#CatalanGP – MOTOGP, SPRINT & RACE – Bastianini on podium
MOTOGP – SPRINT: Marc Marquez claims Barcelona gold as Alex Marquez crashes from lead
Marc Marquez’s (Ducati Lenovo Team) unbeaten run continues, but the #93 was handed a gold medal gift on Saturday afternoon at the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia as Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) crashes out of the lead while over a second clear. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) finished the Tissot Sprint just over a second behind Marc Marquez to earn silver, while Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned a relatively comfortable P3 after breaking clear of a brilliant KTM battle.
93, 37 & 20 GO TOE-TO-TOE ON OPENING LAP
Alex Marquez got the launch he was searching for as Quartararo, Marc Marquez, and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) went side-by-side into Turn 1. Acosta was on the outside of Marc Marquez as Quartararo swept inside the duo to grab P2 and tag right onto the back of Alex Marquez, leaving the Spaniards in P3 and P4.
An edge-of-your-seat opening lap then unfolded between Quartararo, Marc Marquez and Acosta. Marquez was up the inside of the Frenchman at Turn 10 but Quartararo dug his heels in and kept the inside line into Turn 12, and then Acosta fancied a piece and overtook Marquez too. Then, earning a dose of slipstream from Quartararo’s Yamaha, Marquez got the better of both into Turn 1 and despite having initially lost out, Quartararo bit back again to keep Acosta behind him.
The Sprint then settled down as Marc Marquez and Quartararo hunted down Alex Marquez, who sat 0.5s clear of his brother and 0.9s ahead of Quartararo. Acosta, out of shot, then lost a place to Di Giannantonio and then dropped back into the clutches of teammate Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Remember that KTM scrap we mentioned?
At the front, Quartararo couldn’t keep tabs on Marquez duo’s pace and by Lap 6 of 12, El Diablo was 1.3s adrift of the #93. But it looked like Alex Marquez had the championship leader covered as things stood – the gap was up to 1.3s with four laps remaining.
DRAMA: ALEX MARQUEZ CRASHES FROM LEAD
However, later on that lap at the tricky Turn 10, the leader was down. Alex Marquez’s front end washed away, and that was that for the #73’s Tissot Sprint gold medal hopes. An almost certain victory vanished, and thus, the lead was Marc Marquez’s.
Heading onto the final lap, Marquez’s advantage over Quartararo was 1.298s, and he wasn’t going to give that up, was he? No, of course not. Marc Marquez clinched his 14th Sprint win of the year in dramatic fashion as Quartararo returned to the rostrum alongside Di Giannantonio, as a fierce KTM battle unfolded behind.
YOUR SATURDAY POINTS SCORERS
In that scintillating scrap, Acosta just held onto P4 ahead of Bastianini and Binder, as the trio crossed the line just 0.075s apart in the top six. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) ended the Sprint in P7 and beat fellow HRC star Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) by 0.3s, with rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) earning the final point in P9.
MOTOGP – RACE: Redemption: Alex Marquez fends off Marc Marquez for Barcelona glory
Heartache on Saturday, elation on Sunday. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) banished his Barcelona Sprint demons to fend off the challenge of Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) to earn a phenomenal 25-point haul on home turf, as the #93’s unbeaten run ends at the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia. It’s still a hard-earned P2 for the championship leader, but it’s a result that means the title race rolls on to at least the Japanese GP. Behind the jostling brothers, P3 went to Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) as the Italian secures his debut Sunday podium with KTM.
THE START: MARC GRABS EARLY LEAD
Despite a decent enough launch from pole position, Marc won the Marquez battle into Turn 1 to earn an early lead from P3 on the grid, as Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) got another lightning launch from the middle of the second row to grab P3. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was P4, with Bastianini P5 as two Italians then fell out of contention at Turn 1 on Lap 2.
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), up the inside of Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), made small contact with his VR46 Academy stablemate and ultimately lost control and slid out. Trying to avoid Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) then locked the front end of his GP25, and that caused the #49 to crash moments after too. Both riders were OK, but it was podium hopes over for the duo.
ALEX HITS THE FRONT
At the front, a change for the lead on Lap 4. Alex Marquez made a classic Turn 1 move stick on the #93, and now, Marc Marquez had Acosta and Bastianini looking to attack. At this stage, Quartararo was busy defending P5 from Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) and compatriot Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR), the trio were a second behind the top four on Lap 6 of 24.
