Bagnaia dominates Italy MotoGP, Marquezs both crash

The Ducati Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has dominated MotoGP’s Italian Grand Prix as both Marc and Alex Marquez crashed out of shots at the podium.

Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller was in front until the second corner of the race but Bagnaia held sway for the rest of the 23 laps around Mugello.

The 2022 MotoGP world champion beat Jorge Martin to the chequered flag by 1.067s, with Johann Zarco making it a double podium for Prima Pramac Racing and a sweep for Ducati.

Mooney VR46 Racing’s Luca Marini claimed fourth on yet another Ducati, from Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder, Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro, Miller, VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, the Ducati Team’s Enea Bastianini, and Monster Energy Yamaha duo Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo.

The rest of the points finishers were Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati), and Augusto Fernandez (GasGas Tech3).

In the rider’s championship, Bagnaia’s sweep of the Italian GP weekend has seen his lead over Bezzecchi grow to 21 points.

Back at the start, pole-sitter Bagnaia and Marini lined up on either side of the front row on the hard Michelin front and medium rear, split by Marc Marquez on a hard-soft combination, and the second row of Miller, Martin, and Alex Marquez also opted for hard-soft.

Miller made a brilliant start and led the field up to San Donato (Turn 1) for the first time, before Bagnaia reclaimed the ascendancy at Luco (Turn 2).

Martin overtook Marini for third at Arrabbiata 1 (Turn 8) on Lap 1 and was second when he went by Miller on the run to San Donato on Lap 2.

A lap later, Alex Marquez seemed to be caught out by a triple tow when he came all the way from sixth to be nudging the third-placed Miller wide at San Donato.

Marini emerged in third, from Marc Marquez, Miller, Binder, and Alex Marquez, with the Queenslander on the #43 KTM clearly unhappy with the Catalan on the #73 Ducati.

On Lap 6, Marc Marquez crashed out when he went wide at Bucine (Turn 15), possibly in a bid to set up a move on third-placed Marini up the main straight.

By then, Alex Marquez was in position to inherit fourth position and Zarco fifth, from Binder and Miller.

Bezzecchi then passed Miller, but gave up two positions when he ran wide at Bucine on Lap 8, although he was at least able to stay upright.

As #1 continued to circulate in first position and Martin tried to keep pace, Alex Marquez made a move on Marini for third spot stick at San Donato at the second time of asking, on Lap 13.

Martin was 2.1s up the road by then and that figure continued to edge up until Alex Marquez crashed at Luco on Lap 15.

Marini therefore re-assumed the final podium place, albeit with Zarco breathing down his neck, while Bagnaia was soon a full second clear of Martin.

Marini gave up third when he ran wide at Bucine on Lap 17 but slipstreamed straight back past Zarco, only for the Frenchman to force his way ahead again through Luco/Poggio Secco.

Still, they were chipping away at Martin’s advantage, but Bagnaia was stretching his lead beyond a second-and-a-half.

‘La Bestia’ eased off in the closing stages but was still 1.2s to the good as he started the final lap and would convert that advantage to victory.

Zarco dropped Marini in the battle for third place, but Espargaro only beat Miller to sixth by 0.091s after passing ‘Jackass’ on Lap 20.

There were three non-finishers out of the 22 starters, with Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) joining the Marquez brothers as retirements due to a crash on Lap 11.

Round 7, the German Grand Prix, takes place next weekend (June 16-18) at the Sachsenring.

Race results: Grand Prix race

Race winner: 23 laps

Riders’ championship