Bastianini wins argy-bargy Misano GP

Ducati won its 100th grand prix and, perhaps unsurprisingly, clinched the 2024 Constructors World Championship at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Misano last weekend, but it was how it all unfolded that came as a shock to onlookers.

The results will say that Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) won the race by a dominant five seconds, but that is far from the story that was told over the 27-lap grand prix. After chasing down Sprint specialist Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) in Saturday’s bout and winning the Sprint from pole position, Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) had reduced the gap to the number 89 to just four points. And when he lined up to start what was his 100th grand prix after being the quickest rider all weekend, there was every expectation the reigning world champ would celebrate it by clinching a century of victories for Ducati Corse.   

When the lights went out Bagnaia muscled his way into the lead from Martin, Bastianini and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), though the South African’s race ended in the gravel on lap two. Marc Marquez’s (Gresini Ducati) second crash in as many Q2 qualifying sessions meant he was down in fifth place behind rookie Pedro Acosta (Tech3 GasGas).

But while Bagnaia struggled to find grip from his medium rear tyre, Martin, Bastianini and Acosta all started to find some speed from theirs. Martin pushed his way through to the lead on lap four and set the quickest lap of the race the next time around, with Bagnaia now over one second behind his title rival. His teammate made it worse the next time around as Bastianini followed the Spaniard through, setting his own fastest lap of the race, and relegating Bagnaia to third and putting 1.5sec of air between the two factory Ducati men by lap eight.

A mistake by Acosta into the final turn of lap nine meant his weekend speed amounted to nothing, as Martin continued to fend of the many questions Bastianini was asking of him at the front, and Bagnaia an uncharacteristic 2.9sec further back. And just as it looked as if the Italian might fall into the clutches of Marquez who was now just one second behind the number one, Bagnaia’s rear tyre began working, he found confidence in the grip levels, and with a dozen laps left to run, began reeling in his championship rivals to the tune of between four and five-tenths of a second per lap.

Two consecutive fastest laps of the race on the 15th and 16th times of asking meant this was shaping up to be a champion’s comeback, as Bastianini still searched for a way through on Martin, whose track-limits warning added more spice to the factory-Ducati riders’ puzzles.

But with six laps to go, Bagnaia’s front tyre cried enough and locked as the Italian squeezed the brakes on for Turn 8, in turn notching up his seventh DNF for the season, and promoting Marquez to third, albeit almost seven seconds behind the leading pair.

It was all down to Bastianini to limit the damage of Bagnaia’s costly crash, and while he was clearly the faster of the two GP24s, finding a way past the Prima Pramac rider was proving nigh-on impossible. It came down to the last lap, and just a sniff of an opportunity. As small as the gap Bastianini saw, he needed to take it, and while the light but clear contact not only picked Martin up but pushed him and Bastianini off the track, it allowed the Italian to run away with a five-second victory as Martin made all sorts of unsavoury gestures over the line. It was deemed a racing incident by race control, and the results held firm.

Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) crossed the line in fourth place, a strong finish considering his soft rear tyre choice, and while Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) put in an astounding effort to hold Prima Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli’s GP24 at bay for the duration of the race, the Frenchman ran out of fuel at the final corner, which allowed Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales (Team Aprilia) through. Aleix Espargaro (Team Aprilia), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Aprilia) rounded out the top 10.

Aussie Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) recovered well from his 19th qualifying positions in the early stages of the race and was as high as 11th, but vibrations continued to cause the Australian issues, and he crossed the line out of the points in 16th.

The result means Martin (341pts) now has a 24-point advantage over Bagnaia (317) with just one point separating Bastianini (282) and Marc Marquez (281).

The series now heads to Indonesia for the first of the flyaway rounds this weekend.