MotoGP

Bagnaia wins restarted Jerez MotoGP race after scary crash

5 min read

Pecco Bagnaia took victory in the Spanish Grand Prix after a well-coordinated ride, as former MotoGP championship leader Marco Bezzecchi crashed out.

The result means the factory Ducati rider has retaken the lead in the standings with a good response after crashing out of the lead in the Americas Grand Prix.

KTM duo Jack Miller and Brad Binder jumped into the lead at Turn 1 like they did in the sprint, and Binder took the lead at Turn 6 with a move down the inside of his team-mate.

Jerez MotoGP

However, Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira came together at Turn 2 in a terrifying crash which subsequently brought out the red flag.

Both riders were conscious after the incident, but Oliveira was taken to the medical centre for a check-up – and was later confirmed to have suffered a dislocated left shoulder.

Just as they did in Saturday’s sprint, the riders lined back up in their original grid positions for the restart, requiring the two KTMs to pull off another good start.

Quartararo was able to restart but was handed a long-lap penalty due to “irresponsible riding” in his collision with Oliveira.

This time around the KTMs again took to the front, with Binder leading from Miller and Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

Bagnaia made no hesitation in launching his attack on the leaders, quickly slotting into third at the end of the first lap.

The two KTMs continued to battle in the first phase of the race which allowed Bagnaia to close in on the fight, eventually passing Miller on lap five – much to the Australian’s frustration as the two made slight contact.

The reigning champion was forced to give the position back up to Miller thanks to the contact, all the while Binder sat quite comfortably out in the lead.

And as tyre wear crept in, Bezzecchi fell victim to a crash at Turn 6, all but confirming he would leave Jerez without the lead of the championship. There was also a fall out of the top five for Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco.

Back at the front Bagnaia began to pile on the pressure on race leader Binder with four laps to go, making the move for first at the final corner as he sent his Ducati up the inside.

Binder tried to remount a response on the last lap at the final corner but to no avail, as he and Miller rounded out the top three.

Martin couldn’t make his way past the KTM of Miller – who had sent him wide earlier at one point with an ultra-aggressive final-corner pass – and had to settle for fourth ahead of Espargaro, Luca Marini and KTM wildcard Dani Pedrosa.

Alex Marquez ended his race in eighth, ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.

Quartararo’s afternoon got no better following his long-lap penalty as he was given yet another one for serving his original incorrectly, but a strong recovery saw him finish 10th ahead of team-mate Franco Morbidelli.

Fabio Di Giannantonio finished 12th, getting the better of Augusto Fernandez and Stefan Bradl, as Raul Fernandez rounded out the points finishers, just 0.382s ahead of Honda stand-in Iker Lecuona. The other injury stand-in, Jonas Folger, was another 10 seconds back in 17th.

Alex Rins’ weekend was a shadow of his win at Austin as he suffered a fall on the first lap at Turn 9 and was shortly followed by factory Honda rider Joan Mir, who crashed on lap two.

Meanwhile, Maverick Vinales’ chain snapped on his Aprilia on the last lap of the race meaning he failed to reach the finish.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 24 4 39m29.085s 1m37.989s 0 25
2 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 24 18 +0.221s 1m38.211s 0 20
3 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 24 2 +1.119s 1m38.037s 0 16
4 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 24 0 +1.942s 1m38.272s 0 13
5 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 24 0 +4.76s 1m38.142s 0 11
6 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 24 0 +6.329s 1m38.439s 0 10
7 Dani Pedrosa Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 24 0 +6.371s 1m38.241s 0 9
8 Alex Marquez Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 24 0 +14.952s 1m38.735s 0 8
9 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 24 0 +15.692s 1m38.58s 0 7
10 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 24 0 +15.846s 1m38.575s 0 6
11 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 24 0 +17.209s 1m38.59s 0 5
12 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 24 0 +17.911s 1m38.614s 0 4
13 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM 24 0 +19.01s 1m38.796s 0 3
14 Stefan Bradl Repsol Honda Team Honda 24 0 +27.294s 1m39.07s 0 2
15 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 24 0 +36.371s 1m38.884s 0 1
16 Iker Lecuona Repsol Honda Team Honda 24 0 +36.753s 1m39.408s 0 0
17 Jonas Folger GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM 24 0 +47.146s 1m40.026s 0 0
Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 23 0 DNF 1m38.372s 0 0
Johann Zarco Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 16 0 DNF 1m38.26s 0 0
Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 16 0 DNF 1m38.4s 0 0
Alex Rins LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 2 0 DNF 1m41.23s 0 0
Joan Mir Repsol Honda Team Honda 1 0 DNF 0s 0 0
Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
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