The Sprint chronicle
After the three-place penalty that he will have to serve tomorrow on the grid for the Italian Grand Prix following the episode with Alex Marquez in practice, Francesco Bagnaia he immediately redeemed himself with victory in today’s Sprint in his home GP. The reigning world champion, after taking the lead at the start from his direct rival Jorge Martin, never relinquished the lead until the checkered flag, in an 11-lap race characterized by two twists.
The first relating to the Ducati double which was lost for the Enea Bastianini crash on the 2nd lap at the San Donato after an attempt to overtake Martin from Romagna (an episode which initially ended under investigation but without sanctions communicated by the Race Direction, as in the case between Oliveira and Quartararo), but above all the second for the Martin himself crashed with four laps to go. An error, here too San Donatowhich gave 2nd place to Marc Marquez and the podium to Pedro Acostathus celebrating the announcement of his move to the KTM factory team for 2025. Bagnaia’s success, moreover, allows the Ducati rider to reduce the gap in the general classification over Martin to 27 points.
The words of the top-3
Francesco Bagnaia (1st, Ducati): “Amazing, I enjoyed every lap. The last part of the race was quite difficult, but honestly I really enjoyed it. The motorbike works perfectly. Tomorrow will still be tough, but finishing a Sprint race is always positive. AND first win after four GPs, and to win here again is truly incredible in front of this amazing crowd, I love them.”
Marc Marquez (2nd, Ducati-Gresini): “The pace seemed very good, it seems that Pecco has been faster than us since yesterday but we are always in 2nd or 3rd place. Today I started from fourth position, but the start wasn’t so good. For all the starting tests I struggled a bit throughout the weekend, but tomorrow we will try to fix something. The race pace was there, I feel good and we’ll see if tomorrow we can fight for the podium again.”
Pedro Acosta (3rd, KTM – GASGAS Tech3): “We improved a lot today, we were more competitive in qualifying and we improved a lot at the start. Today I was close to 2nd place, but I’m still very happy for the team who are working very well and all together we are taking this bike to the top. We are closer than we expected. Thanks also to everyone who works in the factory and to the engineers who work here to make us more and more competitive, we are on the right path.”
#Bagnaia #wins #home #Sprint #enjoyed #lap
