Pecco Bagnaia Leads Every Lap In MotoGP's Spanish Grand Prix
Photo: Mirco Lazzari gp (Getty Images)
Today, the FIM MotoGP World Championship contested the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, the first of four rounds in Spain this season. Despite Ducati’s overall success as a satellite team supplier in MotoGP this season, Francesco Bagnaia secured the factory team’s first pole position of 2022 on Saturday. Pecco Bagnaia’s pole time was nearly a half-second faster than Yahama’s Fabio Quartararo in second place.
On Sunday, Bagnaia and the reigning world champion Quartararo were locked together from the start all the way to the finish. The pair finished ten seconds ahead of the field as they set lap times within a tenth of a second of each other every lap. However, Francesco Bagnaia would lead every lap en route to winning the Spanish Grand Prix, his and the Ducati factory team’s first victory of the year.
There was also another intense fight behind the leading duo that went the distance. After rubbing elbows off the line, Honda’s Marc Márquez got around Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaró in the race’s first corner for fourth place. Márquez then spent the majority of the race distance trying to overtake Ducati’s Jack Miller for third.
With five laps to go, Márquez finally made the move. He got on the inside of the Australian rider in the sweeping right-hander turn five. Things got a bit hectic as Miller fought to regain the last spot on the podium as Miller, Márquez and Espargaró went three-wide approaching the next corner. It seemed like Márquez would hold on to the position until the lap’s final corner. He nearly crashed and Espargaró used the opportunity to pass both Márquez and Miller.
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Race Results – Top 15
Francesco BagnaiaFabio QuartararoAleix EspargaróMarc MárquezJack MillerJoan MirTakaaki NakagamiEnea BastianiniMarco BezzecchiBrad BinderPol EspargaróMiguel OliveiraÁlex MárquezMaverick ViñalesFranco Morbidelli
Fabio Quartararo leads the World Riders’ Championship by seven points over Aleix Espargaró. MotoGP will return for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in two weeks.
