Dream weekend for Jorge Martín in Misano, with the double victory being secured in great style for the Prima Pramac Racing rider. After the pole position with a record lap, victory in the Sprint race, the victory in Sunday’s race was the icing on the cake.
Martín got a good start and secured the lead in the early moments of the race, and after the first lap he had Francesco Bagnaia behind him, with Marco Bezzecchi in third. Brad Binder was already fourth ahead of KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa.
Highlight for those following, with Maverick Viñales in sixth and Miguel Oliveira in seventh, after a good start that earned him a gain of three positions.
With three laps completed, Bezzecchi had the fastest lap so far. Bagnaia, in second, was 0.343s behind Martín, and Bezzecchi was 0.565s behind the pole position holder and winner of yesterday’s Sprint race. On the next lap, the fourth, Martín secured the best lap in the race so far.
On the fifth lap Bezzecchi briefly moved up to second place but widened his trajectory in the next corner and “opened” the door for Bagnaia to regain the vice-leadership. The #1 then had red sectors and closed the gap to Martín to 0.181s, but it stabilized within three tenths… although Bagnaia had set the fastest lap in the race so far. Then disaster struck for Brad Binder with the South African falling, while he was in fourth place. Thus, Pedrosa was once again the best KTM rider on track, and Viñales entered the top five. However, Binder resumed the race.
And the KTM’s terror did not end there: Jack Miller was involved in a crash with Michele Pirro and both were out of the race. A disastrous minute for the Austrian manufacturer. It didn’t take long for Marc Márquez to take advantage of a mistake by Oliveira, who went wide and was overtaken by Márquez, thus reaching sixth place.
At about halfway through the GP, the top ten looked like this:
Note for Pedrosa who was very close to Bezzecchi but quickly lost time, probably due to an error. Two laps later another rider was out, Pol Espargaró joining Joan Mir, who had abandoned after ten laps. Ten laps from the end of the race, Martín seemed to have a greater lead to manage the race, with a 1.628s advantage over Bagnaia. Bezzecchi was looking at the world champion who was only 0.111s away. The overtaking came shortly after with Bezzecchi in second and “inheriting” over 2s of disadvantage to Martín, who was in control. The warning signs were already very much alive for #1 who had Pedrosa at 0.694s. Despite the effort and physical difficulties, Bagnaia was managing to give a good response and managed to gain time and “escape” Pedrosa, with #26 being 1.068s at this stage of the race. But… everything could change. In a moment, almost, the difference between Bagnaia and Pedrosa dropped to three tenths. Everything was open. Note for Oliveira, sixth now in the race after surpassing M. Márquez. Viñales, in fifth, was 1.271s away.
Three laps from the end, this was the top five:
Two laps from the end, the eyes were again focused on the battle between Bagnaia and Pedrosa: only 0.224s separated the riders, while M. Márquez was also with Raúl Fernández and Luca Marini threatening seventh place. The race ended shortly after, with Martín unsurprisingly winning. Bagnaia held on to third place after a lot of effort.
