The Tank Slappers with Lewis and Uri The Tank Slappers with Lewis and Uri

A thrilling French Grand Prix at the fifth round of the 2024 MotoGP season looks to have drawn the battle lines for a three-way title fight.


Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin put in a perfect weekend to claim pole, sprint and grand prix wins, the latter coming after absorbing immense late pressure from Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia.


Martin is now 38 points clear in the standings and put in the best weekend of his career at a point in which Ducati is nearing a final decision on its second factory team rider for 2025.


He is facing stiff competition from Marc Marquez, though, who came from 13th on the grid to finish second in both the sprint and the grand prix to move to within 40 points of the championship lead.


Having scored his first grand prix podium of the year at Jerez, Marquez is now proving consistent on the year-old Ducati and has set his sights firmly on a factory bike for next year.


On the latest Tank Slappers podcast, Autosport's Lewis Duncan and Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont discuss Martin and Marquez's races and what they mean for Ducati's 2025 decision.


They also look at the ongoing troubles for Honda after another dismal weekend, while ponder what the 2027 regulations will do for MotoGP.

MotoGP returned home this past weekend with the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix from Jerez, and the fans were treated to an all-time classic between two of the very best riders in the world.

Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia had an intense battle for the win, taking advantage of a Jorge Martin crash from the lead in the middle period of the race, and Bagnaia ultimately triumphed with his third straight Jerez victory by just four tenths of a second.

On this week's edition of Tank Slappers, Autosport's Lewis Duncan and Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont discuss the intoxicating fight, as well as Martin's role in the action, and where all three of the riders title campaigns could he heading with Le Mans next up in a fortnights time. 

Also discussed on the show this week, more struggles for Honda as Luca Marini was the last rider over the line, Johann Zarco getting kicked out of Race Direction after a crash with Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, and whether Jerez can be a "blue ribbon" race for the sport, like Monaco could be for Formula 1, now both sports are under the Liberty Media umbrella. 

Last weekend's Americas Grand Prix produced numerous talking points as the 2024 MotoGP season continues to thrill, with Maverick Vinales stealing the headlines for Aprilia.

Thrown a career lifeline by Aprilia after his acrimonious split with Yamaha midway through 2021, Vinales had so far failed to deliver the kind of results expected of him.

But in America, having taken a breakthrough sprint win in Portugal, Vinales put together a perfect weekend where he took pole, sprint victory and registered his first grand prix win since Qatar 2021.

It made him history too, as he became (officially) the first rider in the modern MotoGP era to win races on three different brands of motorcycle.

On this week's Tank Slappers podcast, Autosport's Lewis Duncan and Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont discuss Vinales' resurgence and how Aprilia has been able to coax out the best version of the Spaniard.

They also discuss Ducati's ongoing chatter woes, why Marc Marquez's Americas GP weekend wasn't as bad as his DNF suggested, and the continuing rise of rookie superstar Pedro Acosta.

With Honda enduring a miserable weekend, our hosts give their honest opinion of the Japanese manufacturer and why it is so far from being competitive again.

On the latest episode of Tank Slappers, Lewis Duncan and Oriol Puigdemont react to the big news of the week, as Fabio Quartararo announces a new two-year extension at Yamaha's team, and the pair discuss the ripple effects of the move, including why Aprilia was turned down and who they might try for instead in what could be a chaotic silly season. 

Also, the big question as MotoGP heads to Austin this upcoming weekend for the Grand Prix of the Americas at COTA... is this the big win for Marc Marquez that can kickstart a title campaign?

The motorsport world has been digesting one of the biggest announcements of the year on Monday after Formula 1 owner Liberty Media announced its acquisition of MotoGP.

The American media giant announced on Monday 1 April that it had purchased majority shares in Dorna Sports from Bridgepoint Capital for €4.2 billion.

The news means Liberty now owns the world's two biggest motorsport world championships in F1 and MotoGP.

The deal will herald a new era for MotoGP as Liberty gets to work growing the series in key markets across the globe, with America set to be at the forefront of this.

There are still many unknowns about the deal and the direction Liberty will take Dorna and MotoGP in the coming years, though the former is confident it will be able to clear the regulatory boards.

In the latest Tank Slappers Podcast, Autosport's Lewis Duncan and Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont discuss everything we know about the deal and what it could mean for MotoGP.

The 2024 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix was won by Jorge Martin but the collision between Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia stole all the headlines.

Pramac Ducati rider Martin put in a mature display to clinch his first grand prix win of the season, seeing off Aprilia's Maverick Vinales prior to the Spaniard's gearbox problems, and Ducati's Enea Bastianini to move into the lead of the championship.

But it was the collision between Gresini Ducati rider Marquez and the reigning double world champion Bagnaia that served up the biggest talking point of the second round of the 2024 season.

The crash was dismissed by the stewards as a racing incident, but both riders differed on their opinion about the clash. Harshest of all was Marquez, who felt Bagnaia was at fault for the collision.

This has served up Ducati's first big internal drama to manage.

On the latest Tank Slappers podcast, Autosport's Lewis Duncan and Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont discuss the incident and what it means for both the riders and Ducati going forward.

They also assess Martin's impressive grand prix performance and evaluate where he is now as a rider after the 2023 season.

Pedro Acosta continued to make waves in his MotoGP debut year as he scored a maiden podium in the grand prix in third, while Vinales' return to form is also a point of discussion on this week's show.