The Sprint continues to give a show and this time it subverts all predictions. In fact, Brad Binder won the race at Termas de Rio Hondo, despite his KTM starting from the 15th position on the starting grid.
Once again the South African rider was capable of a feline sprint and moved into the leading group within a few corners (he was fifth at the first braking point). After granting a brief spell in the lead to an excellent Franco Morbidelli, he got in front to dictate the pace.
To the point that, a couple of laps from the end of the 12 scheduled, he seemed to have the victory already in hand, but he hadn’t reckoned with Marco Bezzecchi, who after a long run that had cost him several positions in the middle of the race, unleashed a pace qualifying (he was the only one to lap under 1’39”).
Finding himself sixth, the rider of the Mooney VR46 climbed the positions with grit, until he was second with two and a half laps to go, slipping past his teammate Luca Marini, who had just gotten rid of Morbidelli. At that point he too tried to throw his heart over the obstacle and came really close to the feat, because his race ended just 72 thousandths from a Binder who deserved the success anyway.
After a long run-up, Luca Marini finally managed to score his first podium in MotoGP, albeit in a Sprint, third at the checkered flag, thus completing a truly memorable Saturday for the Mooney VR46. In the end, however, Morbidelli had to settle for the “wooden” medal, but seeing him fight again with a knife between his teeth was really nice: this is the Franco we always want to see.
Instead, Pecco Bagnaia’s race wasn’t particularly brilliant, in the end sixth after being beaten in the sprint by poleman Alex Marquez, with whom he battled for practically the entire race. However, the general feeling is that at the moment the GP22s, being bikes already at the end of their development, may have a little more than the GP23s on a track with little grip like the Argentine one, given that Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco also finished only eighth and 13th .
For Pecco, however, these are precious points, which keep him at the top of the championship standings with a 13-point lead over Maverick Vinales. And it is precisely with the Spaniard that we can talk about today’s discordant note, namely Aprilia: after having got the wrong tire strategy in qualifying, the RS-GPs were unable to recover even in the race, with Maverick seventh and Aleix Espargaro who was instead slipped in the final part of the race. However, it must be said that Vinales had lost a wing in the battle and therefore his bike could not be at 100%.
Fabio Quartararo also brought home a small point, but the Yamaha rider never managed to slip into the leading group, always remaining in command of the pursuers. The fact that he doesn’t like the Argentine track is known, but more and more is expected of him. Things went much worse for Joan Mir: the new Honda factory rider crashed during the first lap and was taken to the medical center because he came out quite bruised from the accident.
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