Solidarity Barcelona MotoGP as it happened

Bagnaia with the fastest lap of the race and he continues to lead from Marquez and Martin.

Aleix Espargaro up to fourth in front of Bastianini.

Still Bagnaia who leads, now from Marqeuz by about a tenth. Martin third now from Bastianini.

Marquez up to second at turn one past Martin, who slots in behind in third place.

Bagnaia leads the opening lap from Martin and Marquez, then it's Bastianini in fourth from Espargaro  and Acosta.

We're underway for the final race of the year in Barcelona, and it's Bagnaia who's made the holeshot ahead of Martin and Marquez.

The riders are off on their warm-up lap in Barcelona, and final confirmation that Bagnaia is on that soft rear, as are Marc Marquez, Bastianini, Bezzecchi, and Alex Marquez.

The grid is being cleared now as we're around three minutes out from the start of the warm-up lap.

On the front tyres, everyone apart from Johann Zarco - on the medium-compound - is on the asymmetric hard-compound option.

Some slightly updated tyre information. Bagnaia still on the soft rear, but Aleix Espargaro has switched to the medium.

We're closing in on the start of the race now. The national anthem of Spain is being played on the grid, as we enter the final 10 minutes of the pre-race build-up.

Aside from the championship, there are a number of journeys and chapters coming to an end today in Barcelona:

• Jorge Martin will depart Pramac and Ducati for Aprilia at the end of this race;
• Pramac will leave Ducati for Yamaha;
• Aleix Espargaro will end his full-time MotoGP career;
• Maverick Vinales will leave Aprilia for Tech3 KTM;
• Miguel Oliveira departs Trackhouse Aprilia for Pramac Yamaha;
• Jack Miller leaves Red Bull KTM for Pramac Yamaha;
• Takaaki Nakagami will retire from full-time MotoGP action;
• Enea Bastianini will end his time at Ducati to join Tech3 KTM;
• Pedro Acosta will leave Tech3 to join the Red Bull KTM team;
• Augusto Fernandez will leave Tech3 and end his current stint as a MotoGP rider;
• Marc Marquez will leave Gresini Racing for the factory Ducati;
• Franco Morbidelli leaves Pramac for VR46;
• and Marco Bezzecchi will depart the VR46 Ducati team to join Martin at Aprilia.

Tyre consumption, as ever in Barcelona, will be the key to this race. The low grip means managing rear spin will be vital, and making the right tyre choice to last the distance, but also maintain temperature, with only 19C of track temperature, will be important.

Currently, the timing screen is showing all three front row riders - including Bagnaia - on the soft-compound rear tyre, which was largely discarded as a race option after yesterday's race. Martin is on the medium-compound rear, as are the majority. There are also a few on the hard-compound rear, the furthest forward of them being Maverick Vinales in seventh on the grid.

As far as the race itself is concerned, Bagnaia is surely the favourite. His pace has been strong all weekend, and he won the Catalan Grand Prix at this venue just under six months ago.

Aleix Espargaro and Marc Marquez line up alongside Bagnaia on the front row, while Martin has Franco Morbidelli and Pedro Acosta to his right on row two.

The race is almost of secondary importance here, as Jorge Martin stands on the brink of winning his first premier class world title.

The simple maths is that Martin will be World Champion if Francesco Bagnaia doesn't out-score him by 19 or more points.

If you want the full permutations for how Martin or Bagnaia can be champion here today in Barcelona, you can check out our handy guide.

Welcome to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the final round of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship: the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona.

The race is set to get underway in just under half-an-hour at 14:00 local time, with Francesco Bagnaia starting from pole position.