Martin comes out on top of fascinating MotoGP battle

After 20 rounds and forty races, taking the riders to all four corners of the globe, Jorge Martin finally prevailed in the battle for this year’s MotoGP World Championship, edging out reigning and double champion Francesco Bagnaia by just ten points.

The latter may have won more races, but it was ultimately Martin’s metronomic consistency that saw him come out on top and claim his first premier class title.

Martin v Bagnaia – a battle to the end

Spain’s Martin came close to dethroning fellow Ducati rider Bagnaia last year but made crucial mistakes at the crunch end of the season so the question coming into 2024 was had he learnt from those errors, and could he get the better of his Italian rival?

The answer to both questions was an emphatic yes. Riding an identical-spec GP24 Ducati, Martin remained the master of the Sprint race, winning seven of them, and although he only won three feature races compared to Bagnaia’s mightily impressive 11, he took second in ten of them.

Martin and Bagnaia Image Credit Ducati Racing

In total, Martin and his Pramac Racing Ducati finished on the podium in 32 of the 40 races to take place, sealing the title with a brace of third place finishes at Barcelona at the weekend.

His only mistakes came when he crashed out at Jerez and Sachsenring and switched to rain tyres – when the rest of the field stayed out on dry’s – at Misano in September.

This year, it was Bagnaia who made the most errors, and he couldn’t live with Martin’s relentless consistency. Bagnaia crashed out of races on numerous occasions but arguably the costliest was the one that came in the Sprint race in Malaysia, the penultimate round of the series.

He stood on the podium six less times than Martin, and so high is the bar now in MotoGP, giving your main rival that kind of advantage is something you can ill-afford to do.

Francesco Bagnaia Image Credit Ducati Racing

His 11 feature race wins put him alongside Giacomo Agostini, Michael Doohan, Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez – the only riders to win 11 500cc/MotoGP races or more in a single season and although he doesn’t necessarily have the flair or charisma of some of those riders mentioned, and other legends of the sport, his talent cannot be underestimated.

He must also be commended for how he conducted himself off the track as well, magnanimous in defeat and a true gentleman, but he’ll know he should be sitting here today as a three-time champion.

That’s not to say Martin doesn’t deserve the title, of course he does. He delivered when it mattered most, kept racking up the points and continually kept his rivals at arm’s length.

It wasn’t enough to get him a factory ride with Ducati for 2025 – the decision having been made mid-season to choose Marquez instead – and he’ll have a tough defence on his hands when he rides for Aprilia, but he now knows he can deal with every situation thrown at him and that will only stand him in good stead.

Marquez is back

Marquez was an ever-present factor this year and for the first time since 2019, when he won his sixth and most recent MotoGP title, he was fighting for race wins on a regular basis. Was he back to his best? Not quite, but he was a major force to be reckoned with week in, week out – and it gave the championship added bite.

Since that last title in 2019, the Spaniard has been through the mill, most certainly with potentially career-ending injuries which resulted in countless hours in surgery but also with a lack of competitive machinery.

Buying himself out of a multi-year contract with Repsol Honda, losing millions of personal income in the process, showed his desire to win again and his racer’s instinct.

Marc Marquez Image Credit Gresini Racing

Moving to the Gresini Ducati team, arguably the lowest ranked of the four Ducati teams, was most definitely a gamble and a last roll of the dice to resurrect his career.

He achieved that in abundance and found a welcoming, spiritual home at Gresini where he was allowed to flourish and show, once again, why he’s recognised as one of the sport’s greatest ever riders.

Marquez needs to be commended for the move he made and for how he adapted to the Ducati.

Riding a year-old model put him at a significant disadvantage to Martin, Bagnaia and the other factory machine of Enea Bastianini, but instead of bemoaning the situation, he dealt with it head on and obtained results he possibly shouldn’t have done but did so because of his immense talent.

Four wins came his way in 2024, with twenty podiums in total, the latter more than what he’d achieved in the previous three years combined. 13th and 14th overall in the previous two years, he elevated himself to third this year and he was the biggest thorn in the side of Martin and Bagnaia during the season.

Ducati’s decision to sign him for the factory team for 2025 was met with some criticism, particularly as it was Martin who was leading the world title at the time, but it’s a more than understandable decision and the whole field will be more than a little wary of the threat he’ll possess next year.

Mixed year for KTM

It was another year when KTM flattered to deceive and although Brad Binder was the ‘best of the rest’ in fifth place overall come season’s end, the fact remains that for all their progress the Austrian manufacturer haven’t won a feature Grand Prix since Miguel Oliveira took the chequered flag in Thailand in October 2022.

Binder did take two Sprint race victories in early 2023, in Argentina and Spain, but save for a brace of second place finishes at the opening round this season in Qatar, he never troubled the rostrum with his fifth place in the final standings largely due to consistent points-scoring finishes in the sixth to tenth place area.

