This time Jorge Martin wasn’t even enough to start better than Pecco Bagnaia, because the desire of the reigning world champion to win in his Misano, especially after not being able to do so in the San Marino Grand Prix, was too strong. A fourth seasonal success in a tough Sprint for the Ducati rider, who sends a message to his rival in the title race, closing the gap in the standings to 4 points.
Just like two weeks ago, the Piedmontese did not have a brilliant start, because at the start of the short race of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix he was not only overtaken by Martin, but also by Brad Binder’s KTM. Although he only needed a few corners to get rid of the South African, these were enough for “Martinator” to immediately try to create a small gap.
Nothing that was unbridgeable for Bagnaia, who in the space of a couple of laps glued his Desmosedici GP to the tailpiece of the Prima Pramac Racing. The script seemed destined to be similar to that of the last Sprint, when the Italian had tried to tail the Spaniard, giving in to the fact that staying too close was risky due to the increase in temperature and pressure of the front tire.
This time, however, Pecco tried to put pressure on his rival and the move paid off, because first Martin received a track limits warning and then made a mistake with six laps to go, going wide at turn 13. And Pecco was good at being ready to take advantage of the opportunity and take a lead that he never gave up until the checkered flag, even managing to keep his rival within a small safety margin.
Behind the two title contenders, Enea Bastianini acted as a bit of a spectator. He too got rid of Binder almost immediately, but then remained about a second behind the leading tandem for the entire race, finally taking home yet another podium finish in a season in which consistency seems to be his main weapon.
Marc Marquez managed to partially patch up this morning’s poor qualifying. With a good start, he quickly moved into fifth place and then passed Binder quite quickly. Once fourth, however, it was clear that his pace was not up to the top three and the gap of over five seconds at the finish line clearly confirms this.
Behind the “usual” four Ducatis there was a family battle between the KTMs, with Pedro Acosta not exactly using kid gloves to get the better of Binder with a nice overtaking move at turn 10. The Austrian manufacturer, therefore, took the palm of chasing the Reds today, even if in their slipstream was once again Fabio Quartararo.
Yamaha’s step forward was confirmed again today, with “El Diablo” keeping pace with the RC16s and leaving behind the two Ducatis of Marco Bezzecchi and Franco Morbidelli, the latter disappointing after the podium in the Sprint two weeks ago. Now, however, this progress of the M1 will have to be confirmed in a week’s time at Mandalika, on a different track than Misano.
The Aprilias, therefore, remained outside the points zone, with the trio made up of Maverick Vinales, Miguel Oliveira and Aleix Espargaro occupying positions between 11th and 13th, followed by Fabio Di Giannantonio, who gritted his teeth with his sore shoulder, but finished far from the best.
Little joy also for Luca Marini, who in his own small way won the “Honda Cup”, finishing 16th as the best among the Japanese manufacturer’s riders. The gap of 20 seconds in just 13 laps of the race says that there is still a lot of work to do to improve the RC213V.
#MotoGP #Bagnaia #beats #Martin #takes #Sprint #Misano
