Saturdays are always thrilling for MotoGP fans, with Qualifying sessions and a Sprint race giving us plenty to talk about. Read a breakdown of all the action below.
Practice
The day opened for the MotoGP riders slightly differently, after rain on Friday evening led to the cancellation of the timed practice session. Instead, the untimed, Free Practice session usually held on a Saturday morning would decide the qualifying groups.
The session started at 1:40 local time, for 45 minutes. Riders started filtering out fairly soon, but were slowed down only a few minutes in by Luca Marini’s first crash on the Repsol Honda – something he will have to get used to on that bike. Maverick Vinales followed him back to the pits a few minutes later after facing some technical issues involving smoking at the back of his Aprilia.
10 minutes into the session and the fastest lap was by Jorge Martín, at a 1.52.606. But not for long, as a few minutes later, Pedro Acosta’s dynamic debut replaced him with a 1.52.268. The yellow flags were bought out almost immediately after as Pedro had his first crash of a his premier class career, but soon picked up the bike and was back on track.
With 20 minutes left of the session, most riders retired to the pits for a debrief, holding Acosta at the top. A promising sign from the Aprilias followed, with both Trackhouse riders going 1-2, and Miguel Oliveira breaking into the 1.51s for the first time of the weekend. With 15 minutes to go most of the riders headed out for a few more laps, with Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martín both breaking lap records.
The riders head back in for a short break, with Martín at the top, 4 Duactis in the top 5, Acosta in 14th, and the top Japanese manufacturer being Johann Zarco at 15th. The final few minutes will change everything, as per usual. Bagnaia, Espargaró, and Di Giannantonio all with red sectors. Pedro Acosta starts his last flying lap with a minute left of the session, but yellow flags are bought out with a crash from Jack Miller in sector 1.
Timing stops with Álex Marquez fastest with a 1.51.108, joined in Q2 by Martín, Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, Viñales, Acosta, Esparagaró, Bastianini, Marc Marquez, and Binder.
The second half of the pack going through in Q1 consists of, Raul Fernandez with a 1.51.519, Oliveira, Bezzecchi, Quartararo, Miller, Zarco, Mir, Augusto Fernandez, Rins, Nakagami, Morbidelli, and Marini.
Qualifying
The 15 minutes of Qualifying 1 were relatively uneventful. Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller held the promotion spots for the first part of the session, but were replaced by a push from Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez who remained at the top for the next 10 minutes.
With 2 minutes left, red sectors started appearing, but many had their laps interrupted by a now-expected crash from Joan Mir.
Despite this, Jack Miller was able to push for a 1.51.526, putting him into P2 and into Q2 session alongside Raul Fernandez.
An honourable mention needs to go to Johann Zarco, who pushed everything out of the LCR Castrol Honda to achieve a very respectable 1.51.537.
With Raul and Jack promoted, the bottom 10 riders were fixed on the grid (below).
Qualifying 2 kicked off with Marc Marquez first on track, joined by Acosta, Binder, and Miller. Within 5 minutes Jorge Martín had broken the all time lap record with a 1.50.789, and rookie Acosta continued to improve his time to reach a provisional 3rd row.
Despite being quiet so far on Saturday, reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia reminded us of his speed with an incredible lap, but lost time when he went wide on the final sector.
With 2 minutes left on the clock, the KTMs both set out on fast laps, lighting up the timing screens. The rest of the session was interrupted by a yellow flag in Sector 2 due to Raul Fernandez’s crash, and the first grid of 2024 was set.
Sprint
After 104 days drought of racing, the Sprint arrived and we were finally ready to race in the desert.
The lights went out and the two KTMs had a strong start off the line, Marc Marquez lost a few positions, along with Pedro Acosta who dropped 3 places to 11th in his first ever Sprint. Pecco started attacking his teammate to start his podium campaign.
With 1 lap down the biggest drop was from Raul Fernandez who lost 5 positions to 17th, and the best climber was Jack Miller who climbed 4 positions to 7th place.
Despite the gains, Jack was pushed wide by Diggia, and Álex Marquez took the opportunity to come through as well. Acosta is able to make the most of this, out-braking Jack into the final corner and making his first significant overtake of his MotoGP career.
Lap 3 saw an awful crash for Fabio Di Giannantonio as he came out of turn 11. His bike seemed to hit him, and then run away, leaving Diggia to fend for himself in the middle of a live track. Thankfully he has been declared fit, with no reportable injuries.
The race steadied out from here, as Marc Marquez went fastest on track and the front group of Jorge, Brad, Pecco, Aleix, and Marc start to pull away.
As the riders cross the start line for the 7th lap, the older Marquez brother lines up along the outside of Espargaró to overtake.
Further down the grid, the Japanese bikes continue to struggle, with Quartararo battling for 11th, and Mir moving up to 16th place.
In the penultimate lap, Aleix Espargaró finds something in the Aprilia, battling with Pecco to hold 3rd into the last corner.
The 2024 Ducati Desmosedici seemed to lack the rocket power of last year, with their riders sitting in 4th and 6th. Jorge Martín sets the precedent for 2024, taking his first victory of the year.
Pedro Acosta finishes his first ever race in an impressive 8th, and the best Japanese manufacturer finish comes from Quartararo in P12. The win from Marín sets the scene for another fiery championship fight.
Elbows Down 
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