[Porschefire]

GP16: 4 October - 6 October

Motul Grand Prix of Japan

Mobility Resort Motegi

Located amongst the vast natural beauty of the northern Kanto district, the twin ring circuit at Motegi in Japan consists of a 1.5 mile oval and a 2.9 mile road course constructed to international standards. Built by Honda as the ultimate test facility in August 1997, the road circuit became home to MotoGP in 1999 whilst the oval is designed to introduce American motorsports culture to the country.







Previous Winners -


Sprint 2023


Race 2023


2022

[parzival]

The qualifying and the sprint had me excited about the race. But the race wasn’t as entertaining as expected. Moto2 was dramatic with Ai Ogura option for the slick in a wet race. Also seems like a lot of fun is being taken out of the sport by the stewards and their operating procedures, for example the late reporting of cancellation of the fastest lap by Marc and Acostas tyre pressure infringement in Indonesia.

As for the championship, I doubt if Jorge has still got a grip on it even with the lead. I really wish jorge gets the championship and Aprilia has the best rider next season and not Ducati.

[ads11]

I don't think Jorge is out of it yet, he did well to claw back many positions in both the sprint and the main race. Still, mistakes are there in the sense he was in such a position to require damage limitation.

I think it's a similar case for Pecco, he had a solid weekend but he hasn't been without mistakes of his own lately.

I think it's finely poised. Especially with the fact Enea is having a late season charge up the grid and Marc being well positioned to play spoiler to the leading duo should either drop the ball, there's room for intrigue yet in the coming races.

[Porschefire]

Japanese GP - Sprint





- Pecco Bagnaia wins the Sprint, taking advantage of a costly mistake by the rookie Pedro Acosta that put a DNF against his name. Pecco started well, taking the early lead, followed by his teammate Enea. But Pedro quickly arrived and overtook both of them before crashing out of the sprint. Pecco led the sprint comfortably, until the last couple of laps where he eased out a bit too much and was at high risk losing the victory had there been a few more corners left.

- Enea Bastianini resisted a fast charging Marc Marquez to hold onto the second step of the podium. Marc overtook him but the Italian held firm, taking the position back and almost came at striking distance to claim victory in the attempt to fend off his Gresini rival.

- Marc Marquez made a brilliant Q2, setting an all time lap record in the 1:42's which was unfortunately cancelled as he exceeded track limits. This saw him start from 9th and as it has been the case many a times this season, Marc made a brilliant start to gain positions and reach fifth. Pedro's crash and Brad Binder's retirement got him into an unlikely podium.

- WC leader, Jorge Martin had a costly crash in Q2 that saw him start from 11th. Like Marc, he made a good start to salvage his qualifying and settled for a comfortable fourth.

- Shout out to Ducati for claiming 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 with Bez's GP23 finishing 10th.

- Home star Takaaki Nakagami was taken down by mid-race contact from his own LCR Honda team-mate Johann Zarco, for which the Frenchman, in 17th, received a long lap.

Japanese GP - Race





- Pecco Bagnaia reduces Jorge Martin’s title lead to ten points by completing a perfect double at Motegi. He took the lead from Pedro Acosta through Turn 1 and was never headed, riding a perfect (although boring) race, start to finish.

- Jorge Martin finished second, having made an even better start than on the Sprint and arrived behind Pecco during the middle stages of the race. He was just over half a second behind Pecco and was threatening to challenge for the lead. But Pecco being the master of strategy ensured that the gap never really fell below half a second.

- Marc Marquez kept Enea Bastianini at bay to complete the podium in third, a repeat of his Sprint finish. Happy with the result, Marquez nonetheless called it a "super boring race" due to the lack of overtaking.

- Pedro Acosta, having lost the lead to Pecco yet again, kept himself behind in second and took the early fight to Bagnaia. But disaster struck - again - when he slid out of second place on lap 3. He rejoined the race, a lap behind and ran a few laps before retiring his KTM. It surely must be disheartening for the rookie as he had race winning pace all weekend.

- Fabio Quartararo again ran out of fuel just before the chequered flag, costing him 11th - and top rider on a home Japanese bike - to LCR Honda's Johann Zarco.

