Marquez Wins San Marino GP with wet weather conditions, Bagnaia closes to Martin after strategic disaster
Marc Marquez won the San Marino Grand Prix from 9th on the grid, with Francesco Bagnaia closing down the championship gap after Jorge Martin made a huge strategic error.
Light rain began falling on the formation lap, as the riders were allowed to change bikes to their wet weather setup. However, with the rain not quite strong enough, the riders all lined up on the grid in regular fashion.
It would be a chaotic start, with Jorge Martin getting a fantastic launch, immediately attacking his teammate Franco Morbidelli for second place, eventually getting past Morbidelli. Pedro Acosta would crash at the end of the opening few laps after managing to duel with the leaders for the podium places, the Spaniard going down at Turn 14 after running wide on the entry to the corner.
After Morbidelli began settling into the race, closing down on his teammate, he would eventually crash out of the race at Turn 1, as the rain began to fall even heavier around the Misano circuit.
With the riders struggling for grip, rain began falling even harder. Jorge Martin shockingly decided to come into the pits, followed by other riders throughout the field. However, Martin was around nine seconds slower than the leaders, with the wet weather tyres not taking any effect whatsoever. Martin would bring his Prima Pramac back into the pit lane to go back onto the slick tyres, eventually coming out of the pit lane an entire lap down from the leaders, in 15th place.
With the rain falling, Francesco Bagnaia would go much slower in the attempt to just score points in the championship, to close the 26 point lead that Jorge Martin had going into this race. Marc Marquez would come through to take the lead of the race, as Enea Bastianini, Alex Marquez, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo and Marco Bezzecchi all began duelling for the final podium place.
Martin would have Maverick Vinales on his tail in the last handful of laps, Vinales attempting to overtake Martin at Turn 4 on Lap 23 for the final points scoring position. Marc Marquez had extended his lead over Bagnaia to a couple of seconds, as the Spaniard looked to take back to back victories.
Marco Bezzecchi began hounding Alex Marquez for fifth place, eventually making it past the Spaniard on the penultimate lap, as Fabio Quartararo also got through on Jack Miller for seventh.
With the gaps established from the wet weather early on, Marquez would come home to take victory by three seconds ahead of Bagnaia, as Bastianini completed the podium to put both of the Factory Ducati’s on the podium.
Bagnaia’s second place finish puts him within seven points of Jorge Martin, as the Italian managed to gain on his championship rival by 19 points. Marc Marquez also puts himself on the edge of being a championship contender, with this victory putting him just 53 points down on Jorge Martin.
Honda scored one of their best race results, with Johann Zarco leading Takaaki Nakagami and Stefan Bradl to 12th, 13th and 14th.
MotoGP returns at Misano in just two weeks time.
MotoGP San Marino GP Results
1st Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
2nd Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
3rd Enea Bastianini, Ducati
4th Brad Binder, Red Bull Factory KTM
5th Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing
6th Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
7th Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha
8th Jack Miller, Red Bull Factory KTM
9th Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing
10th Pol Espargaro, Red Bull Factory KTM
11th Miguel Oliveira, Trackhouse Aprilia
12th Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
13th Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
14th Stefan Bradl, Honda Test Team
15th Jorge Martin, Prima Pramac
16th Maverick Vinales, Aprilia
17th Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
18th Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Aprilia
19th Alex Rins, Yamaha
DNF Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia
DNF Augusto Fernandez, Red Bull GasGas Tech3 KTM
DNF Franco Morbidelli, Prima Pramac
DNS Luca Marini, Repsol Honda
DNS Joan Mir, Repsol Honda
Featured Image: Red Bull Content Pool
