The driver of the Pramac team, Jorge Martin, is the new world champion, after winning third place in the final race of the season in Barcelona.
Francesco Banjaya had to settle for second place in the general standings, despite the fact that yesterday he achieved his 11th victory in 2024.
Martin arrived at Sunday’s final in Spain with a 19-point lead in the championship over one rival, Banjaya, and needed only a top-nine finish to secure the trophy.
Although Banjaja led from pole position and controlled the race at the front, Martin managed to return to third position and still take the title by 10 points.
He became the first rider to become champion on a satellite bike in the MotoGP era. Banja’s mentor, Valentino Rossi, was the last driver to do it, in the last season of the 500cc class, in 2001.
When the race started in Barcelona, Banjaja made a perfect start and took the lead, while Martin jumped from fourth to second behind his title rival.
Marc Marquez took the third position and immediately started to put pressure on Martin, who started to fall behind the leader Banjaj.
At the start of the second lap, Marques overtook Martin, with the latter seemingly content to drop to third – knowing that would be more than enough to clinch the title.
Marquez, who was engaged in his own fight with Eneja Bastianini for third place in the general classification, then started to chase Banjaja, who by then had built up a certain lead.
But the Spaniard made no attempt to take the lead in the first half of the race, even when the factory Ducati rider made a small mistake at Turn 5 on lap 10.
Peko continued to control the pace until lap 15, when he drove a stunning lap to open a half-second advantage over Marquez.
The six-time champion again managed to close the gap as the race drew to a close, but Banjaya did enough to hold on for victory.
Martin made no effort to chase down the leading duo, riding over two seconds behind them to take third and win the world championship.
Ales Espargaro looked set to take fourth until Alex Marquez on another Gresini bike took fourth from him on the penultimate lap. It meant that Espargaro ended an incredible career in which he turned Aprilia into a winning force with a fifth-place finish on home soil.
Factory Ducati team rider Bastianini also battled with Espargaro and the younger Marquez, but a mistake at Turn 2 on lap 8 affected his final placing. In the end, he won seventh place.
This meant that Marc Marquez won the duel with Bastianini for third place in the championship, and from next year he will take his place in the factory team.
KTM’s charge in Barcelona was led by factory rider Brad Binder, who took sixth, passing Bastianini on the final lap.
Acosta eventually finished in 10th place, behind Frank Morbideli and VR46 driver Marko Beceki.
Fabio Quartararo finished a solid 11th for Yamaha, leading future teammates Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse) and Jack Miller (KTM).
Although Honda showed strong pace in practice ahead of the weekend, only one of its riders finished in the points, as Joan Zarco finished 14th on the LCR bike ahead of Maverick Viñales.
Honda factory rider Đoan Mir is the only rider who did not finish the race.
Source: www.moto-berza.com
