This year’s MotoGP Solidarity Grand Prix started with the FP1 session, which saw Takaaki Nakagami secure his position as an overall winner before his retirement next year. The session held in Barcelona created the premise for an intense weekend as Pedro Acosta crashed on the first lap while the championship contender Francesco Bagnaia crashed during a practice start. As the number one contender, Jorge Martin has only a few points advantage in the championship; all participants want victory, getting prepared for the action-packed final stage of the season.
Celebrating Valencia in Light of the Championships Pressure
LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami remained the fastest rider for FP1 with a timing of 1m40.501s before being demoted to a non-premier class rider for next year. Screaming back onto the timesheets with only 8 minutes left was the medium rear tire, to slot into P1 Takaaki Nakagami by 0.411 seconds ahead of Tech3 GASGAS debutant Pedro Acosta. Takaaki Nakagami will be promoted to an HRC development rider after this race weekend.
Takaaki Nakagami: Early Drama Between Acosta and Fernandez
The session was spiced up with a momentary action when Pedro Acosta clashed with his Tech3 GASGAS teammate, Augusto Fernandez. The two crashed at Turn 5 exactly five minutes into the session, which led to the red flagging of the session. None of the two riders was harmed in the accident, and they were able to continue the session after the restart. Jorge Martin was fastest in the beginning and challenged Bagnaia before he set the fastest lap at the end of the session.
However, Martin was only fifth on the timesheets at the end of the day, although Bagnaia only managed a seventh-place finish. But things were worse for the Ducati rider as he was again let down during the practice start phase. In an extraordinary circumstance, Bagnaia made a wipeout while braking at turn one after Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales overtook him. While there was no interaction between them, by the end of the episode, Bagnaia was quite clearly annoyed.
Takaaki Nakagami was followed by Acosta in second, with Alex Marquez completing the top three in third. KTM’s Brad Binder finished in fourth place. Martin finished fifth, a little ahead of his Ducati counterparts Enea Bastianini and Bagnaia. Vinales, while he contributed to the crash of Bagnaia, could only manage the 8th position; Jack Miller and Marc Marquez came in at 9th and 10th, respectively.
In other Yamaha-run news, Fabio Quartararo scored the team’s second-best result in 11th, while Augusto Fernandez’s race came to a premature end after he was involved in an opening lap crash. Michele Pirro, who replaced injured Fabio Di Giannantonio, finished 20th, Oliveira beating Raul Fernandez, who came 21st after recovering from his crash. This show is christened Solidarity Grand Prix in readiness for the champs race as streaks will be rolled for honors by the riders while off-track events occur.
Final Thoughts
In the course of the 2024 MotoGP Solidarity Grand Prix, the performance in FP1 provides the build-up for the rest of the event week. One name that should be mentioned is Takaaki Nakagami, who finished his last race as a full-time rider in style… The incidents involving Acosta, Fernandez, and Bagnaia seem to bring extra spice to what was already a thrilling championship fight. Every session henceforth will be important as riders lock horns for positions, given Martin leads the standings. We are in for an exciting end to what promises to be an explosive weekend.
