The Catalan Grand Prix Review
It was a dream 1-2 for Aprilia at the Catalan Grand Prix with Aleix Espargaro leading the Noale factory to victory after frightening first lap crashes involving six Ducati riders.
Image via motogp.com
It was a five rider pile-up on the first corner with Factory Ducati’s Enea Bastianini being the guilty party as he made contact with Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco which then triggered collisions with the Gresini Ducati bikes of Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio along with the VR46 Ducati of Marco Bezzecchi.
Whilst we were still reeling from the drama of the first corner, Francesco Bagnaia was leading into Turn 2 when he had a massive highside off his Ducati. He landed in the middle of the track and the rest of the pack had to work hard to avoid him. Unfortunately, Brad Binder was unable to avoid Bagnaia with the KTM hitting the Italian in the legs.
Image via @SiennaWedes on Twitter
The race was red flagged, and the ambulance was brought onto the track to transport Bagnaia to the medical centre. Thankfully, Bagnaia managed to escape any serious injuries and in true MotoGP rider fashion, is looking to be fit for Misano next week.
The Factory Ducati pair of Bagnaia and Bastianini both missed the restarted race as they were both receiving treatment in the medical centre. Bastianini was given a long-lap penalty for the first corner incident which presumably will carry over to the next race which he competes.
Saturday’s sprint winner Aleix Espargaro lost out at the original start but for the restart he was much quicker off the line. However, Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati was still quicker and was leading into the first corner.
It was then Maverick Vinales who having overtaken his teammate Espargaro, launched up the inside of Martin to take the lead. Just two laps later, Espargaro forced Martin into a wide line and took 2nd making it an Aprilia 1-2.
There was another lunge on Jorge Martin but this time it was Miguel Oliveira to make it a historic Aprilia top-three lockout. However, the 2022-spec RNF Aprilia was unable to keep up with the pace and ultimately was passed by Jorge Martin for 3rd.
Whilst Martin and Oliveira were battling for 3rd, Espargaro had reeled in Vinales and it was an all Factory Aprilia battle for the victory. It wasn’t until lap 20 that Espargaro was able to pass his teammate at Turn 1.
Espargaro pulled over a second clear of Vinales before dropping his pace late on and crossing the line with four tenths over his teammate.
This made for Aprilia’s first MotoGP 1-2 with the Pramac Ducati boys destroying any hopes of an all Aprilia podium lockout with Martin rounding off the podium and his teammate Zarco coming home in 4th.
Image via motogp.com
Oliveira came home in 5th ahead of Alex Marquez who recovered nicely after the first lap crash with the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo finishing in a respectable 7th after another dire weekend for the Japanese factory.
Jack Miller had a strong start but was forced to yield to both Alex Marquez and Quartararo and brought the Factory KTM home in 8th. Augusto Fernandez on the KTM and Fabio Di Giannantonio on the Ducati rounded out the top 10.
The VR46 boys came home in 11th and 12th with Luca Marini leading Marco Bezzecchi who struggled with soft compound tires after being forced to switch bikes after the first lap crash.
Marc Marquez was the top Honda finishing in 13th at his home grand prix. He was followed by Franco Morbidelli on the Factory Yamaha in 14th, Taka Nakagami on the LCR Honda in 15th , Iker Lecuona on the LCR Honda and Joan Mir on the Repsol Honda was the last of the finishers in 16th place.
There were no more crashes after the first lap incidents but there were three mechanical retirements; Pol Espargaro on the Tech3 GasGas, Raul Fernandez on the RNF Aprilia and KTM’s Brad Binder who immediately made his way to the medical centre to check up on Bagnaia.
The action continues this weekend in Misano for the Italian Grand Prix and with Francesco Bagnaia still healing from his monster crash, is this where we see the championship shift? Tune in this weekend to find out!
