El Italian Francesco Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) achieved victory in the Dutch Grand Prix of MotoGP, third of the season, in a race in which the Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP) shone spectacularly for his comeback and the world championship leader, the French fabio quartararo (Yamaha YZRM 1) fell off twice and finished without scoring.
Bagnaia achieved a clear victory, from the first to the last lap, ahead of his compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) and with the Spanish Maverick Vinales (Aprilia RS-GP)who achieved his first podium with the manufacturer from Noale, just ahead of Aleix Espargaró, who had to go off track in the first fall of Quartararo to save the “miraculous” fall, return to the track fifteenth and finish fourth.
A glimmer of hope comes into view! ????@PeccoBagnaia DELIVERS on his promise to bounce back! ????#DutchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/x9dVE4Rpnk
– MotoGP (@MotoGP) June 26, 2022
Fabio Quartararo goes on vacation as world leader but with only 21 points ahead on Aleix Espargaró, instead of the 34 with which he arrived at the TT Assen.
Knowing that the start could be one of the most important moments of the race Pecco Bagnaia did not fail and headed the curve at the end of the straight in first positionthe point at which Fabio Quartararo made a first mistake and crashed in, which caused him to lose two positions to the Spaniards Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP) and Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP22).
But Quartararo was not willing to lose an iota of ground and before completing the first lap he had overtaken both Espargaró and Martín, but the Aprilia rider did not want to give up a meter either, knowing that any result that did not allow him to close the gap with the Frenchman was not a good result, he attacked him to overtake him again.
At a fast lap pace in the second turn of Bagnaia and Espargaróthe group stretched out a lot with all the favorites in the leading positions and practically drawing an almost perfect straight line between all of them, with Fabio Quartararo doing the third fastest lap of the race on the third lap.
The surprise came on the fifth lap, at turn five, in which Quartararo went to the ground and dragged Aleix Espargarówho was able to avoid the crash and return to the track, although losing many positions, fifteenth, while in the case of Quartararo he was also able to return to the competition but in last position and far from the head of the race.
Quartararo continued in the race, but entered his workshop with the intention of retiringbut those responsible for the team made him return to the track in case it started to rain and, by some chance, the scene of the race changed and he could opt to score more points.
World Champion alert! ????@FabioQ20 is all over @AleixEspargaro as @jackmilleraus takes his long lap! ✅#DutchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/DNSheyXGEn
– MotoGP (@MotoGP) June 26, 2022
Race Direction immediately announced that eThe incident was to be investigated after the racewhich could lead to some kind of sanction for the French driver, the protagonist of the incident by entering too hard at that point.
Ahead, Bagnaia was somewhat more “relaxed”, although from behind the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) and Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) were approaching, in addition to the South African Brad Binder (KTM RC 16) and the Spanish Maverick Viñales (Aprilia RS-GP), a little further back.
In just a couple of laps Aleix Espargaró recovered two positionsby beating his compatriot Álex Márquez (Honda RC 213 V), first, and Álex Rins (Suzuki GSX RR)after.
On the eleventh lap Aleix Espargaró had already placed his Aprilia RS-GP ahead of Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati Desmosedici GP21) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Desmosedici GP21) was marked as the next target, with a race fastest lap included in the twelfth lap .
New hit effect Fabio Quartararo, who on his return to the track falls again at turn five and the bike throws him into the airthis time without the possibility of continuing, although the Frenchman was able to leave the track on his own feet.
Thirteen laps from the end, on lap thirteen, Aleix Espargaró was already eleventh after overtaking Bastianini. Next target Joan Mir (Suzuki GSX RR) and Johann Zarco (Ducati Desmosedici GP22), a second and a half ahead of him, but the Aprilia rider was by far the fastest rider on track.
Japanese Takaaki Nakagam’s long lap penaltyi (Honda RC 213 V) allowed Aleix Espargaró to gain one more place and practically get behind Mir and Zarco, whom he overtook on the sixteenth lap and practically one after the other. Quite a spectacular comeback. Aleix Espargaró was already eighth.
New blow of effect, one lap later the track marshals began to show a white flag due to the appearance of a timid rain, but which enabled all the riders to enter the workshops to change bikes and use the one with the wet configuration.
Ahead of Aleix Espargaró, the Italian Bagnaia remained the firm leaderahead of Bezzecchi and with Maverick Viñales in podium position, after beating Jorge Martín.
On the eighteenth lap, Espargaró overtook Miguel Oliveira in the variant from entry to the finish line to occupy seventh position, with his next target, Jorge Martín, more than 3.5 seconds behind. Difficult but not impossible until the end for the Aprilia Racing rider.
All of a sudden, @PeccoBagnaia has been handed a rare opportunity to claw himself back into the World Championship fight! ????#DutchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/p4QuS2y7oa
– MotoGP (@MotoGP) June 26, 2022
With a pace only comparable to that of the race leader, taking more than half a second per lap from the riders ahead of him, Aleix Espargaró managed to catch up with Jorge Martín two laps from the end, although overtaking him was already going to be “flour from another cost.”
Once again the variant from entry to finish was the point chosen by Aleix Espargaró to overtake Jorge Martín and where Maverick Viñales taught the Australian Jack Miller a lesson, who sneaked in and lost the chance to fight for the podium, the first of Spanish with Aprilia.
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Aleix Espargaró did not give up on the last lap and after overtaking Martín he set his sights on Jack Miller, whom he caught up with three corners from the end and in a single stroke not only gave the Australian a good account but also beat the South African Binder in a “merciless” overtaking in the variant of entry to the finish straight to achieve a spectacular fourth place behind Bagnaia, Bezzecchi and his teammate Viñales.
Jorge Martín was seventh, with Joan Mir (Suzuki GSX RR) in eighth position, his teammate Alex Rins, tenth, and Alex Márquez in fifteenth position.