Here’s the first round of the 2024 Moto3 World Championship, and it’s off to an exciting and uncertain start right up until the final seconds! David Alonso won in Qatar after taking the lead on the last corner of the last lap.
Everything is in place for the first Moto3 round of the year, where Daniel Holgado starts from pole position, with Ivan Ortolá and José Antonio Rueda on the front row. It’s worth remembering that this year there’s something new, with Pirelli tyres.
Seconds before the start, David Muñoz was forced to start from the pit lane and despite initially showing some resistance and not wanting to comply with the regulations, he ended up starting from the back.
Drama on the grid! 😱@david64official stalled on the gird! He has to go into pit lane and eventually does! 🔴#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/MGDe10orE4
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 10, 2024
After the rider had effectively left the grid, the race got underway and Holgado made the most of his pole position to lead from the start at Losail. Rueda and Adrián Fernández fought for second place, but with the positions constantly changing, it was Rueda who led the race, with Holgado in second and Ortolá in third. David Alonso was fourth and A. Fernández fifth.
And in the first sector of the second lap, the first crash of the year for Ortolá and Rueda, who were involved in a crash. Despite this, Ortolá stayed on track while Rueda ended his GP.
DISASTER! 😱
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 10, 2024
Two of the big hitters are gone! 💥@IvanOrtola48 and Rueda make contact and are OUT! 🛑#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/8YjRwtIprM
It was Holgado who made the most of it, leading Qatar by 0.059s over Alonso and 0.156s over Fernández. Colin Veijer and Joel Kelso rounded out the top five.
Another crash followed with two riders, Filippo Farioli and Matteo Bertelle.
At the front, however, there was a change as Taiyo Furusato climbed into first position, but on the third sector of lap eight Holgado returned the manoeuvre and retook the lead of the race.
Riccardo Rossi made his way up to third, but Fernández attacked and retook third place. 0.135s was the time separating Holgado from his closest rival, still the Honda Team Asia rider.
Rossi meanwhile returned to the podium and was even within a few seconds of second place, but Furusato was back in second place. Shortly afterwards Alongo and Fernández also overtook Rossi, with the latter dropping to fifth.
With six laps to go, Furusato moved into the lead, but only for a short time, as Holgado took over soon afterwards. The Japanese driver then made a mistake and dropped two positions, with Alonso following him into second place.
That was the top ten with five laps to go:
The #72 re-entered the podium places on the following lap and even climbed to second place after beating Alonso.
With two laps to go, the excitement intensified: Furusato moved into the lead and Alonso moved into second place, but Holgado came round the corner, literally between the two of them, and returned to the front of the race, and behind the leading group of ten drivers, Ryusei Yamanaka crashed and was out of the race.
On the last lap, Fernández crashed, as did Vicente Pérez.
And in the last corner, here was Alonso’s attack! The rider attacked from the inside and went on to take the lead, and in the end even confirmed the final victory! Holgado was second by 0.041s and Furusato third.