Francesco Bagnaia controls from start to win main MotoGP race in Italian GP, as Enea Bastianini snatches P2 from Jorge Martin on final lap.
It was a clean start from pole for Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin in MotoGP race in Italian GP at Mugello but it was a better one from the second row for Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia to take the lead from the Spaniard, as Enea Bastianini slotted himself in third.
Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez was fourth from GASGAS Tech 3’s Pedro Acosta, who was leading Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, Gresini’s Alex Marquez and VR46 Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio in the Top 10.
Bagnaia managed to stick the move on Martin to lead him well, but Bastianini had to defend from the fighting duo of Marquez and Acosta. Behind them, Morbidelli and Vinales stablised in sixth and seventh but Espargaro lost three positions to drop to 11th.
A Marquez, di Giannantonio and KTM’s Brad Binder passed Espargaro in early stages, as Yamaha’s Alex Rins started to chase the Spaniard. The Trackhouse Aprilia pair of Raul Fernandez & Miguel Oliveira were 13th and 14th, with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in 15th.
The first retirement came for Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez due to a mechanical issue, while Honda’s Joan Mir crashed out in another terrible outing. It was followed by a crash for LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, as battles in the front started to pick up.
Bagnaia had Martin not far off on his tail, with Bastianini and Marquez not too much behind either. Acosta was at a distant fifth but Morbidelli had Vinales all over him in the fight for sixth, with A Marquez defending eighth from di Giannantonio as well.
Binder and Espargaro continued to exchange places in the fight for 10th with the South African getting the better going into the closing stages of the grand prix. The first move finally came from Marquez after he got through Bastianini for third.
He took the inside line and closed off the Italian. But Bastianini stayed on Marquez’s tail and he eventually made an aggressive move on the inside on the penultimate lap to retake third. Just ahead of him, Martin seemingly closed up but Bagnaia had it under control.
Having won the sprint, Bagnaia doubled-up to with the main MotoGP race in Italian GP, as Martin lost second to Bastianini in the final sector after the Italian found some hot pace in the last couple of laps to make it a factory Ducati 1-2 in their home event.
Martin had to settle for third eventually, with Marquez in fourth. Acosta was a lonely fifth from Morbidelli as di Giannantonio passed both Vinales and A Marquez to be seventh as the latter two had to settle for eighth and ninth respectively.
Binder was 10th from Espargaro and Fernandez, with VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi taking 13th from Oliveira and Rins in the Top 15 points places. KTM’s Jack Miller was outside points in 16th from wildcard KTM rider Pol Espargar, who passed Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
LCR’s Johann Zarco ended up 19th from Honda’s Luca Marini and Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori to round out the 21 finishers.
Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1797255914312839359
Here’s how MotoGP sprint panned out