Indeed, he only took seven top-five finishes whilst team-mate Jack Miller was a shadow of his former self ending the year nine places back of his team-mate and more than 120 points adrift.

Brad Binder Image Credit KTM Press Centre

For 2025, KTM have promoted Pedro Acosta, their shining light this year, to the full factory team. Despite being a MotoGP rookie, 20-year old Acosta outshone his vastly more experienced fellow KTM riders at practically every circuit this year even if he did fade slightly in the final third of the season.

Maybe we should have expected him to star given his previous success in the lower classes, but he perhaps performed better than expected. He stood on the rostrum nine times and KTM will no doubt be pinning their hopes on him in 2025.

Acosta and Binder will line up for the official team with race winners Maverick Vinales and Bastianini joining the sister Tech 3 team so, on paper at least, they look a stronger outfit for next year’s campaign.

Paddock insiders have been tipping them for glory for a long time now, albeit diluting that view as this season has progressed, but with all the millions of Euros they continue to plough in, regular success must come eventually.

Aprilia fade away

Like KTM, it was an underwhelming year for Aprilia and their double victory with Vinales at round three in Austin was nothing but a distant memory come the end of the season.

Maverick Vinales Image Credit Aprilia Racing

The Spaniard lay third in the standings then but only featured in the podium positions on two more occasions, slipping back to an almost anonymous seventh overall.

It’s not the first time Vinales has started strongly with a manufacturer only to fade away and having already competed in MotoGP for Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia, admittedly winning for all three, he’s off to KTM next year, as mentioned above, so let’s see how he fares there.

Team-mate Aleix Espargaro also tasted victory once, at Catalunya in May but, again, only had two more podiums and having announced his retirement from racing mid-season he too drifted away as the year progressed.

Maybe the decision to announce his retirement during a championship battle played its part but the RS-GP24 was clearly more of a handful than previous seasons and continued to struggle more in Sunday’s longer races than it did in Saturday’s Sprint encounters.

Espargaro leads Marquez Image Credit Aprilia Racing

That’s something there’ll be looking to address over the winter months with the 2025 season only four months away.

With two new riders – Martin and Marco Bezzecchi – and a new Technical Director in Fabiano Sterlacchini (who spent 17 years in the same role at Ducati before a short stint at KTM), there’ll certainly have new feedback and input, and will no doubt go in a slightly different direction but having the world champion in their ranks will give them fresh impetus and motivation. And maybe a couple more mph.

Signs of recovery for Yamaha; long road back for Honda

If KTM and Aprilia would have been disappointed with their seasons, Yamaha and Honda would have been doubly so, especially the latter.

The fall from grace for the two former giants of the sport has been spectacular and it’s still hard to see when there’ll win their next race given how far behind they are from their European counterparts.

Yamaha at least have a jewel in their midst with 2021 Champion Fabio Quartararo and whilst 13th overall is a million miles from where he wants to be, he regularly put the Yamaha M1 in positions it shouldn’t have been.

Fabio Quartararo Yamaha Racing

He ended the year strongly, perhaps reinvigorated with Yamaha reverting to two teams and four bikes in 2025, Pramac Racing moving from Ducati and with Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller on board. That should aid and assist development, especially with a new V4 waiting in the wings, so their momentum is certainly gathering pace.

Honda aren’t sitting on their laurels either, but they have a lot further back to come from. Johann Zarco was the best placed Honda rider in 2024, taking 17th place overall and scoring more points than the official Repsol Honda team of Joan Mir and Luca Marini put together. 2020 Champion Mir will probably have lost count of how many crashes he had during season.

Joan Mir Image Credit Honda Race Corporation

They all spoke favourably of improvements during the year, but the gains were small and difficult to see on the results sheets. Takaaki Nakagami will revert from the role of full-time rider to a test one with Esparagaro doing likewise, the latter sure to have some valuable input given his vast experience, whilst they’ve also hired Romano Albesiano as their Technical Director.

The Italian was responsible for steering development of the Aprilia RS-GP machine so perhaps we’ll see the fruits of their labour sooner rather than later.

Having started watching motorcycle races all over the world form childhood, Phil Wain has been a freelance motorcycle journalist for almost 20 years and is features writer for a number of publications including BikeSport News, Classic Racer and Road Racing Ireland, as well as being a regular contributor to MCN and MCN Sport.

He is PR officer for a number of teams and riders at both the British Superbike Championship and International road races, including PBM Ducati, John McGuinness, KTS Racing and Jackson Racing. He is also heavily involved with the Isle of Man TT Races working with the race organisation, writing official press releases and race reports as well as providing the TV and radio broadcasting teams with statistical information.