at the podium," Marquez said. "I wanted to preserve the front tire in order Acosta's first sign of losing rear grip came when he leaned over through turn 13 as he ran off track, allowing Marquez back through. That spelled the end of his podium hopes. Soon, the names behind were poised to pounce. Ahead, Martin and Binder had been exchanging places repeat - edly, with the South African tak- ing full advantage of the KTM's much improved braking stabil- ity and corner-entry speed. Their repeated scrapping on the 10th lap had given Bagnaia more than a second of advan- tage. Even if Binder gained a few tenths of a second here and there, the Italian's margin was back to a steady second by lap 17, a lead he would extend to 1.3 seconds by the flag. From there, the leading quin - tet edged apart. Rising front-tire The South African finished just five-tenths of a second back of Martin in the Sprint race, before holding the Spaniard at bay on the following evening for another run- ner's up spot, 1.3 seconds back of Bagnaia. And his trademark late- braking antics proved the RC16 has taken huge strides with the front end over the winter months. "I'm so happy with the way my bike was handling on braking and entry," he said on Saturday. "We made huge steps forward com- pared to where we were last here." Yet there was a lingering hint of frustration in the South African's camp on Saturday as there'd been a lack of progress on the bike's traction area. There was a note of optimism immediately after the race. "If we can keep this up, we're going to get it right eventually," he said. But Binder also admitted he feels KTM is still slightly lagging behind Ducati, even if they have closed the gap. "We're super close, but we haven't shown that we can do it yet," he said. "For me, I feel like I'm a little bit pushing at 100 percent all the time [while] they have a couple percent in the pocket when they want to use it. I'm waiting for this last little bit of help." PIRELLI'S BAPTISM OF FIRE How to judge Pirelli's performance as the Italian firm made its debut as the sole tire supplier of the Moto2 and Moto3 classes: The Moto3 race was a stunning 30 sec- onds faster than last November's race, yet the Moto2 outing was 13 seconds slower than last year, with several high-profile names suffer- ing from a serious lack of rear-tire Briefly... ROUND 1 / MARCH 8-10, 2024 LUSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / LUSAIL, QATAR MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P98 David Alonso chalked up his third career win in Moto3.