Enea Bastianini starts MotoGP 2022 with emotional win

One year after former 125cc world champ Fausto Gresini lost his life to Covid-19, Enea Bastianini won the Gresini team’s first MotoGP premier-class race in 16 years, taking his maiden MotoGP victory in an emotional season opener at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

And while Bastianini’s ability to save the tyres and up the pace in the final stages of a race was in the backs of onlookers’ minds, it very much looked like Pol Espargaro would celebrate 2022’s first victory on the all-new and improved Repsol Honda RC213V.

He and HRC teammate Marc Marquez got brilliant starts after qualifying in sixth and third respectively, as Pol led Marc into the first corner. Red Bull KTM rider Brad Binder slotted in behind them from seventh on the grid, while Bastianini found fourth from the middle of the front row.

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Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati Team), who was the highest qualifying Ducati starting from fourth, suffered a huge wheelie off the line and was down in 10th place on the opening lap. But it went from bad to worse for the Aussie, his electronics going haywire and forcing him to retire from last place on just lap six.

“I tried everything I could, swapped from map A to B to C, system on, system off. Tried my best, but nothing. At one point, especially over the back part of the track, it kept firing me in-between corners, it would give me a massive burst of throttle,” he said.

One lap later, Bastianini relegated Marquez to fourth place as the Spanish star struggled to find confidence in the front-end of his Honda, as Binder held firm in second. And that’s how it played out at the front until Bastianini took Binder for second place with nine laps to go and set about reducing the 1.3sec gap to the leader.

And he did. On a one-year-old Ducati, he pulled out of Espargaro’s slipstream to take the lead into turn one with four laps to go, a move that pushed the Spaniard wide and allowed Binder to resume his second-place position. And although for a moment it look like Pol’s podium place might come under pressure by older brother Aleix (Aprilia Racing), who had pipped Marquez for fourth with six laps to go, Pol crossed the line in third place from Bastianini and Binder.

Further back, the Ecstar Suzuki pairing of Joan Mir and Alex Rins looked to capitalise on the much-improved horsepower of their GSX-RRs, with Mir as high as fourth in the early stages. But they were forced to settle for sixth and seventh respectively.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) was the first GP22 over the line after Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati Team) crashed while trying to pass pole-man Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) on lap 11, taking them both out of the race.

Yamaha’s lack of development hindered Fabio Quartarao’s (Monster Yamaha) title defence. After qualifying in 11th place, the best the 2021 world champ could muster was ninth, 10.5s behind Bastianini. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) was 10th ahead of Franco Morbidelli (Monster Yamaha), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing), Luca Marini (Mooney VR46) and Andrea Dovizioso (RNF Yamaha).

Australian Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM) took the last point and rookie honours when he crossed the line one hundredth off a second ahead of Darryn Binder (RNF Yamaha).

Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46) made the most of his pole position in the Moto2 category with a flag to flag win in the opening race of the season ahead of Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) and Sam Lowes (Marc VDS).

The talented young Italian finish over six-tenths clear of the chasing four riders which also consisted of Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Augusto Fernandez and Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) until the pair clattered in to one another in the final corner and somehow stayed upright. Lowes picked up the last spot on the podium as a result.

Fernandez held on for fourth, ahead of Tony Arbolini (Marc VDS) and Ogura. A mistake into the very first corner left rookie Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) down in last place, though he managed to fight his way back to 12th place in his first Moto2 race.

From third on the grid, Andrea Migno (Rivacold Honda) picked up his first Moto3 victory since 2017. But it was Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Max Husqvarna) who looked set to take the spoils, after he took the lead early on and eked out a gap of well over two seconds by three-quarter race distance. Behind him, Migno lead the chasing pack and rarely relinquished his hold on second place despite plenty of challenges from the likes of Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power), Sergio Garcia (Gas Gas Aspar Team) and Denis Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo).

But with seven laps to go, the Japanese rider lost the rear of his Husqvarna which ejected him out of the seat, and while he stayed on the bike, his fairing detached from the left-hand side of his Husqvarna.

A few corners later Migno snatched the lead off the long-time race leader who eventually retired, and although a late charge from Garcia very nearly won him the race, Migno held on to win from the Spaniard by just 0.037s, with Toba rounding out the podium.

The series now moves to Indonesia, with the spectacular new Mandalika Circuit on the island of Lombok playing host for Round 2 over 18-20 March.