On Lap 7, Brad Binder’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) weekend ended at Turn 7 as the South African crashed from P10, one place behind a fast-starting Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). From P22 on the grid, Pecco was up to P9 and just over three seconds away from the lead, and a lap later, the double MotoGP World Champion was past Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and lapping in P8 – a great recovery ride so far.
ENEA MOVES PAST ACOSTA
By the time we’d clicked onto Lap 10, the top four were 2.1s up the road from the fight for fifth, which was now being led by Zarco. And the rider ahead of the HRC star was now Acosta, because Bastianini made a move on his KTM buddy to climb into P3. The gap to Marc Marquez was 0.8s, so what did ‘The Beast’ have up his sleeve in the victory chase?
Zarco’s great outing then came to a premature end at the tricky Turn 10 on Lap 11, so that now meant Marini was promoted into the top five, 3.4s away from Acosta’s rear Michelin soft tyre. At the front, Alex Marquez continued to lead by 0.5s, but it was Bastianini who was the fastest rider on circuit now – the Italian had a couple of tenths in his back pocket at this stage of the Grand Prix.
On Lap 14, Acosta lost the best part of a second to the top three and now sat well over a second behind the podium fight. Was that soft rear tyre starting to cry no more? It appeared so. Acosta quickly dropped to three seconds adrift as Alex Marquez, Marc Marquez and Bastianini continued to race in the 1:40 bracket.
MARQUEZ VS MARQUEZ FOR VICTORY
With one KTM now out of victory contention, was another beginning to fade? Bastianini was now struggling to keep tabs on the Marquez brothers as the top two dropped into the low 1:40s. On Lap 19 of 24, it looked like we were strapping ourselves in for an Alex vs Marc battle for Barcelona honours.
Fair play to both. They were a second faster than anyone else on track with five laps to go and on Lap 20 of 24, a couple of small mistakes came the way of Marc Marquez to hand Alex Marquez a 0.8s advantage. That was down to 0.7s a lap later, but with three to go, Alex Marquez was controlling things very well.
Two to go. The gap? Just above a second. How’re your nerves, Alex? One more lap, and the gap had risen further to 1.3s. Surely this was redemption done after his Sprint crash? Half a lap down and no mistakes were made. Turn 10, yesterday’s nightmare spot? Done. And around the final few corners, Alex Marquez took the chequered flag 1.7s clear of Marc Marquez to win for the second time in MotoGP – and at a special venue too. Marc Marquez’s unreal victory run does come to an end, but #93 will be chuffed enough to earn P2 in front of his home fans and bring home a 1-2 for the Marquez’. Bastianini’s efforts were rewarded with his first Sunday podium for KTM, a top ride from ‘The Beast’.
YOUR POINTS SCORERS IN BARCELONA
Acosta faded big style in the second half of the Grand Prix but the #37 held onto P4, as Quartararo won the fight for P5. Ogura enjoyed a superb last couple of laps to climb into P6, that’s the rookie’s first top six result since Thailand. Bagnaia’s comeback ended with a P7 and although that’s not the result the #63 wants on paper, from where he started, that’s a very respectable ride.
Marini’s performance was also noteworthy. P8 doesn’t tell the full tale as HRC continue to prove they’re well on their way back, as Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) hands Yamaha a double top 10 following the Portuguese rider’s P9 result. P10 went to reigning World Champion Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), while Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), and Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) picked up at least a point in Barcelona.
It was a very tough and long race, but we managed the start pretty well I think. Once I was behind Alex, Marc and Pedro, I tried to keep their pace and be smooth with the throttle. Then Pedro started to lose a bit on the front two, and that gave me the opportunity to overtake. It was not easy because he brakes really late, but we took our chance and we managed well. I took some distance on Pedro then, but the two Marquez increased their pace in the end, so from there I just focused on keeping my pace until the end! We can be really satisfied, it is our first Sunday podium, so we are really happy and let’s enjoy it with the team!
Diogo Moreira – P14
I had two long laps to serve, but my pace was good and similar to the group ahead of me, and I was catching up. Unfortunately, with four laps to go, my front end closed up and I crashed at turn 10. The whole team worked well this weekend, in the first wild card with the test team, and we were always close to the factory riders in terms of performance. So we have to see the glass as half full, the bike is improving, and now we will continue with the next tests we have planned at Misano.
Lorenzo Savadori – NC
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #KytCrew during the weekend in Spain.