Marc Marquez wins Aragon GP as Bagnaia violently crashes out

Marc Marquez secured the victory at the Aragon GP, his first victory in a Grand Prix since 2021. Jorge Martin extended his lead in the championship to Bagnaia, as the Italian crashed with Alex Marquez.

It would be a relatively clean first lap, with Marc Marquez managing to stay ahead of his rivals into the first corner. Francesco Bagnaia would have major problems at the start, sinking through the field.

Bagnaia’s  issues off the start line were similar to those he had in the sprint – on the dirty side of the grid, the Ducati Desmosedici GP24 struggled to get off the line, as the Italian fell to seventh place.

Miguel Oliveira would crash at the end of the first lap, losing the front of his Trackhouse Aprilia at Turn 16’s hard-braking left-hander.

Just a couple of laps in and Jorge Martin attempted to make his way past Pedro Acosta for second place, the pair making contact at the corkscrew as Martin ran too deep, skipping across Turn 9’s inside kerb, as Alex Marquez also put his Gresini Ducati in the battle.

Martin would finally get past Acosta going into Turn 16, as he began charging after Marc Marquez, who led by a couple of seconds after just a few laps. Acosta would be displaced by Alex Marquez for third, as Franco Morbidelli and Francesco Bagnaia began hounding the Spaniard for fourth.

After Enea Bastianini attempted a move at the tough Turn 5, braking on a lean angle, the Italian nearly went down due to a severe lack of grip on the outside of the corner. A couple of laps later, we would see this again, with Morbidelli running too deep trying to keep Bagnaia behind, losing three places and slipping to eighth.

With the KTM’s needing to turn their fuel mapping to it’s second mapping, Acosta would be caught out as Bagnaia and Binder closed and passed the Spaniard for fourth and fifth.

Alex Marquez began struggling for grip after running third for the majority of the race, with Bagnaia closing in on the Spaniard during the final 10 laps of the race. Tyre wear was a major concern for many on the grid, with dark grey rings appearing on the edges of the tyres.

Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez would collide with one another, with Marquez running deep into Turn 11, unable to see Bagnaia coming from the outside into Turn 12, the pair made contact on the inside, with the front of Alex Marquez’s bike lifting onto Bagnaia, trapping the Italian underneath the Gresini Ducati, violently hitting the reigning champion’s helmet. Bagnaia would be taken to the medical centre.

Pedro Acosta inherited third place, the Spaniard taking another podium in his rookie season, as KTM managed to finish on the podium once again, with Binder bringing it home in fourth for the Factory team.

Marquez would come home to take his first win in 1,043 days, the eight-time World Champion dominating the entire weekend, at the top of every single session across the entire weekend.

MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix – Results

1st Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
2nd Jorge Martin, Prima Pramac
3rd Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
4th Brad Binder, Red Bull Factory KTM
5th Enea Bastianini, Ducati
6th Franco Morbidelli, Prima Pramac
7th Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing
8th Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing
9th Jack Miller, Red Bull Factory KTM
10th Alex Rins, Yamaha
11th Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia
12th Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
13th Augusto Fernandez, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
14th Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
15th Joan Mir, Repsol Honda
16th Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Aprilia
17th Luca Marini, Repsol Honda
DNF Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
DNF Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
DNF Maverick Vinales, Aprilia
DNF Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha
DNF Miguel Oliveira, Trackhouse Aprilia

Featured Image: Red Bull Content Pool