Francesco Bagnaia bounced back in the Catalan Grand Prix after missing out on in the sprint due to a crash from the lead in the sprint. Despite the crash Bagnaia avoided serious injury. That would be the story line for Sunday because Bagnaia looked poised to pounce on the championship leader Jorge Martin. Martin led the majority of the race but his tires started to fall off towards the mid point and after a crash Pedro Acosta gave up second place to Bagnaia who after a few laps came within striking distance of Martin. Bagnaia was lapping one tenth per lap faster than Martin by lap 16 of the race. However, Bagnaia was not able to pass Martin until lap 19.
Bagnaia Seizes Opportunity to Secure Win
Bagnaia wasted no time after finding a clean slipstream down the front straight at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to make a pass on Martin. He succeeded on his first attempt and pulled away to take the win. Bagnaia said, “Today’s win was a very important one, both for how things panned out yesterday and also for last year’s results at this track. I tried to set the pace at the beginning and I thought it was the right one. As soon as Jorge (Martín) and Acosta got past me, I tried to stay with them, but I thought their pace was a bit too quick especially with regards to the tire wear on the full-race distance.
Then I saw that their pace got back to a rhythm that was similar to mine. Once I overtook Jorge, I noticed I had already pulled a 0.4secs margin on him in one lap, so the only thing I had to do was to make it to the finish line. I rode the final lap almost with the feet on the ground, to avoid surprises. Now the Mugello awaits, and I hope fans will turn up at the circuit as many as they did here.”
Marc Marquez Sneaks on to Podium
Aleix Espargaro held onto third place in the closing stages of the grand prix. That was until veteran and 8 time world champion Marc Marquez snuck his way onto the podium on the last lap of the race. Marquez said, “We keep improving each day, but it’s clear that it’s not always possible to save the weekend as we did here and in Le Mans. On the other hand, at this track, which is the worst on the calendar for my riding style, two podiums are surely a great achievement and bode well for the rest of the season. Now let’s focus on Mugello and especially on solving the issues on the single-lap performance.”
Martin Retains Championship Lead
Despite missing out on the win on Sunday Jorge Martin still leaves the weekend as the leader in the championship. Martin maintains a 39 point lead over Bagnaia in the championship at the conclusion of the Catalan GP weekend.