MotoGP: Bastianini beats Bagnaia on last lap to win Aragon GP
Enea Bastianini passed Francesco Bagnaia on the final lap to win MotoGP race in Aragon GP, as Aleix Espargaro was third.
Pole-sitter Francesco Bagnaia made a good start on his Ducati to lead the MotoGP Aragon GP as KTM’s Brad Binder made up places to be second from the other Ducati of Jack Miller and Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini in the Top 4 positions.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was steady in fifth from fast-starter Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin with teammate Johann Zarco behind him in seventh. The other KTM of Miguel Oliveira was eighth from VR46 Ducati pair of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi.
Up ahead, MotoGP points leader had the worst start when he crashed out halfway into the first lap. A moment from Honda’s Marc Marquez on the exit of right-hander caught out Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, whose bike fell on him after a highside.
Quartararo retired immediately as Marquez struggled to hold on with damage on the rear of his Honda. He collected LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami in the process where other MotoGP riders had to avoid the Japanese rider, with Pol Espargaro almost crashing out too.
Both Nakagami and Marquez retired as Bagnaia continued to lead the MotoGP Aragon GP. Behind him, Bastianini was the rider on charge after he passed both Miller and Binder to move up to second, with the Australian losing out to Espargaro too.
He was down to fifth from a steady Martin, Zarco, Oliveira and Marini, as Bezzecchi dropped to 11th from LCR’s Alex Marquez in 10th. RNF Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow was 12th from Suzuki’s Alex Rins, Tech 3 KTM’s Remy Gardner and Honda’s Espargaro in the Top 15.
Up front, Bastianini started to pressure Bagnaia and passed him at Turn 1 to lead MotoGP Aragon GP. However, he went wide at Turn 12 allowing the Italian to retake the lead, with Binder and Espargaro then closing in on the Gresini rider in the fight for second.
It started to settle down at the front with Bagnaia leading well from Bastianini, but the latter started to trouble him a bit towards the end of the grand prix. The latter eventually made it stick on the final at Turn 7 after laps of putting pressure.
He took the inside line to lead and eventually win the MotoGP race in Aragon GP as Bagnaia had to settle for second by 0.042s and now 10 points behind Quartararo. Espargaro gained in on the Frenchman after passing Binder with few laps to go in third.
Binder fended off Miller to retain fourth, with Martin in sixth from Marini who passed both Oliveira and Zarco in a solid charge. The Frenchman was eighth from Rins who climbed up the order too, with Bezzecchi rounding out the Top 10.
Oliveira fell to 11th from Marquez, as Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was 13th from Crutchlow and Espargaro in the Top 15 points position. Tech 3’s Gardner ended up outside points in 16th from Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, RNF’s Darryn Binder, Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio and Tech 3’s Raul Fernandez.
With only five races remaining, Ducati clinched the MotoGP constructors’ championship in Aragon GP, which is their third in a row.
DNF: Marquez, Nakagami, Quartararo.
