“La bestia”, the beast, is what Enea Bastianini is called in the motorcycle circus, yesterday at the Aragon Grand Prix the Italian once again lived up to his nickname. The discovery of the season, which, among other things, already won the MotoGP World Championship opener in Qatar in spring, caught compatriot and Ducati brand colleague Francesco Bagnaia on the last lap and won the race. KTM’s Brad Binder also lost his third place late after being intercepted by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro in the finale.
Once again this year’s Grand Prix was not for the faint of heart, also because ex-champion Marc Marquez was back in action after his upper arm operation and a break of almost four months. The Spaniard involuntarily became the main actor in the starting phase. On the third lap, his rear wheel slipped slightly, World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo touched the Honda, crashed and retired in a daze. “The problem was that Fabio was super close behind me,” said Marquez, who, to make matters worse, just a little later collided with Takaaki Nakagami with a wounded motorcycle. The race was also over for the duo. “I want to apologize to both of them, it was extremely unfortunate,” said Marquez.
Only ten points ahead
At this point, Binder was already in second place behind pole setter Bagnaia, but the South African couldn’t hold onto it until the end. Bagnaia also lost his duel for victory with Bastianini, who made a courageous maneuver in the final stages. “Enea had more grip on the rear wheel,” said the four-time winner. Twice as bitter for him: He would have been the first pilot for the Ducati factory to win five races in a row. In addition, he was not able to take the full points in the World Championship fight, but he still closed in on the absent Quartararo to within ten points. Espargaro is only 17 behind. The next Grand Prix will take place in Motegi next weekend.
Jakob Rosenthaler finished 14th in the Rookies Cup. (free)
Motorcycle World Championship
Aragon Grand Prix: MotoGP: 1st Bastianini (It) Ducati 41:35.462, 2nd Bagnaia (It) Ducati +0.042s, 3rd A. Espargaro (Sp) Aprilia +6.139, 4th Binder (Rsa) KTM +6.379, 5th .Miller (Aus) Ducati +6.964; 11. Oliveira (Por) KTM +17.071; Championship status: 1st Quartararo (Fra) Yamaha 211 points, 2nd Bagnaia 201, 3rd Espargaro 194; 7. Binder 128; 11. Oliveira 95.
Moto2: 1st Acosta (Sp) KTM 39:35.337, 2nd Canet (Fra) Flexbox +2.612, 3rd Fernandez (Sp) KTM +3.799; Standings: 1st Fernandez 214, 2nd Ogura (Jpn) Honda 207.
Moto3: 1st Guevara (Sp) GasGas 37:29.944, 2nd Sasaki (Jpn) Husqvarna +0.957, 3rd Holgado (Sp) KTM +6.536; Championship Standings: 1st Guevara 229, 2nd Garcia (Sp) GasGas 196.
Source: Nachrichten
