As had already happened in the Saturday sprint, a maximum of two starts were required to start a MotoGP race at the Spanish GP, Bagnaia took victory ahead of Binder and Miller. The reigning champion did so with 221 thousandths of an inch over the South African, who had defeated the Italians the day before. At times it looked as though KTM would be the victor and had even coined the initials AS for their victory: “You have to take Binder seriously”. It doesn’t lead these lines, but it should be taken equally seriously…
The Austrian bike works, it starts like a missile from a standstill (from fourth to first this time) and here it has been the protagonist of four podium finishes (two for Brad and two for Jack). Because among other things, for A great job as a KTM tester Joe Pedrosa has been doing for years, who has been one of the sensations of the Jerez weekend and who finished seventh, only 42 thousandths behind Marini. Big hat to Dani’s weekend.
The first lap of the race was very tense. At the entrance, after the first exit, Quartararo looked to make room for himself when he reached the second turn between Bezecchi and Oliveira and took the Portuguese into the field with him, Joe was unable to participate in the second start for the 24-lap race, one less than the original 25, due to a dislocated left shoulder. The one who was able to restart, although he arrived in the box limping, was Fabio, who was forced to serve a long lap penalty, which he had to repeat because he stepped on the white line, and Almost on the green when he was about to finish it. It wasn’t his day, but he was eager to get back, starting 16th, and opened up a five-place advantage early on. Tenth in the end, which isn’t bad considering his circumstances.
Where there was tension, he was in key positions. While Binder rolled first, Miller and Bagania did some scrambling behind him. The Australian left the door slightly open when he braked at Turn 6 (Pedrosa) on the fifth lap, and the Italian took the opportunity to throw the bike at him and take second. They tough it out and Peko himself apologizes to his rival with his left hand, sending the KTM man away with another gesture with his hand. The stewards reviewed the maneuvers and decided that the Ducati rider would have to drop a position, which he did with Jacques precisely on the eighth lap.
From then on, the champion only moved forward, and he was the first to catch Miller in the fast Turn 12 (Ferrari), the same point at which Ortola overtook Alonso to take the win in Moto3. And later he reached Binder, whom he overtook at the entrance to the finish line, on lap 21, four from the end. It looked like it might get away, but Binder held on and had a chance to wheel into the last corner of the last lap, but there Forgive me He brought out his best version with precise braking that left his opponent no option. It was his way of capping off his second win of the year, as he had already won the opening round in Portugal, and of course, trailed to zero in Argentina and the United States. Furthermore, this result had the added prize of returning to the lead, now with a 22-point advantage over Bezecchi who was tenth.
As it happened on Saturday. Martin was fourth again, There was no option to upset Miller, who took 0.8s from him at the finish line. Back, an Alex who didn’t take advantage of his position as poleman and Marini, Pedrosa, Álex Márquez, Nakagami, and Quartararo round out the top ten positions. Unlucky was Maverick, who broke his Aprilia’s chain on the last lap when he was sitting in eighth position. They didn’t end up falling while they were running late, Rin and Mir. Yes, Augusto Fernandez finished 13th, Raul Fernandez 15th, and Lecuona 16th. The latter has replaced Marc Marquez, who MotoGP is waiting at Le Mans with open arms.
