The slap yesterday was heavy, but so was the response. Pecco Bagnaia has demonstrated once again that there is a reason why he was the one who took home the last two MotoGP world titles, because the victory achieved in Jerez, at the home of his Spanish rivals, was a true masterpiece.
A heavy success, the 20th of his career, because it brings him back to just 17 points behind leader Jorge Martin, who crashed with 15 laps to go when he was in the lead and was trying to resist the Piedmontese. But also because he prevailed over a tough nut to crack like Marc Marquez at the end of an exciting duel to say the least.
Bagnaia got off to a great start from the third row, managing to turn fourth at first braking. But it was at the braking point at turn 6 that he made it clear what his intentions were today, because in one fell swoop he overtook both Marco Bezzecchi and Martin on the outside, placing himself in Marquez's tail.
And at turn 13 he also attempted to overtake the #93, but ended up wide and allowed him to cross. The two then faced each other again at turn 1 of the second lap and in their crossing of trajectories Martin took advantage of it to pass them both and take the lead ahead of Pecco and Marc.
For several laps, Bagnaia gave the sensation of having more than Martin, but without ever managing to find the gap to overtake the Prima Pramac Racing standard-bearer. Behind them, however, Marquez seemed to have felt the pinch, because he was also overtaken by Bezzecchi for third position.
The big twist came precisely 15 laps from the end, when “Martinator” exaggerated when braking at turn 6, turning a bit wide and losing the front just to resist the pressure of Bagnaia, who in the meantime had built a margin of about a second over the two pursuers and therefore found himself in the lead alone.
But this is where Marquez tried to change pace: after getting rid of Bezzecchi he slowly started to make up for it with fast laps, despite Bagnaia trying to respond to him blow for blow. Six laps from the end the reunion came and a lap later Marquez tried at turn 8, but ended up wide, giving the intersection to a Bagnaia who didn't give up and there was even a slight contact between the two at turn 9.
A lap later there was a reply, but this time Pecco managed to make the immediate crossing in turn 8. And it is here that the Piedmontese made the difference, because on the 23rd of the 25 scheduled laps he was able to unleash a sensational 1'37″449, a new race record on the Andalusian track, once again creating a margin of just under half a second which he then managed to manage until the end to achieve a huge success. Perhaps the best of his career in the premier class.
However, it is also an important Sunday for Marquez, because he demonstrated that he is ready to fight for victory aboard the Ducati and in the end it only took four races. Among other things, after the podiums in the Sprints, this is the first in a long race with the Gresini Racing GP23, so it has great symbolic value. It is no coincidence that he went to celebrate it by climbing the nets in the corner where his fan club was present.
So far we have perhaps talked about it too little, but it was a spectacular Sunday also for Marco Bezzecchi, who finally found the feeling he was looking for with the GP23 of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 and in the end was rewarded with a podium that he had been missing since the Grand Prix of Indonesia last year. A result he really needed.
At the foot of the podium is Alex Marquez with the second Gresini Racing Ducati, while completing the very strong team of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer is Enea Bastianini, who quietly keeps himself in the fight for the title with his 22 points late, although this time he was unable to keep up with the pace of the best.
The first “intruder” in the Ducati party is Brad Binder, who with his KTM managed to place sixth, managing in turn to keep himself -33 from Martin. Behind him are Fabio Di Giannantonio, who completed the good day of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 with seventh place, and Miguel Oliveira, in his first good race since he started wearing the colors of Trackhouse Racing. Just think that the Portuguese was the first Aprilia rider.
In fact, in his wake there is Maverick Vinales, who, like Pedro Acosta, tenth, was unable to capitalize too much on Martin's zero. The GasGas Tech3 driver also paid for a crash suffered on the first lap by Johann Zarco and is now at -23, but every now and then we can grant a “normal” race to a 19 year old boy who is only at the beginning of his career . The Aprilia standard-bearer, however, is now at -29.
Points also for Honda, which placed Alex Rins in 12th place and Takaaki Nakagami in 14th, but also for Yamaha with Alex Rins 13th and Fabio Quartararo 15th. Luca Marini, however, is still out of the points, 17th and last at the finish line, also behind test driver Stefan Bradl and over 40 seconds behind.
There will then be discussion about a couple of accidents that occurred in the center of the group, both of which occurred at Turn 5 and involved first Aleix Espargaro and Zarco, then Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller. Both will be discussed with the commissioners after the race.
#MotoGP #Bagnaia #resists #Marquez #triumphs #Jerez #Martin #falls
