The prestigious MotoGP championship is all set to make it’s India debut, with the MotoGP Bharat taking place at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida over the weekend.
The Buddh International Circuit has previously hosted Formula 1 races, between 2011 and 2013, but this will be the first time MotoGP will be making way to India.
MotoGP Bharat 2023: Complete schedule, tickets and live streaming details
With speeds of over 300 km/h, the circuit is one of the fastest as far as the MotoGP calendar is concerned.
A total of 22 riders will compete in the race, as is always the case with MotoGP. A few practice sessions will be held on Friday, ahead of the qualifying rounds that take place on Saturday. The main race will be held on Sunday.
Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia, who races for the Ducati Lenovo team, leads the drivers’ championship standings with 283 points, followed by Jorge Martin (247 points) and Marco Bezzecchi (218 points) in second and third place respectively.
Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha and Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia will be some of the racers to keep an eye on.
With the excitement building up towards the race, let’s take a look at five riders to watch out for:
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda)
Marc Marquez was just 20 years old and 266 days when he became the youngest ever premier-class winner in the MotoGP. He remains to hold that record, apart from winning eight World Championship titles that includes six of them between 2013 and 2019 in the MotoGP.
However, Marquez suffered a crash during the Spanish GP in 2020, and remained out of action till 2021.
Following four surgeries, Marquez returned to the circuit in 2023, aiming to fight for the title again.
However, with injuries and a Honda team that is struggling, Marquez has not had a great season so far, being placed 19th with 31 points. It will be interesting to see if Marquez can turn the fortunes around in India, and live upto his reputation.
Fabio Quartararo (Team Yamaha)
He may not be a firm title contender this season, but Fabio Quartararo has made a name for himself in the MotoGP arena.
He was still a newbie to the setup when he came in the 2019 season, but went onto register a few wins in 2020. 2021 was his breakthrough year yet, when he became the first Frenchman to win the premier class World Championship title.
In 2022, he was involved in a thrilling title race against Francesco Bagnaia, but went down fighting in the final race.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team)
Aleix Espargaro, at 34, is an experienced campaigner at the MotoGP. The ongoing season is his 13th straight premier class campaign. Although his maiden podium finish came in 2014, his breakthrough season was only in 2017, when he signed for Aprilia after two seasons with Suzuki.
His first GP win came in only 2022, which also turned out to be Aprilia’s first victory as well. He did have a decent season, finishing in fourth place with 212 points.
This season, he is in fifth place with 160 points, including two victories.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team)
In 2018, Italy’s Franceso Bagnaia came into the racing scene when he won the 2018 Moto2 championship.
A year later, in 2019, Francesco made his debut in the MotoGP, and in 2021 he would go onto contend for the title before going down to Quartararo.
His biggest season yet came in 2022, when he went onto win the MotoGP championships with a total of 265 points.
Heading into Sunday’s race, the Italian, currently leading the drivers’ standings, remains favourite to claim victory in the weekend.
Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing Team)
Maverick Vinales has been a permanent figure in MotoGP since 2015. His maiden win in the premier class came at the Silverstone circuit in 2016 with Suzuki, and moved to Yamaha in 2017.
He won eight races and secured multiple podiums for Yamaha, but in 2021, his contract came to a controversial close and later, he joined the Aprilia team, having Espargaro as his teammate.
Since joining Aprilia, he has secured four podium finishes, a couple of them last year and another couple so far this year, and would only look to go onwards and upwards from here.
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