The World Championship standings after round sixteen -

[rajeevsulu]

Nothing else stood out for me more than Pedro Acosta"s twin crashes. He did all the hard work on Friday and Saturday morning, did 75% of the job on Saturday (sprint) and chucked it very early on Sunday.

He surely has a long way to go to become consistent.

Cheers

[ads11]

Acosta has some excellent pace. But he's very raw. Felt like both his crashes were avoidable errors. I suppose it's only natural but it is an enticing prospect picturing him next year in the factory KTM (is there much of a pace difference between the factory KTM and GasGas branded bikes?).

Think it'll overall be nicer for the sport if some leading contenders riding the non Ducati bikes could get in the mix at the front on a regular basis.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by rajeevsulu

Nothing else stood out for me more than Pedro Acosta"s twin crashes. He surely has a long way to go to become consistent

Originally Posted by ads11

Acosta has some excellent pace. But he's very raw

Although a Moto 3 and 2 champion Acosta is still in his rookie season in Moto GP. For him to be 6th in the championship only 2 points behind Brad Binder is nothing short of phenomenal considering 1 to 4 are all Ducati’s.

He has to mature a little in Moto GP which will come in due course. I feel he will come into his own after he gets his first win out of the way. Right now he seems to be trying too hard because everyone is expecting him to win soonest.

Cheers

[parzival]

Originally Posted by ads11

Think it'll overall be nicer for the sport if some leading contenders riding the non Ducati bikes could get in the mix at the front on a regular basis.

It has become little monotonous with all Ducati podium lockouts. Next year definitely is going to be exciting with Martin, bastianini, Bez moving out of Ducati and hopefully Martin goes to Aprilia with a championship. I also believe the Japanese are gonna be little stronger with all the technical and management changes happening in the background.

Can’t wait to see Marc in gp25 and Martin in Aprilia.

[Porschefire]

News Feed

MotoGP to unveil new logo in Valencia

MotoGP has confirmed a new logo for the championship will be revealed at the conclusion of the 2024 season in Valencia.

The motorcycle grand prix world championship has been steadily undergoing a revamp of its identity in recent years, with a new theme tune (amazing, IMO) scored by Marco Beltrami introduced for the 2023 season.

Talks of a new logo were first revealed back in April and came in the wake of Liberty Media’s acquisition of a 86% share of MotoGP, set to be completed at the end of the year. MotoGP’s current logo has been in use since 2000 and was tweaked in 2007, but has largely looked the same for the entirety of the modern era. Improving MotoGP’s brand identity has been a key task handled by chief commercial officer Dan Rossomondo since he took over the role in 2023.

I quite like the current logo even if it's old, I hope they don't lose the essence of it in the redesign to make it more mass market, if you know what I mean. But I do like and appreciate their absolute goal of answering the commonly asked question: "what is MotoGP?".


Source: https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2024/...-motogp/510290

[Porschefire]

GP17: 18 October - 20 October

Qatar Airways Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix

Phillip Island

Phillip Island, the self-styled home of Australian motorsport, is steeped in motor racing tradition, with the first car races having been held there on public roads in the 1920s. The first motorcycle races took place in 1931 and a permanent track was built in 1956. The circuit fell into disrepair during the late 70s and early 80s until it was bought in 1985 and given a AUS $5m facelift. MotoGP returned in 1989 and 1990 before becoming a regular fixture once more from 1997 onwards.
The Phillip Island circuit is blessed with breathtaking scenery and beautiful ocean views and, as one of the fastest, most fluid, tracks on the calendar, it continues to provide some of the most spectacular racing in the MotoGP season.







Previous Winners -


Race 2023*


2022

* Due to inclement weather forecast on 22 October, 2023, the schedule for the MotoGP Sprint and the main Race was swapped, with the Race being held on 21 October, while the sprint was scheduled to be held on 22 October. For the first time since the 2015 Dutch TT, the MotoGP race was held on a Saturday and the Sprint on Sunday was ultimately cancelled.

[parzival]

Seems like no live streaming of the FP session in JioCinema, though nobody is out at the track due to rain. Woke up at 5 for nothing. Any other way to watch the practice session live?

[Porschefire]

Australian GP - Sprint


Podium trio with F1 legend Mark Webber, who waved the chequered flag at the end of the Sprint.



