MotoGP

Bastianini wins at Aragon, Quartararo out in Marquez crash

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
5 min read

Enea Bastianini passed Ducati stablemate Francesco Bagnaia on the final lap to win the Aragon MotoGP race, as points leader Fabio Quartararo exited on the opening lap.

Quartararo had dropped one position after the start and found the returning Marc Marquez right ahead of him despite the six-time champion having lined up three rows back.

And when Marquez then caught a rear slide coming out of Turn 3, his Honda slowed enough to leave Quartararo with nowhere to go – with the championship leader’s race ending then and there as he was launched off his Yamaha.

While the luckless Quartararo then apparently had another crash as he headed to the paddock as a passenger on a marshal’s scooter, Marquez’s race continued for another lap and he was involved in another major incident.

As his now-damaged RC213V “locked” coming out of Turn 7 once he tried to engage the holeshot device, he ended up squeezing Honda stablemate Takaaki Nakagami onto the kerb, with contact eventually following that sent Nakagami sliding across the racing line into the reverse corkscrew, narrowly avoided by the rest of the pack.

Marquez’s Honda continued to shed parts in the meantime, and he called it a day – heading to the LCR box to apologise to Nakagami’s crew.

Ahead of the mid-pack chaos, Bagnaia had kept the lead off the line despite a better launch from team-mate Jack Miller – and Miller was then picked off by the fast-starting KTM of Brad Binder.

The Aussie was back through on Binder at the start of the third lap, but Gresini Ducati rider Bastianini followed through on the next tour, before taking care of Miller at Turn 15 two laps later and setting off after Bagnaia.

Francesco Bagnaia Enea Bastianini Ducati Gresini MotoGP

On lap eight, he was already past his 2023 team-mate Bagnaia at Turn 1, but he made a mess of Turn 12 on that same tour to hand the lead back to Bagnaia, with a couple of messy subsequent corners allowing the works Ducati man to grow his lead to nearly a second as Bastianini fought off Binder.

However, Bastianini was soon making inroads on Bagnaia’s lead again and, though at one point the factory Ducati’s advantage looked to have stabilised, Bastianini eventually got close enough to put massive massive pressure on Bagnaia in the final laps.

After a couple of aborted looks on the back straight, Bastianini pulled the plug with a Turn 7 move on the on the final lap, before fighting off Bagnaia on the run to the line to win by 0.042s.

Behind them, Aleix Espargaro took his first podium since Mugello by passing Binder, who had spent most of the race in third after re-overtaking Miller, on the penultimate lap.

Miller completed the top five behind Binder and ahead of a trio of fellow Ducati riders in Jorge Martin (Pramac), Luca Marini (VR46) and Johann Zarco (Pramac).

Alex Rins as the sole Suzuki following Joan Mir’s withdrawal was ninth, while Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) made it seven Ducatis in the top 10.

Espargaro’s Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales was only 13th, compromised by Nakagami’s slide at the reverse corkscrew early on. Behind him was RNF Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow, who on his return to MotoGP finished as the top Yamaha rider.

In a sliver of good news for Yamaha, though Quartararo was seen limping once back in the paddock, team manager Lin Jarvis confirmed during the race that the Frenchman had sustained no major injuries and only had “chest abrasions” – and said indicated his rider would be fully fit for next weekend’s race at Motegi.

Quartararo now has 10 points in hand over Bagnaia and 17 over Espargaro, with Bastianini potentially featuring as an outside contender – trailing by 48 points with five races to go.

In the constructors’ standings, meanwhile, Ducati has secured the title already, marking its third such success in a row.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Enea Bastianini Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 23 1 41m35.462s 1m47.929s 0 25
2 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 23 22 +0.042s 1m48.076s 0 20
3 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 23 0 +6.139s 1m48.036s 0 16
4 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 23 0 +6.379s 1m48.092s 0 13
5 Jack Miller Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 23 0 +6.964s 1m48.142s 0 11
6 Jorge Martin Pramac Racing Ducati 23 0 +12.03s 1m48.166s 0 10
7 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 23 0 +12.474s 1m47.795s 0 9
8 Johann Zarco Pramac Racing Ducati 23 0 +12.655s 1m48.321s 0 8
9 Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 23 0 +12.702s 1m48.011s 0 7
10 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 23 0 +16.15s 1m48.222s 0 6
11 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 23 0 +17.071s 1m48.435s 0 5
12 Alex Marquez LCR Honda Castrol Honda 23 0 +18.463s 1m48.221s 0 4
13 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 23 0 +18.73s 1m48.436s 0 3
14 Cal Crutchlow WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 23 0 +20.09s 1m48.398s 0 2
15 Pol Espargaró Repsol Honda Team Honda 23 0 +27.588s 1m48.376s 0 1
16 Remy Gardner Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 23 0 +28.805s 1m48.586s 0 0
17 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 23 0 +30.422s 1m48.755s 0 0
18 Darryn Binder WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 23 0 +31.33s 1m48.565s 0 0
19 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 23 0 +31.595s 1m48.733s 0 0
20 Raul Fernandez Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 23 0 +36.16s 1m48.505s 0 0
Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 1 0 DNF 0s 0 0
Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
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