Ducati 1-2-3-4-5 in MotoGP sprint at Mugello

MotoGP championship leader Pecco Bagnaia led a Ducati top-five lockout in the Italian Grand Prix sprint at Mugello.

Bagnaia didn’t quite lead lights-to-flag but was ultimately in control in a race that took a turn for the frantic early on – when drops of rain helped create a lot of pace uncertainty and shuffling of positions – before settling down.

Starting from pole after his record lap earlier today, Bagnaia kept the lead off the line, but briefly ceded the lead to Jorge Martin once the sprinkling of rain became significant enough to bring out the white flags.

Riders ARE allowed to change bikes! 🚨

Rain flags are out! 🌧️#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/Mg6KJhxprD

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 10, 2023

He was under attack from KTM’s Jack Miller, too, but fought that off, and re-passed Martin on the main straight at the start of lap four – with Martin trying to reclaim the spot on the brakes into San Donato but unable to do so.

Another Martin hard-braking into San Donato likewise didn’t pan out next time by, promoting Marco Bezzecchi – who had made his way past team-mate Luca Marini – into second place.

But after soaking up some brief pressure from Bezzecchi, Bagnaia assumed full control of the race, breaking away – despite a late track limits warning – to a half-second lead that he allowed to drop to 0.369s at the chequered flag.

Bezzecchi’s second place meant he limited the damage in the points standings versus Bagnaia to just a three-point loss – leaving him four points behind.

Jorge Martin narrowly fought off Pramac Ducati team-mate Johann Zarco on the last lap for third, while Luca Marini – despite nursing a thumb injury and being at one point roughed up by Miller – held on to fifth.

Behind Miller in sixth was front-row starter Marc Marquez, relegated to seventh position by an aggressive divebomb from the Aussie into Scarperia in the early going.

The final points went to Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Ducati’s returnee Enea Bastianini.

It was another Sisyphean kind of race for Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, who had a strong start from 15th to run as high as ninth, but was out-dragged on the final straight by Bastianini and denied even a consolation point.

Even fighting for that point was made possible to begin with by KTM rider Brad Binder spearing Gresini Ducati’s luckless Alex Marquez off at Turn 1 after Marquez had run slightly wide.

It resulted in a long-lap penalty for Binder, and while serving it left him with a slipstream that allowed him to break the MotoGP all-time top speed record – now at 366.1km/h – he couldn’t recover to the points.

Namesake Alex Rins was the only other rider to crash out from the contest aside from the younger Marquez, and was reported to have been stretchered off from the site of the crash to the medical centre.

Sprint Qualifying Results