MotoGP, Spain, Race: Bagnaia wins in Jerez, Martin crashes, Oliveira 8th

Francesco Bagnaia won the MotoGP Spanish GP for the third consecutive time, securing the triumph after Jorge Martin’s crash. The Ducati rider completed the 25 laps of the Jerez – Angel Nieto circuit in 40.58 minutes, beating Marc Márquez (Gresini Ducati) by 372 thousandths. Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) secured third place and Portuguese Miguel Oliveira completed the entire race within the Top 10, finishing in eighth place.

Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, the current world champion, resisted all the attacks from the ambitious Marc Márquez. Jorge Martín fell, seeing his world championship lead reduced to just 17 points over the Italian. The ’93’ is already 32 points behind.

The sun broke through the clouds, with a higher temperature, as it was 20 degrees in the air and 39 on the asphalt. Drivers were warned that there could be some damp in several areas, but previous races showed this had no effect. They all had the same tires, medium front and rear. There were 144 thousand spectators in Jerez on Sunday, 296 thousand throughout the weekend.

Race film

At the start Marc Márquez took the holeshot from pole. Jorge Martín was second, ahead of Bezzecchi and Bagnaia, who started very well. Acosta lost many positions and was in 18th. Pecco braked brutally at turn 6 to overtake Martinator and ‘Bez’ in one go. Then he overtook Marc on the last corner. The Cervera driver tried to respond at the end of the straight, but slipped a little and Martín took advantage. Bagnaia slipped a little in turn 13 and Martín overtook him. Marc also tried, but Pecco stopped him – who is fighting in a three-way fight between the Ducatis. Dani Pedrosa crashed at turn 8 when he was in tenth, far from the glory of Saturday and third place in the Sprint race. Bezzecchi overtook Marc Márquez who wasn’t looking very good. Pedro Acosta had contact with Zarco on the opening lap. Then he returned the pass, as the Murcian was going further.

At the front of the race, ‘Martinator’ was pushing hard, with Bagnaia close behind, distancing both Bezzecchi and Marc. Aleix Espargaró tried to overtake Zarco, but they collided and both crashed while fighting for 17th place. The race and the World Championship changed with 15 laps to go. Jorge Martín crashed at turn 6 while leading in what could be considered a rude blow to the Madrid driver’s aspirations.

This left the positions very stabilized: Pecco leading by more than seven tenths over Bezzecchi, who kept Marc Márquez at bay. ‘Bez’ went a little wide at turn 13 and Marc took advantage to move up to second place, one second behind Pecco’s official Ducati. The stands encouraged Cervera’s driver to go after the champion. Pedro Acosta continued to gain positions and overtook Miller to enter the ‘top 10’.

Marc gave everything he had in the last laps, he set a fast lap to get closer to Pecco, but the ‘1’ saw the danger and responded by setting the fastest lap on the next lap. Franco Morbidelli tried to overtake Jack Miller, but went too far, lost his balance and caught the Australian. The anger over ‘Jackass’ was monumental. At the front, the ’93’ forced Pecco to follow with two masterful laps. Marc tried to pass Bagnaia, who with a touch in turn 10, held on. The tension was maximum and many remembered the fall of the two in Portimão.

In the second attempt, Marc took another risk but Pecco held on to first place. Bagnaia reacted in the best way: doing a tremendous lap, the best of the entire race. Almost when no one expected him at that time. Pecco faced the final corner with half a second of advantage and Marc could only hope for a mistake that never came. Bagnaia won for the third consecutive year in Jerez. Márquez scored his first podium with Ducati on a Sunday.

MotoGP race classification, Jerez:

1. Bagnaia, Ducati, 25 laps in 40:53.306 min

2. M. Márquez, Ducati, +0.372 sec

3. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +3,903

4. A. Márquez, Ducati, + 7,205

5. Bastianini, Ducati, + 7,253

6. Binder, KTM, +7,801

7. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, + 10,063

8. Oliveira, Aprilia, + 10,979

9. Vinales, Aprilia, +11,217

10. Acosta, KTM, +20,762

11. Fernández, Aprilia, +23,508

12. Mir, Honda, +23,584

13. Kidneys, Yamaha, +28,452

14. Nakagami, Honda, +29,049

15. Quartararo, Yamaha, +32,015

16 .Bradl, Honda, +41,433

17. Marini, Honda, +43,323

World Championship standings after 8 of 42 races: 1. Martin, 92 points. 2. Bagnaia, 75. 3. Bastianini, 70. 4. Acosta, 69. 5. Vinales, 63. 6. Marc Márquez, 60. 7. Binder, 59. 8. Aleix Espargaró, 39. 9. Bezzecchi, 36. 10. Di Giannantonio, 34. 11. Alex Márquez, 27. 12. Quartararo, 25. 13. Oliveira23. 14. Miller, 22. 15. R. Fernández, 12. 16. Mir, 12. 17. A. Fernández, 10. 18. Pedrosa, 7. 19. Rins, 6. 20. Morbidelli, 6. 21 .Zarco, 5. 22. Nakagami, 4.

Constructors’ World Championship:1. Ducati, 133 points. 2. KTM, 95. 3. Aprilia, 82. 4. Yamaha, 27. Honda, 13.