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Qualifying in Qatar – LIVE from 12.40pm

Defending champion Pecco Bagnaia(Bild: APA/AFP/Mohd RASFAN)

Start of the new MotoGP season. Who will take the first pole position of the year? With the sportkrone.at ticker, you can follow qualifying in Qatar live.

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21 races, 22 riders, five manufacturers, one top favorite - these are the key figures for the new MotoGP season, which kicks off this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix. Francesco Bagnaia is going for his third World Championship title in a row, and two other personalities are also causing a stir: Superstar Marc Marquez is trying out a Ducati for the first time this year. Moto2 world champion Pedro Acosta makes his debut in the premier class of the motorcycle world championship - he rides for the KTM team GasGas.

The interim result:

Last year, Bagnaia clearly left his mark on the world championship. "Pecco" won seven out of 20 races and was the first MotoGP rider since Marquez in 2019 to successfully defend his title. It was only announced at the beginning of the week that the 27-year-old had extended his factory contract with Ducati until 2026. "I'm so happy to be able to continue racing with the team of my dreams," said Bagnaia, who goes into the season as the hunted.

Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia(Bild: APA/AFP/Filippo MONTEFORTE)

Pecco confident
With the Desmosedici GP24, Ducati could once again have made a big leap from the level of the previous season. The fact that Bagnaia smashed the track record at both the Sepang and Lusail tests is a clear indication of this. "We are well prepared for the upcoming season opener," he said with a healthy dose of understatement. "Pecco has to feel that he is important for the team, that everything is in place for him. That's when he's at his strongest," explained former world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

And yet it is not just Bagnaia who has hopes of winning the world title. The Ducati armada also includes his team-mate Enea Bastianini, Marco Bezzecchi, the Spaniard Jorge Martin and the Frenchman Johann Zarco. They are joined by the Spanish Aprilia duo of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales as well as KTM main figure Brad Binder from South Africa.

Vice world champion Jorge Martin(Bild: APA/AFP/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

Brothers team up at Gresini
The Marquez brothers Marc and Alex will both ride a Ducati Desmosedici GP23 for the Gresini Racing team and are dangerous outsiders. "I felt more comfortable with the bike straight away. I've managed to use my body better," said Marc Marquez, who has often been involved in crashes recently.

KTM and Aprilia in particular want to break Ducati's dominance, with the Austrian manufacturer aiming for a further evolutionary leap. "We have made steps in all areas in which we wanted to improve," reported KTM Head of Motorsport Pit Beirer. However, the "brutal reality in MotoGP" is that the competitors have also improved. "What is happening and being developed technically is simply insane."

"Brutally strong performance"
In addition to Binder, who achieved five podiums in 2023, Australian Jack Miller continues to ride for the A-Team. Augusto Fernandez and the super talent of the scene are active at GasGas Tech3: Spaniard Pedro Acosta (19) is regarded as the world champion of the future. "He basically stayed in the top ten on all six days of testing, where everyone was riding together. That's a brutally strong performance," said Beirer about the son of a fisherman.

Following Acosta's promotion, Tony Arbolino is now the favorite in the Moto2 intermediate class. The Italian was second in the standings last season. In Moto3, the Colombian David Alonso and the Spaniard Jose Antonio Rueda are regarded as title contenders.

All 21 World Championship races and the sprints held on Saturday at 3.00 pm will be broadcast in Austria by ServusTV on a linear basis and online. The Austrian Grand Prix will take place on August 18th at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. For Beirer, the season is definitely too long due to the stresses and strains it causes for the workforce. "I would rather we didn't break the 20-race barrier," said the German. "The optimum size we would want as a manufacturer would be 18 races."