The Catalan Grand Prix Review
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It was rookie Pedro Acosta that was the quickest off the line but going into Turn 1 he was no match for Francesco Bagnaia who, for the first time in 2 years, got safely through the first two corners of the Grand Prix.
Everyone made it through the first corner but, there was work to do for Alex Rins who missed Jorge Martin by inches and was forced wide. Martin emerged in 4th place and through just the first sector alone, Marc Marquez had made up three places from his P14 start.
Raul Fernandez had a tough start to the race going from P3 to P8 on the first lap. Acosta continued to follow Bagnaia closely waiting for his moment to pounce whilst Jorge Martin was sitting in P3 behind the leading two.
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It was Lap 3 when Acosta decided to make a move on the world champion, but Bagnaia wasn’t letting the rookie away that easily and quickly made a move back. Jack Miller’s poor season continued with a crash out of the race on Lap 3.
With Acosta remaining in P2, Jorge Martin saw his chance and made a move on the rookie to take P2 on Lap 4. It was just one lap later that Martin overtook Bagnaia for the lead of the race.
Whilst all this was happening at the front, Marc Marquez was stuck in P8 behind Franco Morbidelli and there were plenty of worries for his soft tyre gamble. Acosta hit back at Bagnaia on Lap 6 and took P2.
The home hero Aleix Espargaro had a poor start but was beginning to make moves to get back to the front. Fellow Aprillia rider, Raul Fernandez, was also having his best MotoGP weekend fighting inside the top 5.
It all came crashing down on Lap 11 for Acosta as he slid out of contention at Turn 10. After the race in his media debrief, Acosta told the media that the crash was caused by a technical problem with the front of the bike. He was able to remount, and he would eventually still finish within the points.
Marc Marquez was finally making his way through the field with an easy move on a struggling Brad Binder on Lap 12 to take P5.
With 7 laps to go, the gap between leader Martin and P2 man Bagnaia was down to just 3 tenths. Marc Marquez was also there to take P4 from Raul Fernandez.
On Lap 19 of 24, Bagnaia retook the lead of the race from Martin and immediately started gapping him. Bagnaia and Martin both wanted to win this race, but it was Bagnaia who really needed to win it after his last lap blunder on the final lap of the sprint.
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On Lap 21 Marc Marquez took the final place on the podium from Aleix Espargaro. Understandably, Espargaro didn’t give up easily, wanting a final home podium before he retires at the end of this season.
Bagnaia crossed the line as the race winner to redeem himself in Barcelona with Jorge Martin finishing in P2. It was Marc Marquez that held onto P3 after another astonishing comeback from P14.
Aleix Espargaro finished his final home Grand Prix in 4th place after an emotional weekend. Fabio Di Giannantonio had another strong race with a P5 finish followed by Raul Fernandez who rounded off a strong weekend in P6.
It was the younger Marquez brother Alex Marquez who finished in P7 just ahead of Brad Binder who struggled with tyre degradation.
Enea Bastianini crossed the line in P9 but was later given a 32 second penalty for ignoring a long lap penalty, then a double long lap penalty, then a ride through penalty for gaining time through a shortcut. It was later revealed by Bastianini that he was deliberately ignoring the penalties during the race in an act of defiance as he believed he didn’t deserve them due to the trip through the shortcut being caused by another rider pushing him wide.
Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top 10 and was noticeably happy with the weekend as a whole given that Yamaha look like they’re making progress. Miguel Oliveira finished in P11 with Marco Bezzecchi behind him in P12 and Maverick Vinales in P13 after a poor start put him down in P18.
Pedro Acosta managed to bring it home in P14 after remounting but he’ll certainly be hoping to fix any problems going into Mugello this weekend.
The ‘Japanese Cup’ continued at the back with the last 6 places being occupied by Honda and Yamaha riders. Takaaki Nakagami was the top finishing Honda in P15 with the finishing order behind him being Joan Mir, Johann Zarco, Luca Marini, test rider Stefan Bradl, and Yamaha rider Alex Rins.
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It was another exciting weekend in Barcelona, and we don’t have to wait long for the next one as we head to Mugello this weekend! The close fight at the front continues and the long-awaited news of who gets the second Factory Ducati seat is looming…
