The Pramac Racing rider stood on the podium in the opening two grands prix including a victory in Portugal as well as the Qatar sprint race.
He claimed another sprint podium at Circuit of The Americas, while fourth in that weekend’s grand prix helped Martin to keep his championship lead as he looks to improve upon a runner-up finish from 2023.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Who is leading the 2024 MotoGP world riders’ standings?
Martin leads the MotoGP riders’ championship by 21 points ahead of Enea Bastianini, who has shown impressive levels of consistency this season after an injury-plagued 2023 campaign.
The Ducati rider claimed fifth in the Qatar Grand Prix season-opener before second in Portugal, third in the United States and sixth in every sprint race to sit runner-up in the championship on 59 points.
Bastianini’s podium at COTA meant he overtook Brad Binder, who came a lowly ninth at the Americas GP while finishing outside of the points in the sprint race, which dropped him to sixth in the championship and 10 points behind second despite starting the year with a podium in both events at Losail.
Maverick Vinales is now third, just three points behind Bastianini, after his double win in Texas. That weekend followed a mixed start to the season as the Aprilia rider also won the Algarve sprint race but finished 10th in the Qatar GP and retired from the Portuguese GP.
Pedro Acosta trails him in fourth by only two points, as the 19-year-old has had an impressive start to his rookie season with back-to-back podiums in Portugal and Austin.
The tightness at the top continues as the reigning, two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia is only four points behind Acosta. He started the season with a victory in Qatar but followed that up with a non-score in Portugal after a controversial collision with Marc Marquez. Bagnaia struggled to fifth in Austin and is already 30 points off the lead having failed to finish above fourth in the sprint races as well.
The Ducati rider is also just one point ahead of sixth-placed Binder, while a 10-point gap separates seventh-placed Aleix Espargaro from the frontrunners.
Elsewhere, it has been a mixed start to Marquez’s Gresini Ducati career as the six-time champion is eighth in the standings having only scored grand prix points in Qatar, though backed this up with two sprint podiums. The MotoGP legend is already 44 points off leader…
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