Amadeu García Barcelona
Barcelona
Updated Thursday, March 7, 2024-22:42
Let's do a mental exercise.
For a moment, let's think about a driver who has been able to achieve his greatest sporting milestones with a team characterized by the color red, firmly based in Italy and whose differential asset in driving is an overwhelming ability to maintain practically foolproof consistency. mistakes.
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MotoGP.
Bagnaia reissues his MotoGP title after the fall of Jorge Martín
Editor: AMADEU GARCÍA
Bagnaia reissues his MotoGP title after the fall of Jorge Martín
If we talk about Formula 1, who automatically comes to mind is a myth like
Michael Schumacher
.
If we focus on MotoGP, at least in the last two years of this demanding discipline, the figure who takes this virtual podium is
Pecco Bagnaia
.
Last year, only
Jorge Martín
seemed capable of keeping up with him.
In fact, the Pramac driver, with a driving style diametrically opposed to that of the Italian, was able to keep up with him until the last Grand Prix.
Marc Márquez, with his new team, Gresini Racing.Gresini Racing
After winning the
Sprint Race
on Saturday, everything seemed to be smiling on him.
On Sunday, however, his impulsiveness, his worst enemy, played tricks on him again.
A spectacular crash with
Marc Márquez
ended up taking him out of the race on the fifth lap and his great rival, after temporizing for a few minutes, finally took the victory in the Valencia Community to add his seventh victory of the course.
Bagnaia
won a total of seven Grand Prix races with the official Ducati team last year, to which four
Sprint Races were also added.
In this case, with
Portimao, Austin, Mugello
and
Spielberg
as backdrops.
However, we must not forget that the Italian gave one of the great scares of the season.
He was in Montmeló, after being thrown from the motorcycle when the front wheel was twisted and another of the machines, in this case
Brad Binder
's , passed over his legs.
The doctors finally announced that there were no fractures and a week later he already set the fastest lap in San Marino, in a race in which all the laurels, however, went to
Jorge Martín
.
In the first tests of 2024, the current champion has shown himself to be the great dominator.
Both
Sepang
and
Lusail
did really well.
Everything suggests that, if his falls are respected, he will once again be the great rival to beat.
In his case, there is the perfect combination of man and machine.
His bike was already one of the best in the paddock and this year he has taken it even one step further.
Bagnaia
himself
has not hesitated to point out that he considers it much better than the one he had in his hands last year.
From his point of view, it is the perfect combination of the strengths of the one he drove in 2022 with those of the one that allowed him to reissue the champion title last season.
Main competitors
With these premises, the new
Ducati
seems, at least on paper, an almost invincible machine.
But that does not prevent you from always having, of course, and even though you will have last year's bike in your hands, one eye glued to both what the audacious
Jorge Martín
can do and another rider who cares very much. little risking everything for everything on the circuits:
Marc Márquez
.
The official tests of the six-time world champion in the highest category of motorcycling have been really promising, even though he has had to adapt to the peculiarities of his new mount, that of the Gresini Racing team.
To that, he already shares a box with his brother
Álex
, who aspires to establish himself at least among the five fastest in the championship.
Japanese power?
Another focus of interest, without a doubt, will also be Japanese motorcycles.
It has been a long time since those who were the great dominators of the circuits have not exactly had a good time.
The great proof of this, precisely, was Marc
's own farewell
to a brand,
Honda
, that had brought him so much joy in the past and that led him down the path of bitterness in recent times.
The winged brand, precisely, presented just a few weeks ago in Madrid the official bet with which it will try to recover its best sensations on the circuits, trying to turn the page as much as possible of its very recent history with
Marc Márquez
.
Yamaha
, meanwhile, perhaps has fewer emergencies than its most direct competitor.
But, without a doubt, he will also try to ensure that his performance allows him to be as close as possible to the Italian motorcycles,
Ducati
and
Aprilia
, which have been seriously setting the standard on the MotoGP circuits for a few years now.