Francesco Bagnaia captured victory in the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint after starting from the pole and besting championship leader Jorge Martin. This victory cuts Martin’s championship gap down to four points making the Sunday Grand Prix an exciting race. This victory is very meaningful for him, his performance in the last race was very poor, and he was not even in the Top 3.
A Turning Point in the Title Fight
Two weeks ago he lost against his tough and competitive rival Jorge Martin in the sprint at Misano. But this time Francesco Bagnaia capitalized from the mistake made by the Pramac rider on lap eight of the 13-lap sprint race. The error of Martin at the 13th turn let Francesco overtake him and did not allow his opponent to overtake him till the end of the race. Nevertheless, Francesco Bagnaia was able to hold off the constant pressure and came out to the finish line 0.285 seconds ahead of Martin to secure his fourth sprint race victory of the season.
Following him and Martin, Enea Bastianini ensured that Ducati clinched the third spot on the podium. Reigning world champion Marc Marquez, who was seventh on the grid managed to finish fourth riding for the Gresini Ducati team.
Martin got a better start than him and led into the first corner. Making the situation even harder for Francesco. Brad Binder of KTM passed him for second place. But he did not take long to retaliate and passed Binder by Turn 8. Enea Bastianini copied Francesco Bagnaia’s move, overtaking Binder as well.
Sprint Battle Between Francesco Bagnaia and Martin
For his part, Francesco Bagnaia started to try and overtake Martin by the second lap, reducing the margin between them by a few tenths of a second. While he closed the gap with his rival in the last sector of the lap, he could not find enough space to overtake him and faced a close call at Turn 5 on lap seven when he almost lost control in a high-side incident. However, he quickly recovered and stayed composed, without letting it affect his performance. On the next lap, a wide entry of Martin at Turn 13 created a chance for Francesco Bagnaia and the Italian took the opportunity.
However, Martin was given a track limits warning on the last lap, he continued to push and close down on Francesco Bagnaia for the rest of the lap. However, Martin was unable to take the lead back from him and the Italian rider emerged victorious. Bastianini pushed hard in the closing stages and finished third. He was unable to bridge the gap to the first two riders.
Mid-Pack Battles and Penalties
Marc Marquez came in fourth, while Pedro Acosta from Tech3 finished fifth. The leading rider early on was Binder but he faded to sixth, while Yamaha’s Quartararo also struggled and was seventh. Sprint race points went to Pramac riders, Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi. However, Maverick Vinales finished tenth and Luca Marini was the best of the Honda riders in 16th.
Interestingly, there were no retirements in the sprint either. But Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Joan Mir (Honda) got a penalty of a lap in the pit for exceeding the track limits multiple times. Bagnaia’s victory has made the championship race much closer, and Martin now leads by only four points heading into the finale. With the stakes getting higher, Bagnaia and Martin will be the men to watch in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday.
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