[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.