Jake Dixon made his MotoGP debut with Honda HRC’s corresponding MotoGP outfit, as the seven-year Moto2 veteran replaced Joan Mir at the Qatar GP. Despite his years in the MotoGP paddock, the #96’s weekend at the Lusail International Circuit was his first MotoGP appearance since a pair of weekends back in 2021, and the Brit didn’t let the chance slip as he finished the weekend in the point-paying spots.
GETTING UP TO SPEED IN MOTOGP
Dixon needed time early on to settle in with the Honda RC213V, finishing in P18in Practice, and taking P7 with a 1’51.621s time ahead of Maverick Vinales. Setting off from P17 on Saturday in the Sprint, Dixon was unable to make much headway up the grid. He rode as high as P15 after Pecco Bagnaia and Fermin Aldeguer’s red-flag-inducing crash, which saw him ruled unfit with right foot fractures, and Marco Bezzecchi’s crash after contact with Marc Marquez, but Dixon lost to Vinales on Lap 6 and finished P16.
“I’M REALLY HAPPY TO HAVE GONE FASTER IN THE GRAND PRIX THAN IN THE SPRINT EVEN OVER DOUBLE THE DISTANCE”
Dixon saw lights out in Sunday’s marquee Grand Prix event from P15 after Bagnaia’s unfit ruling and Luca Marini’s retirement from the weekend with fatigue. He leapt forward over the first lap to P14 as he rode ahead of Vinales and 2027 WorldSBK rider Franco Morbidelli behind him. He lost both positions on Lap 4 to fall back down to P16. Riding there over the middle stretch of the race from Lap 4 to Lap 14, he benefitted from Diogo Moreira dropping to the back of the grid before retiring on Lap 16. A Lap later, the same fate befell 2027 inbound WorldSBK rider Brad Binder, who retired on Lap 16 to improve Dixon up to his final position of the race, P14. The result earned Dixon his first two MotoGP points in what was his third MotoGP weekend after a pair of appearances back in 2021, one at Silverstone and one at Aragon.
On his weekend, Dixon was all smiles. He said: “Obviously, there were people who were out of the races, but it was a fantastic weekend; I really enjoyed it. I had a great time, the Honda team are a nice bunch of guys and girls. I had a great time altogether. An absolute dream come true. I’m really happy to have gone faster in the Grand Prix than in the sprint, even over double the distance. You have to learn to adapt in life, this weekend I was in at the deep end; you have to adapt and always try to be better.”
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