The Italian Francesco Bagnaia found colors by winning Sunday at the Spanish GP in Jerez ahead of Fabio Quartararo.
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After his record pole on Saturday, Francesco Bagnaia continued his momentum by delivering a perfect score on Sunday May 1 at the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix. Pressured by Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha, the Ducati rider never gave up and won with authority for his first podium of the season. The Frenchman hasn’t lost everything and leaves Andalusia with a confirmed first place in the world championship. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) completes the podium. Johann Zarco (Ducati Pramac) fell on the 9th lap.
Never more than a second apart but never directly threatened. Under near-constant pressure from Fabio Quartararo, ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia responded to criticism of his mixed start to the season. His first podium of the year was none other than a prestigious victory at the Jerez turnstile. His Ducati perfectly placed when the lights went out, the Italian rode perfectly to avoid any attempt to overtake the Frenchman, who was well seated in his exhausts during the first third of the race.
BAGNAIA IS BACK @PeccoBagnaia IS VICTORIOUS! #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/rKSAhcJZOH
—MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) May 1, 2022
If he finished with “El Diablo” in his saddle (+0”285), Bagnaia still gave himself a little air for about fifteen laps, often riding a little faster than the Yamaha. Still recovering from a shoulder injury, the Italian kicks off his season with a pole-win-fastest lap hat-trick. “It was very complicated since the start of the season“, recognized Bagnaia at the microphone of Canal +. “Everything came together well from Portimao. Fabio was unbeatable here normally so we did a great job.“
Far in the drivers’ world championship, Bagnaia (56 pts) is not yet a threat to Quartararo (89 pts) who alone takes the lead in the standings after Alex Rins’ bad weekend, out of points in Spain. “It was a very difficult race“, admitted the Frenchman. “Pecco started well and had a great race. I tried to pass him on the first lap but he was super fast. I was able to maintain the gap but we both rode very hard. It wasn’t a fight because we didn’t overtake each other but it was very intense today.“Never really able to overtake, the reigning world champion has little to regret and is already meeting his fans at the French GP at Le Mans (May 15, 2 p.m.).
More than ten seconds behind the leading duo, we fought for the 3rd step between Miller (Ducati), Marquez (Honda) and Espargaro (Aprilia). Long frozen, the fight broke up 5 laps from the end when Marquez was finally able to overtake Miller. But a small mistake in the next corner allowed Espargaro to steal the podium from his compatriot and never let go. Here is the Aprilia rider second in the championship just 7 pts behind Quartararo. Bad weekend for Johann Zarco who, after a bad start, crashed on the 9th lap.