The Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) dominated the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix this Sunday, and extended his lead in the Drivers’ World Championship, in a race in which the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) abandoned due to a fall when he was 13th.
Bagnaia, who started from pole position achieved on Saturday with a new record at the Italian Mugello circuit, crossed the finish line with a time of 41.16.863 minutes after the 23 laps scheduled, leaving the Spanish Jorge Martín in second position (Ducati), at 1,067 seconds, with the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati) third at 1,977.
Miguel Oliveira abandoned the sixth race of the season due to a crash with 13 laps to go, when he was still in 13th position, after starting from 18th on the grid (in practice he was starting from 17th, like the Spanish Alex Rins). Honda, he crashed in the sprint race on Saturday and no longer participated in today’s race due to a fractured tibia and fibula in his right leg).
Bagnaia led from the start, bringing Jorge Martín behind him. However, the Italian driver, who was running a medium tire at the rear compared to the Spaniard’s soft, took the lead by just under half a second on the opening lap.
The distance remained between the two during the first half of the 23 scheduled laps. From there, Martin’s soft tire began to lose grip and the gap widened.
The bulk of the fighting came further back: Italian Luca Marini (Ducati), brother of Valentino Rossi, occupied the bottom step of the podium for most of the race, but would lose third to Zarco in the final laps, finishing in fourth position, 4.625 seconds behind the winner.
South African Brad Binder (KTM) was the best of the ‘others’, that is, those who do not use Ducatis, the bikes that have dominated this start of the season.
The Márquez brothers also stayed on the road. First it was Marc (Honda), who made a mistake in the last corner before the finish line-he did not brake, entered the dirty area of the asphalt and lost the lead, ending up on the break.
Shortly after, Alex Márquez (Ducati) crashed, who had already threatened on a couple of occasions, specifically when he braked very late at the end of the finish line, he overtook three riders at the same time (including his brother), but he deviated around the corner and, when he rejoined the track, he even brushed against the Australian Jack Miller (KTM), who finished seventh, behind the Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia).
With these results, and because the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) was only eighth in this main race, the champion Francesco Bagnaia increased the lead he now has in the championship over his compatriot from four to 21 points.
Bagnaia has 131 points, against Bezzecchi’s 110. Jorge Martín is now third, with 107.
Miguel Oliveira loses one position and is 17th, with the same 21 points he had at the start of this weekend.
The next test is the German GP, next weekend.
Source: TSF