- Jorge Martin wins the Tissot Sprint starting from pole! Fast throughout the Practice and Qualifying, Martin made a great start taking charge of the lead and staying there right through the end.

- Marc Marquez takes the second step on the podium after having started second on the grid. He made a hash of his good qualifying when he miscalculated his braking at Turn-1 and narrowly avoided rear ending Martin. This dropped him several positions back to eight but as often as he's done in this season, he made all those positions he lost to arrive at second, in a matter of a few laps and finished the race 1.5secs behind Martin. He clearly had the pace to challenge for the victory today.

- Enea Bastianini takes third after a lackluster Practice session that saw him in Q1 and ultimately started from tenth. His Sprint pace today was a lot better as he fended off the likes of Bezzecchi and Bagnaia, who had good pace themselves. He sits level on WC points with Marc Marquez.

- Pecco Bagnaia finishes fourth, but far away from the podium trio, almost 7secs behind Martin. Unsure yet what issues he had with his GP24 but he did seem to lack a whole bunch of pace compared to his teammate and other GP23's around him. He was at risk of losing the fourth place save for a crash that happened behind him.

- Marco Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales were running in fifth and sixth respectively with the latter seemingly faster than the former. On the main straight, Vinales overtook Bez and as he braked to turn into the corner, Bez was sucked into Vinales's slipstream and he rear ended the Aprilia, sending both riders rolling into the run off area. This has to be one of the nastiest crashes of 2024 and the latest news confirmed both riders to be conscious and OK.

- Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli make it an all Ducati top 6 and owing the nasty crash, Raul Fernandez, Aleix Esparagaro (qualified 20th!), Augusto Fernandez and Luca Marini find themselves in the top 10.

- A rare occurrence where the saving grace for the Pierer Mobility group was Augusto Fernandez as Brad Binder, Pedro Acosta and home hero, Jack Miller crashed out of the Sprint.

[rajeevsulu]

Originally Posted by parzival

Seems like no live streaming of the FP session in JioCinema, though nobody is out at the track due to rain. Woke up at 5 for nothing. Any other way to watch the practice session live?

It is streamed live on Eurosport which is available on most direct to home services. It is on Airtel dth which I use. No ads except for Yamaha ad.

Cheers

[parzival]

Originally Posted by rajeevsulu

It is streamed live on Eurosport which is available on most direct to home services. It is on Airtel dth which I use. No ads except for Yamaha ad.

Cheers

It was all fine today. Jiocinema streamed all the sessions. I had raised a ticket yesterday and by evening they confirmed the live streaming of all sessions of Saturday. Though still not sure what happened on Friday.

And a dramatic Saturday!Bez-Vinales crash was really scary. On the other end, the championship fight is getting pretty interesting. Tomorrow it’s probably gonna be a Martin - Marc fight.

[Porschefire]

Australian GP - Race





- Marc Marquez takes his third victory of the season in a spectacular fashion as he yet again suffered a horrible start, a making of his own as he threw his helmet visor tear-off right into his bike and nudged it further in front of his rear wheel at the race start. What happened at the lights next was a massive amount of wheel spin and sliding away right, left and center. This pushed him back all the way to 13th, but he made up more than half of those positions in the a matter of few corners, arriving at 6th. From then on, he was on a super hot pace throughout the race, reeling in riders one by one and taking the race lead with 2 laps to go. While his previous victories were under tricky conditions, this one comes in perfect conditions and with a proper old school style racing.

- Jorge Martin takes the second step on the podium having led the majority of the race until he was overtaken by Marc. The 89 vs 93 showdown was amazing to watch as Marc overtook Martin with 4 laps to go when the latter went wide. Martin fought back on the home straight, but the Gresini star responded with a race-winning lunge, again at Turn 4, pushing them both out to the kerb. Post race, Martin wasn't very happy with that lunge, terming it 'aggressive' but conceding the fact that Marc had something more and more importantly, nothing to lose in terms of the championship. Accepting this fact, Martin rolled out of the fight in the final 2 laps and took valuable points from his title rival, Bagnaia.

