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MOTOGP
AP PHOTO/JOAN MONFORT
Spaniard Jorge Martin became the first world champion of the MotoGP era to win the championship with a “satellite” team, Pramac Ducati, by finishing third in today’s Solidarity GP of Barcelona. The winner of the race was his rival for the title, Peko Banaia of factory Ducati, second was Marc Marcheth.
Jorge Martin clinched his maiden MotoGP title with a relatively comfortable 3rd place in the Solidarity GP in Barcelona, Spain, which was comfortably won from the starting lights to the checkered flag by factory Ducati’s Peco Banaia ahead of Marki Gresini Ducati Market.
Martin only needed to finish 9th in today’s final 2024 MotoGP race of the year to secure the title, but he still made it onto the podium to celebrate his first championship there – alongside former champions Marc Marquez and Peco Banaia.
Banaia, champion for the last two years, took his 11th win of the year today, but still Martin’s consistency in the season gave him the title despite only winning 3 GPs this year.
The last rider to win the premier class of the World Motorcycle Championship with a “satellite” – non-factory – team was Valentino Rossi in 2001 – but that was in the 500cc era, before the move to MotoGP.
In the 24-lap Montmelo race, Banaia maintained his pole position lead at the start, while Martin moved up from 4th to 2nd. However, at the start of the second lap he was caught by Marc Marquet – who also made a great start – and passed him, to move up to 2nd place.
Marquez tried to threaten Banaia but didn’t make his move in the first half of the race – although the Italian did make a small mistake. The leaders then turned more to tire management, but first Banaia opened the gap with an excellent 15th lap.
Towards the end, six-time champion Marqueth managed to close in on the leader again, but Banaia made no mistake to reach the checkered flag. Martin didn’t even bother to pursue them, remaining committed to his sole objective: staying on the road.
So the Spaniard followed over two seconds behind, strolling towards his first world championship in the top division. In the end, Alex Marquez on the other Gresini Ducati managed to emerge victorious in the long-running battle with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – who bid farewell to the races with this performance.
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