MotoGP Race And Practice Results

An overcast Mugello with more modest attendance that we’re used to did not deter the fleet of Italians and Ducatis crowding the first rows of the grid and it was Pecco Bagnaia who got to enjoy a dream race on home soil, recovering from a subdued start to take a first victory in Mugello and second of the season. Fabio Quartararo continues to magically repel the power of (most) Ducatis and the world champion kept within a second of victory contention for the entire race before settling for second. Equally impressive was Aleix Espargaro, who snatched a home podium for Aprilia from the clutches of three feisty Bologna bullets.

Although he faded somewhat throughout the race, Fabio Di Giannantonio made a good start from pole, but soon allowed Luca Marini to get some time in the limelight on the opening lap. Quartararo and Espargaro also had a great launch off the line, getting ahead of some of the Ducatis, demoting Johann Zarco to sixth position and Bagnaia to ninth, with a fast-starting Brad Binder and Takaaki Nakagami separating the two. After a good start – the last for quite a while – Marc Marquez dropped to the bottom of the top 10, holding off Miguel Oliveira and Enea Bastianini in the early stages. Meanwhile, the Suzukis were knocking on the doors of the top 15, Alex Rins more successful than Joan Mir, despite starting further back on the grid.

Back at the front, Bezzecchi took his turn in the spotlight by breezing past his teammate into San Donato at the start of lap two, while the poleman was under attack from the reigning world champion – the two trading places several times over the next couple of laps, but the rookie and his superior top speed not making it easy for Quartararo. Meanwhile, Bagnaia was recovering ground and was up to fifth, demoting Espargaro, Zarco and Binder, while Marquez was keeping Bastianini at arm’s length.

Bezzecchi kept top spot warm in the early stages, but trouble started brewing when he lost wingman Marini to an overtake from Quartararo on lap four. The trio briefly managed to extend a half second gap while Di Giannantonio proved to be a bit of a handful for Bagnaia, but the factory Ducati man settled that battle by lap five, promptly caught up with the leaders and breezed past both Marini and Quartararo into turn one. Espargaro tried to keep up with the Ducatis surrounding him and although a wide take at turn one dropped him to seventh position, he was quick to recover, getting past Zarco and Di Giannantonio within a couple of laps.

By lap seven, Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, Quartararo and Marini had stretched an advantage of almost one second, the Yamaha intruder admirably keeping up with the Ducatis while Aleix Espargaro was pushing to join that elite group. Bagnaia inevitably took the lead at turn one with 15 laps remaining, just as Espargaro made it a five-man leading group, with Zarco heading the pursuit 1.5 seconds back, in a group including Bastianini and Binder, but with Di Giannantonio, Oliveira, Marquez and Nakagami not too far back. Meanwhile, both Suzukis abandoned the fight on lap eight, crashing out in quick succession from outside the top 10.

Presumably afraid of Bagnaia attempting a breakaway, Quartararo attacked Bezzecchi a couple laps later, but the rookie’s rapid retaliation dropped them one second behind the leader at the halfway point of the race. Quartararo eventually got a bit of a breather as the Mooney VR46 teammates engaged in battle, with Espargaro unable to get involved just yet but with a new threat coming from behind, where a resurgent Bastianini was brining himself and Zarco back into contention. Despite the Italian’s pace promising fireworks, Bastianini’s race ended in the gravel at turn four with 10 laps remaining.

Back at the front, Bagnaia was still juggling a one-second advantage over Quartararo, who kept that gap steady but was not really closing in. The gap briefly ticked under the one second mark as the race entered the final six laps but the Italian’s advantage on the straight quickly remedied that and it looked like the podium was pretty much decided, with Espargaro getting past Bezzecchi & Co and steadily shaking off the gaggle of Ducatis over the final handful of laps.

Bagnaia started the final lap with a second’s advantage over Quartararo and managed that gap to the chequered flag, while Espargaro crossed the finish line another second later to score a fourth consecutive podium. Zarco attacked Bezzecchi heading into the final lap to take 4th, while Binder sniffed around Marini over the last couple of laps, but it was too late to try a move and the South African settled for a solid seventh. Nakagami was the top Honda in eighth place, coming under some late pressure from Miguel Oliveira, while Marc Marquez bids goodbye to the 2022 season (for now) with a top 10 result. A video finish awarded Di Giannantonio the best result of his rookie season yet with 11th position, one thousandth of a second keeping him ahead of Maverick Viñales.

