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MotoGP

Bagnaia gets fourth straight MotoGP win in Misano photo-finish

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
5 min read

until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League

Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia picked up his fourth MotoGP win on the trot, seeing off Enea Bastianini by just 0.034s at the finish.

Bagnaia had to soak up pressure for virtually the entirety of the race, first fighting back Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and then just staying ahead of Bastianini, whose Gresini team campaigned a striking white livery in tribute to its late founder Fausto Gresini.

The win elevates Bagnaia to second place in the standings, leaving him 30 points behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo and three points ahead of Aleix Espargaro.

The polesitting Ducati of Jack Miller had stayed in the lead after the start and through the opening lap, but the Aussie’s victory bid proved shortlived, Miller falling at the Rio right-hander at the start of the second tour while under pressure from Bastianini.

But Bastianini nearly threw his year-old Desmosedici GP21 down the road himself on that very same lap, and a lap later Bagnaia – who had moved up from fifth to third at the start, effectively negating his grid penalty – overtook him down the inside of the Quercia corner.

Vinales followed through on Bastianini with an aggressive lunge a few corners later, getting right on the back of Bagnaia – whose pace up front allowed Bastianini and VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini to stay in touch, too, establishing a leading quartet that would run more or less in formation throughout the first half of the race.

Soon after the halfway point, Bastianini made an error and briefly dropped behind Marini, but swiftly reclaimed both the position and the ground he’d lost to the leading duo – with Marini swiftly beginning to drop off instead.

And ahead, Vinales suddenly began to struggle to keep up with Bagnaia, too, dropping half a second back and opening the door for Bastianini to strike at Turn 1 on lap 20.

It then took virtually no time for Bastianini, renowned for his late-race speed, to reel in Bagnaia, and the future works Ducati team-mates ran in close proximity until the very final lap.

On the last tour, Bastianini lost ground to Bagnaia by getting his braking wrong into Turn 4, but again made up the lost time in no time, mounting one more attack that ended up just short – with Bagnaia covering off the line through the final corner and prevailing in a drag race to the start-finish line.

Behind them, Vinales’ pace had dropped significantly once Bastianini had cleared him, and he ended up securing his third podium for Aprilia four seconds behind the duo.

Marini, whose VR46 team was running a special yellow livery on both bikes, picked up a second consecutive fourth place, fighting off Quartararo late on.

The Yamaha man had gained minimal ground at the start, but was soon up to fifth thanks to an Espargaro error exiting Turn 13 – yet didn’t have an answer for the pace of the leading Ducatis.

Espargaro himself ended up a lonely sixth for Aprilia, followed by Suzuki’s Alex Rins, KTM’s Brad Binder, Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin and LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez – who inherited the spot courtesy of a late track limits-induced long-lap penalty for KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.

Behind Oliveira, Petronas Yamaha rider Andrea Dovizioso called time on his MotoGP career with a 12th-place finish.

Suzuki’s debutant Kazuki Watanabe, standing in for the injured Joan Mir, ended the race a lapped 21st.

Early in the race, Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco’s terrible launch ended up the catalyst for three retirements, as Zarco came together with Binder on the inside of Turn 1 and went down, taking Honda’s Pol Espargaro and Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro with him.

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Another multi-bike crash followed two laps later, Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli – who had ended a lengthy Q2 drought on Saturday – colliding with Gresini Ducati rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio, who unlike Morbidelli managed to rejoin.

Another Ducati rookie – VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi – fell out of contention in the early going at Turn 10 while running fourth.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 27 25 41m43.199s 1m31.933s 0 25
2 Enea Bastianini Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 27 1 +0.034s 1m31.868s 0 20
3 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 27 0 +4.212s 1m32.19s 0 16
4 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 27 0 +5.283s 1m32.145s 0 13
5 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 27 0 +5.771s 1m32.125s 0 11
6 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 27 0 +10.23s 1m32.409s 0 10
7 Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 27 0 +12.496s 1m32.398s 0 9
8 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 27 0 +14.661s 1m32.408s 0 8
9 Jorge Martin Pramac Racing Ducati 27 0 +17.732s 1m32.639s 0 7
10 Alex Marquez LCR Honda Castrol Honda 27 0 +21.986s 1m32.898s 0 6
11 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 27 0 +23.685s 1m32.62s 0 5
12 Andrea Dovizioso WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 27 0 +29.276s 1m33.068s 0 4
13 Raul Fernandez Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 27 0 +30.433s 1m33.159s 0 3
14 Stefan Bradl Repsol Honda Team Honda 27 0 +31.768s 1m33.126s 0 2
15 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 27 0 +32.547s 1m32.859s 0 1
16 Darryn Binder WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 27 0 +41.857s 1m33.203s 0 0
17 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 27 0 +50.559s 1m32.801s 0 0
18 Jack Miller Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 27 1 +53.371s 1m32.922s 0 0
19 Remy Gardner Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 27 0 +56.613s 1m33.385s 0 0
20 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 27 0 +57.304s 1m32.887s 0 0
21 Kazuki Watanabe Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 26 0 +1 lap 1m35.228s 0 0
Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 2 0 DNF 1m34.468s 0 0
Johann Zarco Pramac Racing Ducati 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
Michele Pirro Aruba.it Racing Ducati 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
Pol Espargaró Repsol Honda Team Honda 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
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