2024 San Marino MotoGP: Marc Marquez wins dramatic race after Jorge Martin blunder
Dramatic race sees Marquez dominate from Bagnaia as Martin blundered
Marc Marquez dominated a dramatic MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix from Francesco Bagnaia, as a strategic blunder from Jorge Martin saw him finish a lap down in 15th.
Spots of rain fell on the Misano circuit as the riders took to the grid for the 27-lap grand prix, and at one stage early on got heavy enough to turn the race on its head.
Martin pitted at the end of lap seven for his wet bike, but was the only one of the leaders to do so and would prove to be a major blunder as conditions quickly improved.
With the rain staying away, Martin was forced to box for a second time on lap nine and would rejoin a lapped 15th.
The tricky conditions allowed Marc Marquez to rise from ninth on the grid to take the lead on lap eighth, before the Gresini rider streaked 3.1s clear of Bagnaia to the chequered flag.
It marks Marquez’s first back-to-back victory in MotoGP since 2021 and puts him 53 points down in the championship, while Bagnaia is now only seven adrift of Martin.
Ducati’s Bagnaia made amends for the poor start that lost him Saturday’s sprint by leading into Turn 1 on the opening lap ahead of Pramac duo Franco Morbidelli and Martin.
Martin quickly dispensed of his team-mate at Turn 4 and set about chasing down Bagnaia.
But after two laps, Bagnaia was half a second clear and Martin was falling into the clutches of Morbidelli - who resisted early pressure from Tech3’s Pedro Acosta.
On lap seven, however, conditions started to deteriorate and the pack closed up, with Martin right on the tail of Bagnaia as Marquez capitalised on the situation to get into podium contention.
Bagnaia continued to lead, while Martin elected to pit at the end of that tour for his wet bike along with Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales, Acosta - who crashed on lap four having sustained aero damage to his bike in a touch with Morbidelli - and Alex Rins.
The rest stayed out and this proved to be the correct decision, as the rain quickly stopped.
Bagnaia led KTM’s Brad Binder and Marquez at the start of lap eighth, but Marquez would pass both at Turns 14 and 15 at the end of the tour to hit the front.
Marquez would never cede the lead, resisting pressure from Bagnaia before eventually breaking the reigning world champion in the latter stages.
The Gresini rider would streak 3.1s clear to win over Bagnaia, while Enea Bastianini completed the podium on the sister factory Ducati.
Bastianini at one stage looked like he could threaten the leaders, but he would end up 2.326s behind Bagnaia.
Binder took fourth in the later laps, with Marco Bezzecchi fifth on his VR46 Ducati ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini), Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46) and KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro.
The final points went to Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse), Johann Zarco (LCR), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR), Stefan Bradl (Honda) and Martin.
Martin pitted for a second time to go back to his dry bike and fended off Vinales for the final point.
Morbidelli crashed out at the start of lap seven when the rain fell, while Aleix Espargaro retired after his second pitstop and Augusto Fernandez (Tech3) crashed out.
Honda’s Luca Marini did not start due to illness.
