Leadership in the world championship, I’m coming after you! There it is, Jorge Martín wins Sprint race at the Qatar GP and significantly “cuts” the leadership in the championship. Fabio Di Giannantonio had no arguments to take over the lead and “help” Pecco Bagnaia who ended up in a “disastrous” fifth place.
Everything ready for the start of the Sprint in Losail, with a different first grid than usual: Luca Marini was the owner of the pole position, Fabio Di Giannantonio was the second fastest and Álex Márquez the third, with the championship leaders – Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín – in fourth and fifth respectively, with Johann Zarco closing the second row.
The start went well for Marini but Martín quickly began to gain positions, as did Bagnaia, with both of them side by side. Martín would eventually make a mistake and lose positions, before the first crash (joint) of the race involving three riders: Enea Bastianini, Aleix Espargaró and the unlucky, once again, Miguel Oliveira.
The start:
Martín didn’t waste time and forced the overtake on Bagnaia, with A. Márquez also briefly taking the lead, with Marini responding and regaining the lead. Seconds later it was DiGia’s turn to overtake Bagnaia.
After three laps, Marini led by 0.101s over A. Márquez, with Martín in third 0.296s behind the leader. Bagnaia was fifth 0.895s behind. Among the riders who crashed, only Bastianini continued on track. Martín reached second place and was temporarily gaining four points on the current world champion, who remained in fifth. Di Giannantonio was performing well and reached the podium positions after overtaking his teammate, who, it should be noted, does not yet have a confirmed spot on the grid for 2024. At the halfway point of the race, this was the top ten, moments before Martín took the lead of the race!
In attack mode was DiGia, with #49 moving up to second position shortly after. However, the Gresini rider was 0.494s (!) behind Martín. Bagnaia remained in fifth over 2s behind the leader.
DiGia was one of the fastest and was starting to gain time on Martín, who was now leading but by 0.219s. The lead increased again but remained in the three-tenths of a second range and any mistake, no matter how small, could be crucial.
Entering the final lap, Martín and DiGia were separated by 0.171s.
The race ended shortly after with Martín confirming the victory!
