MotoGP 2024: Jorge Martin Wins The 2024 Championship, Bagnaia Wins The Final Race

Jorge Martin wins his maiden MotoGP crown, creating a unique bit of history in the process. He would be the first rider in the modern 4-stroke MotoGP era to win the rider’s title while riding for a satellite team. The last rider to do something similar was nine-times World Champion, Valentino Rossi, on his Honda NSR500 while riding for the Nastro Azzurro team in 2001.

And by winning the title, Martin will also be taking the crown away from Ducati to arch nemesis: Aprilia. Will Martin choose to run the number one on his bike next year remains to be seen, although we think Aprilia might want him to. His maiden title also makes him the fifth Spanish rider to win the premiere class crown, the other three being Alex Criville, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir.

It was a rather calm and composed ride from Martin who actually finished the required third to win the title. His chief challenger and now outgoing champion, Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, actually won the final race of the year, his eleventh Grand Prix win in 2024. Pecco has simply been stunning on Sundays in 2024. But his costly DNFs in key moments throughout the season, especially on Saturday sprints, has seen him lose his title by 10 points. Nevertheless, Bagnaia has proven that he is a great rider and will be far more keen to bring back the glory to Bologna that Martin took to Noale.

Another key contender for next year’s championship will be Marquez, who will join Pecco at the factory Ducati outfit in 2025. In fact, it was because Ducati chose Marquez over Martin for the second factory seat that the new world champion is jumping ship. Marquez managed to run close behind Bagnaia through the entirety of the race, earning third spot in overall championship. What makes the feat so special is that he managed to do that on a year-old Desmosedici GP23.

As the season comes to a close, it was clear that the Ducati GP24 was undoubtedly one of the most dominant bikes ever. The next best bike was also Ducati’s GP23. Hence, can other manufacturers step up their game for 2025? With engine specification freeze set to come into effect for the next two years, will that further deepen the divide between Ducati and the rest?

There is some hope for the other bike makers, though. Ducati will no longer have eight bikes on the grid, but only six. Martin isn’t the only team leaving Ducati but also his team Pramac racing will now become the satellite team for a resurging Yamaha. We look forward to a cracking 2025 season that kicks off in Thailand on February 28 - March 2.