MotoGP: Fabio triumphs as Aleix left red-faced

Fabio Quartararo celebrated his new two-year contract with the Monster Energy Yamaha squad with a dominant win at the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya, while his closest title rival Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team) miscounted the laps and began celebrating what should have been a second-place finish one lap early. The blunder dropped the pole man back to fifth by the time he regrouped and found the chequered flag.

“I’m very sorry because this is a big, big mistake; I see L1 on the tower but I didn’t remember that the last lap here on the tower says L0, not L1, so my fully mistake and I’m very sorry for my team,” he said.

It was a gift to championship leader Quartararo, as was the fact that both Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) ended their Spanish Grands Prix in the gravel, the former taken out by Taka Nakagami (LCR Honda) at the very first turn of the race in an incident that also claimed Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki).

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But it was an error that cost the Spaniard nine important world championship points and an error that may prove enormously costly at the very end of the season, especially since Quartararo has only scored a single DNF in the last 26 races.

The error handed the final two podium places to the Prima Pramac Ducati pairing of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco. And while Martin and Espargaro had had a race-long battle for second place, Zarco never looked like having the speed to put up a convincing challenge for the podium, despite being there or thereabouts all race long.

Joan Mir (Ecstar Suzuki) was three seconds behind the podium battle and looked to be on track for a certain fifth place, a strong result for a rider who started 17th on the grid, but it wasn’t until both he and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46) raced past a still-celebrating Espargaro did the penny drop for the Aprilia man.

He managed to get past Marini and cross the line in fifth place, behind Mir. But while Mir moved forward at an impressive pace, it was the opposite for Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro, who started fifth but finished last, unable to gel with the RC213V in the hot, low-grip conditions.

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing Team) finished seventh, ahead of the Red Bull KTM pairing of Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira, with Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) rounding out the top 10. Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM) had the best ride of his MotoGP career so far, finishing 11th and three places ahead of compatriot Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati), who has all but confirmed he’ll be Red Bull KTM bound for the 2023 season.

Quartararo is now 22 points clear of Espargaro, with 147 points to 125, while Bastianini (94) is now 53 points adrift in third ahead of Zarco (91) and Bagnaia (81).

Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46) was back to his winning ways after starting from pole position and making a hard, race-winning pass on Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) on the final lap of the 22-lap Moto2 race.

But for the first half of the race at least, it looked as if second was the best he or Canet could hope for as Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing) ran away with the lead and had 2.5 seconds in hand before he lost the front into Turn 5 and threw his race-winning hopes into the gravel.

Jake Dixon (GasGas Aspar) took the holeshot and the early lead and was still fighting for the podium at the very end, though he was pipped for third by Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) on the final lap.
Marcell Schrotter (LiquiMoly Intact) rode a strong but relatively lonely race towards the end to fifth, while Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) got the better of title contender Ai Ogura (Team Asia Honda) for sixth.

With 133 points, Vietti is now 16 points clear of Ogura’s 117, with Canet not far behind in third with 109.

Two Spanish teenagers starred in the Spanish Moto3 Grand Prix with Izan Guevara (GasGas Aspar) taking an impressive victory from Moto3 rookie and Red Bull Rookie star David Munoz in just his second GP start.

With eight laps to go, Aussie Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) was less than a second from the lead in 11th place and it looked as if the race could be anyone’s. But Guevara put his head down and began pulling away, crossing the line to start Lap 17 with a 0.6sec lead.

His teammate Sergio Garcia recognised he was trying to break away, quickly got himself into second and started chasing down Guevara with Munoz and Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Honda) in hot pursuit.

But it was a determined 16-year-old who crossed the line in second ahead of Suzuki, relegating the championship leader to fourth. Deniz Once (Red Bull KTM) rounded out the top five while Kelso crossed the line in a strong 12th place.

Guevara’s win moves him to within 16 points of Garcia, with 150 points to 134. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) stays in third on 103, while a mechanical DNF meant pole man Dennis Foggia (Leopard Honda) scored zero points. He’s in fourth overall on 95 points.

Next up is the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, to be held on Sunday, June 19.