Quartararo’s spirited fight on enemy territory extends his advantage in the world championship to eight points over Espargaro, while Bastianini drops to a 28-point deficit and Bagnaia climbs three positions to trail the Frenchman by 41 points.

Results:

Race day in Mugello started with a mix of damp patches and patches of blue sky but weather was thankfully not a factor in the usual shenanigans of Moto3. The race followed the usual script of frequent exchanges at the front, with the added drama of some high-profile crashes, a top three taking separated by only three hundredths of a second and a post-race penalty deciding the victor. The big trophy stayed in the Aspar family, after a penalty for exceeding track limits on the final lap demoted Izan Guevara to second and handed the victory to teammate Sergio Garcia – the two Spaniards stealing the scene on the final lap. Tatsuki Suzuki was the intruder on the podium, coming from 11^th on the grid, taking a long lap penalty and still finding his way into the victory battle on the final lap, looking quite disappointed to be only third.

The tale had a very narrative at the start of the 20-lap race, when poleman Deniz Öncü made a perfect start to lead ahead of rookie Diogo Moreira and Guevara, the trio quickly extending a one second gap ahead of the chasers led by Dennis Foggia, Garcia and Daniel Holgado. Great starts for the likes of Suzuki and Andrea Migno quickly put them in the mix for the top five, despite being quite far back on the grid, and once Migno got into the lead of the chase, the gap to the three feisty leaders quickly started coming down. Meanwhile, Jaume Masia had a nightmare opening lap, dropping him back to 17^th position, followed by a trip through the gravel a couple laps later, while avoiding an incident for Stefano Nepa, which pushed him further back to 27^th position. Although the Spaniard’s pace helped him to recover positions straight away, he was over 15 seconds behind the leaders after the first handful of laps.  

Meanwhile, the battle for victory had compacted into a sizeable group of around 20 riders and Foggia promptly picked up the lead on home soil by lap five. Teammate Suzuki and Guevara were his main challengers over the next couple of laps, but Foggia kept finding a way back into the lead, while poleman Öncü and championship leader Garcia kept close behind the trio and started lining up some moves soon after.

Despite the shiver of sharks slightly behind him, Foggia continued to control the race from the front and the leading group finally started to break by lap 10, with 12 men sticking around for the podium battle. However, that was followed by a lap of pure chaos, starting with Öncü crashing out at San Donato after contact with Suzuki, then Foggia finding himself in the gravel after losing the rear out of Casanova – his runaway machine forcing Carlos Tatay wide and ending with Holgado climbing over John McPhee’s machine after the Scotsman crashed right in front of him at turn 14.

While the replays tried to clear the confusion, Migno took advantage to take control of a leading pack reduced to only six riders. After Suzuki served a long lap penalty for the incident with Öncü, he dropped two seconds behind the leading six but luckily for him, the frequent exchanges at the front allowed him to close back that gap with five laps remaining. Garcia hit the front for the first time as the race entered those final five laps but the Japanese rider promptly retrieved top spot into San Donato and the duo continued to trade places over the next couple of laps.

Riccardo Rossi and Moreira made brief appearances in top spot in those final laps but it was Guevara who started the final lap in the lead. Having dropped back a few possessions in the slipstream bonanza on the main straight, teammate Garcia immediately stepped it up and took both Migno and Suzuki in successive corners to trail his leading teammate. Garcia made his attack at the final corner but it was Guevara who ended up on top in the photo finish at the line. However, Guevara was soon penalised with a one position drop for exceeding track limits on the final lap, handing back victory to teammate Garcia. With Guevara and Suzuki completing the podium, Migno was best of the rest in fourth, ahead of Yamanaka, while Rossi had to settle for sixth following a late tangle with Moreira, when the rookie lost control and crashed out at the final corner. Despite the early tumble, Öncü managed to rejoin and take one point from 15^th position, while Masia struggled to do any better than 17^th.

Garcia’s inherited victory came with a bonus in the championship standings as well, the Spaniard now 28 points ahead of his teammate and with Masia and Foggia tied on a 42-point deficit.

Results: