Bagnaia takes victory in MotoGP Emilia Romagna Sprint Race, closes to Martin in the championship

Francesco Bagnaia took a commanding victory against the rest of the MotoGP competitors as he duelled with Jorge Martin, eventually besting his fellow Ducati rider, and therefore closing to Martin in the World Championship.

Bagnaia had to overtake Martin at the tight and tough double right-handers at Turn 13 and 14 to take a vital victory against Martin in the championship, the pair now separated by a small handful of points.

After a relatively clean first lap for the field, Marc Marquez would make a fantastic start, immediately overtaking Marco Bezzecchi and coming through the field, also overtaking the KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder. Marquez finished the opening handful of laps in fourth place as the Spaniard set his sights on the podium places.

Jorge Martin also made an incredible start aboard his Ducati Desmosedici GP24, overtaking Francesco Bagnaia and taking the lead of the race, as Bagnaia was even overtaken by Brad Binder, before coming back on the South African at Turn 8. Meanwhile, Augusto Fernandez would fall through the field after a mistake on his Red Bull GasGas KTM.

Fabio Quartararo was among the other frontrunners to get a good start on his Yamaha, the Frenchman made his way into seventh place at the end of the first couple of laps after overtaking Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales.

Bagnaia would close to Martin at the halfway distance in the race, the pair separated by just a couple of tenths as Martin would make a mistake, running wide at Turns 13 and 14, as Bagnaia slipped underneath his fellow Ducati rider to take the lead of the race. Martin’s Prima Pramac bike had seemingly been set up in a way that allowed the Spaniard to take a lot of speed coming out of the corner, whereas the Ducati of Bagnaia seemed better adapted to speed on the straights.

Elsewhere further down the field, Joan Mir would be given a long lap penalty after exceeding track limits. This would be a familiar sight, as Raul Fernandez also picked up a long lap penalty, with almost half of the grid being given a warning for track limits.

Enea Bastianini would have a similar sprint race at Misano compared to the race just two weeks ago, the Italian closing down on both Martin and his teammate Francesco Bagnaia in the closing stages. Bastianini will certainly pose as a threat to the frontrunners with his frequent ability to conserve tyre grip and come through at the end of a race to challenge the other riders.

Marc Marquez would bring his Gresini Ducati home for a strong fourth place finish, only just ahead of Pedro Acosta after running deep at Turn 13 and 14. Acosta would finish in fifth, leading his future teammate Brad Binder across the line for sixth, as Fabio Quartararo finished inside the points aboard his Yamaha. Quartararo is the sole Yamaha rider this weekend after Alex Rins has been forced to pull out from the race weekend.

Marco Bezzecchi would finish eighth to pick up some more points, evidently the VR46 Ducati struggling with acceleration and the race start compared to other motorcycles. Franco Morbidelli would finish in ninth to round out the points-paying positions, with Maverick Vinales completing the Top 10 as the highest Aprilia rider. Luca Marini would lead the rest of the Honda’s to the chequered flag, albeit in 17th place and well outside the points.

MotoGP Emilia Romagna Sprint Race Results

1st Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
2nd Jorge Martin, Prima Pramac
3rd Enea Bastianini, Ducati
4th Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
5th Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GasGas KTM
6th Brad Binder, Red Bull Factory KTM
7th Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha
8th Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing
9th Franco Morbidelli, Prima Pramac
10th Maverick Vinales, Aprilia
11th Miguel Oliveira, Trackhouse Racing
12th Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia
13th Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing
14th Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
15th Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing
16th Jack Miller, Red Bull Factory KTM
17th Luca Marini, Repsol Honda
18th Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
19th Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
20th Augusto Fernandez, Red Bull GasGas KTM
21st Joan Mir, Repsol Honda

MotoGP returns on Sunday afternoon at 12pm UK time for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Featured Image: Ducati Corse Media