- Pecco Bagnaia takes the last step of the podium and he terms this 3rd as the maximum he could do. While the Friday Practice was acceptable for him, he never really felt comfortable on his GP24 throughout the weekend although, he did mention that his Sunday was much better than his Saturday. Finishing 10secs behind the winner is a testament to the fact that both Marc and Martin a level or two above the world champion.

- Nursing his dislocated shoulder and riding with lower fitness levels, Fabio Di Giannantonio wins a five-rider scrap for fourth place, ahead of Enea Bastianini, Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder and Maverick Vinales, completing an all Ducati top 6!

- Fourth on the grid, Marco Bezzecchi and eighth place starter Alex Marquez served a long lap penalty during the race, Bezzecchi for colliding with Maverick Vinales in the Saturday Sprint and Marquez for hitting Joan Mir at Motegi. However, Bezzecchi crashed out shortly after serving his penalty and Alex Marquez finished 15th.

- Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco were the top Yamaha and Honda yet again, finishing in 9th and 12th respectively, split by Raul Fernandez and home-hero, Jack Miller.
Pretty sure there were fantastic battles happening at the back of the grid. Unfortunately, us viewers hardly get to see anything happening the back of the grid and this is something Dorna needs to take note of.

The World Championship standings after round seventeen -



A few lines on MM93, if I may -

Loathe him as much as you will, you can never ignore him! This has been an MM93 constant since his MotoGP debut way back in 2013. 11 years on, and it hasn't really changed one bit and today's victory was a confirmation of that fact. I mean, in today's MotoGP age of aerodynamics, electronics, massive lean angles, sheer top speeds/corner speeds and a bunch of massively talented and fast riders, winning a race from 13th is something really, really special, IMO.
Yes, Philip Island is a free flowing track, with less/no stop-go corners and is considerably forgiving on the tires. Overtaking then, is a lot easier compared to say, Austria. Even then, it takes a massive amount of talent and self-belief to have that confidence within and with the machine to run what was essentially, qualifying pace for most of the race and snatch the win when the race start scripted that against you. In the post race interview, Marc said that he was nursing his tires for a final push on the dying laps and this was after he did a race pace of 1:27:700, beating his own Qualifying time! This Spaniard is truly special.

Today's race is one of the many that I will remember for a long, long time. This is where, MM93 starts taking steps to a legendary status for me. Back in 2013, like everyone else, I was unpleasantly surprised by a rookie winning the championship and could only clap in amazement. What followed over the next few years were absolute resentment at the fact that this kid was winning, often in a ruthless, unconventional manner and making it difficult for a certain Italian legend whom I wholeheartedly supported, to win his elusive 10th. I started loathing him for this very fact. 2015 is the year every MotoGP fan will remember and this is where MM93 entered into the 'villain' territory in my head. I was fully convinced with the narrative that was drawn that time about rider sabotage and unfair favoritism. Every race I watched from then was with a wish that the leading RC213V have a DNF every single race! It didn't happen and a few more years went by with MM93 winning everything and my loathing started to cool down naturally.

Jerez 2020 and beyond, things changed. I've had nothing but absolute respect and awe for the sportsman that MM93 is. More than his natural talent and abilities on a motorcycle, I am truly in awe of his mental strength. It certainly isn't easy for an individual to take criticism for most part his career and to live with it till this day, and endure a career limiting injury that he could possibly never return from. His recovery and progression from that accident has been nothing short of difficult and this kid, all of 31 years has taken it all on his chin, never really complaining about what the universe conspired for him. His last few victories on the RC213V were brilliant to watch and his raw emotions on the Parc Ferme were heart wrenching. An upward rise with the Japanese manufacturer again would have been poetic, but boy am I glad that he took the hard decision to go out of his comfort zone and try one last time to see if he had it in him to be competitive again.

2024 has been great for MM93 with Gresini Racing and as a fan of the sport, I don't think anyone would counter me if I say that MM93 is the only rider this season who has given the maximum amount of thrill for my money with his numerous podium surges from the third and fourth rows. Although mathematically still possible, he is definitely out of championship contention IMO. He will have the best bike of the grid at his arsenal next year and will be his best chance to win that elusive 9th. Whether that happens or not, MM93 is already on the road to becoming my GOAT.

https://www.reddit.com/r/motogp/comm...stoner_corner/
A video of Marc sliding through Stoner Corner on his GP23