Bikesportnz

The Ducati Lenovo Team returned to the top step of the podium in the Sunday race of the Catalan Grand Prix courtesy of an extraordinary win by Francesco Bagnaia.

Spain’s series leader Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) finished runner-up and actually extended his points lead, while multi-time former world champion Marc Marquez (also Spain and also Ducati) completed the podium at Barcelona.

Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini crossed the line in ninth place at the end of the 24-lap encounter before receiving a 32-second penalty for failing to comply a long-lap penalty, which demotes him to 18th position.

Defending world champion Bagnaia, from Italy, had another perfect start from the front row and stayed in the lead in the early laps while trying to preserve the tyres.

After dropping down to third place with 12 laps left, the man they call “Pecco” lost a little bit of ground from the race lead while still maintaining the visual on the two riders battling for first position.

Following Pedro Acosta’s crash, the reigning world champion started his relentless pursuit of the then-leader Martín and eventually overtook him at turn five with less than six laps to go, before crossing the finish line with a 1.7 margin on his opponent.

Bastianini rode through the first chicane in tenth place but could not stay with the leading group – albeit still within the top 10.

At halfway point in the encounter, Enea was given a long-lap penalty by the race direction after cutting the first chicane, as he was forced to do so following an overtaking manoeuvre by Alex Márquez.

By not carrying out the long-lap during the race, the penalty translated into an extra 32 seconds added to his total race time and resulted in an eighteenth-place finish.

As the Grand Prix of Catalunya draws to a close, Bagnaia is second in the title race, 39 points shy of Martín, while Bastianini sits fourth and 61 points in arrears.

“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,” said Bagnaia.

“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 tyre 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.”

Photo courtesy Ducati

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