MotoGP

Bagnaia dominates home MotoGP race at Mugello

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
8 min read

Pecco Bagnaia reasserted his control over the MotoGP 2023 title race with a home Italian Grand Prix win, leading a Ducati 1-2-3-4.

Bagnaia only briefly ceded the lead on the opening lap and always looked well on course for victory throughout the remaining 22 tours.

A customary Jack Miller/KTM lightning start had elevated the Aussie to the lead into San Donato, only for Bagnaia to retaliate immediately through Luco, in a move that proved crucial to his early lead.

With his former team-mate serving as something of a rolling roadblock over the rest of that lap, Bagnaia was already four tenths clear when Jorge Martin breezed past Miller’s KTM on the main straight beginning the second lap.

Miller then had the same effect for Martin, holding up the chasers to create a buffer behind second place – and Martin even briefly closed in on Bagnaia before the gap largely stabilised at half a second.

But that was with Bagnaia running a medium rear tyre and Martin using the soft instead, and eventually Bagnaia predictably extended his advantage, before managing the gap to the chequered flag.

He wound up 1.067s clear of Martin’s Pramac-run Ducati.

The real intrigue was in the battle for the final podium spot.

Kicking off lap three, Alex Marquez had arrived at San Donato out of control in the slipstream of three bikes ahead and very fortunately threaded the needle between VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini and brother Marc Marquez before running out wide and making minor contact with Miller as he tried to retake the line.

This incensed Miller, who was compromised in his opportunity to fight back against Marini and the elder Marquez, relegated to fifth and soon overtaken by the younger Marquez as well.

It set up a third-place battle between the trio that quickly shed one of its participants, as Marc Marquez crashed his Honda while trying to carry more speed than Marini with a wider line through Bucine – ending up stood in the gravel with his arms outstretched in annoyance towards the crashed RC213V.

Marc’s exit meant Marini – managing a painful thumb injury from Le Mans – soon came under pressure from Alex instead, the Gresini Ducati man sending it down the inside of San Donato on lap 12, only to leave enough of a gap on exit for Marini to squeeze back through.

On the following lap, the move was more successful, Alex Marquez managing a tighter line through the corner – but he failed to break away over the next two laps before falling at Luco while under pressure from Marini.

But while the VR46 rider inherited third, a new podium contender had emerged by then in Johann Zarco, having fought through from outside the top 10.

Marini managed to keep the Frenchman at bay for a handful of laps, and outbraked him in a side-by-side San Donato duel before being forced to yield on exit of Poggio Secco. He stayed with Zarco for a bit longer before throwing in the towel on the penultimate lap, settling for fourth.

It meant an 18th podium finish for Zarco, who nevertheless remains in a quest for a first career win.

Brad Binder scored the first points of his weekend in fifth for KTM, followed by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – both of them having worked their way past Miller, who wound up seventh.

VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi, who had challenged Bagnaia for the win in the sprint, made minimal progress during the race, consigned to an eighth-place finish that means he is now 21 points down on Bagnaia in the standings – and just three points up on Martin.

Ducati returnee Enea Bastianini picked up ninth place in what was his first grand prix start of the season after a long injury absence.

He fought off the two Yamahas of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo, with Morbidelli ultimately getting the better of Quartararo for 10th.

A disappointing weekend for Maverick Vinales ended with a dispiriting 12th place, while Takaaki Nakagami was the sole Honda finisher – with LCR team-mate Alex Rins out with a brutal leg injury, Joan Mir also sidelined and Marc Marquez crashing out – in 13th.

The only rider to crash out besides the Marquez brothers was Miguel Oliveira, the RNF Aprilia rider – likewise returning from an absence – walking away slowly but seemingly unhurt after the accident.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 23 23 41m16.863s 1m46.807s 0 25
2 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 23 0 +1.067s 1m46.824s 0 20
3 Johann Zarco Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 23 0 +1.977s 1m47.012s 0 16
4 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 23 0 +4.625s 1m46.898s 0 13
5 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 23 0 +8.925s 1m47.191s 0 11
6 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 23 0 +10.908s 1m47s 0 10
7 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 23 0 +10.999s 1m47.387s 0 9
8 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 23 0 +12.654s 1m47.268s 0 8
9 Enea Bastianini Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 23 0 +17.102s 1m47.675s 0 7
10 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 23 0 +17.61s 1m47.344s 0 6
11 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 23 0 +17.861s 1m47.624s 0 5
12 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 23 0 +19.11s 1m47.54s 0 4
13 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 23 0 +21.947s 1m47.714s 0 3
14 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 23 0 +25.906s 1m47.517s 0 2
15 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM 23 0 +26.5s 1m48.012s 0 1
16 Michele Pirro Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 23 0 +30.15s 1m48.093s 0 0
17 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 23 0 +38.001s 1m47.572s 0 0
18 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia Racing Aprilia 23 0 +38.662s 1m47.968s 0 0
19 Jonas Folger GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM 23 0 +1m18.912s 1m49.618s 0 0
Alex Marquez Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 14 0 DNF 1m46.807s 0 0
Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 10 0 DNF 1m47.296s 0 0
Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 5 0 DNF 1m46.88s 0 0
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