Why the Spanish GP should be hailed as MotoGP’s best race of 2024

The 2024 MotoGP season featured many memorable moments, but one race in particular stands out.

Across a 20-round calendar, 40 races were run, with Ducati dominating the majority on its way to the world title.

The Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez was no different, with Francesco Bagnaia coming out on top to add to his haul of 11 Sunday wins in 2024.

But he was pushed hard all the way by Gresini’s Marc Marquez, who - on a 2023-spec Ducati - was still in his adaptation phase of the bike after his big move from the factory Honda squad at the end of the previous season.

Marquez and Bagnaia came into the Spanish GP having clashed in the Portuguese GP just a few weeks prior, adding to the tension of those final laps.

For Crash.net's social media manager Jordan Moreland, the stars aligned to make the Spanish GP 2024’s most memorable race.

“People are going to be shouting here ‘it’s obviously got to be Sepang’,” he said in the latest Crash MotoGP Podcast.

“Well, that was the first four laps. You’d rather have that at the end. I think the best races we’ve seen all-time have seen things happen all towards the end.

“I think the race that delivered that this year, and I think kind of gave us an insight into what might happen next year, is Jerez.

“I think Marc Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia going up against each other, I thought it was just the one point of the season where I was sat watching it and I got really excited. I could feel the tension when you’re watching it.

“Marquez is hunting him down, he makes the overtake, Bagnaia gets back under him, they make contact, Marquez has a go at him the next lap. And then they’re with each other right to the end.

“The atmosphere after it, the celebrations even from both of them, Marquez was so happy to be back on the podium.

“It kind of gave that new Marquez take that he had for 2024. Bagnaia showing his true grit against someone like Marquez when they’d previously come together at Portimao. I thought it was a proper MotoGP race. It reminded me of ones years ago.”

Crash Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan echoes Moreland’s sentiments, adding: “My problem with Sepang is those first three laps, yes, were fantastic. But the rest of that race was dull, it was absolute garbage. It was not even worth being up for.

“And if anyone wants to complain to me, by all means. A race isn’t about the first three laps. The race is about the end of it. If you look at all those great battles from the past: Barcelona 2009, all those Austria battles with Marc and Dovi [Andrea Dovizioso], Silverstone 2019.

“Sepang was a great first three laps but the rest of it, I don’t think was good, because I don’t want to see everything done at the start.

“You don’t want to watch a film where the best of it is the first 10 minutes and then you’ve got two hours of nothing.

“So that’s why for me I think Jerez has to have it because it was like MotoGP at its best, it was like those old battles and battles from just a few years ago that we rant and rave about still.

“And obviously you throw in the aspect of Marc on an older bike, where maybe at the time its deficiencies were not as prevalent as it might have seemed against the GP24.

“But the GP23 even at that point wasn’t a great package. To have that as well, and that was his fourth weekend on the bike and to be fighting with the guy who everyone thought was going to be world champion, you’ve got to give Marc a lot of credit for that.

“And, like you say Jordan, it was this preview for next year - hopefully - coming off the back of Portugal.

“It just had all of those elements: the needle from Portugal, the future situation wasn’t really known at the time, waiting to see if Marc could be back up the front.

“And I think Jerez delivered all of those things.”

Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren felt several races deserved a nod when reflecting on 2024’s top moments.

“It’s tough, isn't it?,” McLaren says.

“Sepang does spring to mind because of everything that was at stake, as much as the battle as well. But unfortunately it didn’t last beyond the early stages. The usual issues of tyre pressure etc, etc.

“I thought the Misano races for drama were both up there, both of them, if you were looking for drama. COTA, maybe when we look back and say ‘who spoiled that perfect Ducati season’ we’ll think of that one win and the way he [Maverick Vinales] did it from 11th was a great ride as well.

“I suppose one other to throw in there is the Catalunya sprint. The drama that went on in that one, but racing drama with five leaders in 12 laps, I think three different bike brands leading at one stage, then Bagnaia falls, Aleix [Espargaro wins] a few days after announcing retirement at his home track.

“I think that was another one that jumps to mind. But really I’d give it to any of those. I suppose Le Mans was also a good battle between the two title contenders and Marc Marquez as well.

“We’ve kind of got a bit disappointed with races in the middle part of the season, because the action wasn’t great, but there was some good racing there.”