MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Resilience was the word of the day for the premier class after two red flags, two trips to the hospital and too many aches and bruises, in a pained effort to get the Catalan GP to the chequered flag. Despite getting his arm whacked by a flying tyre in one of several incidents, Fabio Di Giannantonio bounced back from the pain and the shock to mount a victory challenge in the final 12-lap sprint and secure his first win of the season. At the third attempt to run this race, the podium roulette randomly stopped on Joan Mir and Fermin Aldeguer, although the Honda rider was still uncertain of keeping his second place trophy as he was under investigation for tyre pressure issues while he was popping prosecco on the podium. 

UPDATE: Mir was eventually sanctioned with a 16-second penalty that lost him the podium and promoted Bagnaia to third. 

The first time the lights went out, poleman Pedro Acosta got the holeshot while Alex Marquez and Raul Fernandez demoted Franco Morbidelli from the front row line-up - the Spanish duo going on to repeatedly swap places over the opening lap. Meanwhile, Morbidelli lost further positions to a fast-starting Jorge Martin, as well as Johann Zarco by the end of lap 1, with Di Giannantonio, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo and Luca Marini in the rest of the top 10. Ai Ogura had climbed to 12th from 18th on the grid and Pecco Bagnaia dropped a couple of places to 15th, while Binder had to start from pitlane after encountering some bike issues on the grid.

The early feistiness between Fernandez, Marquez, Martin and Zarco helped Acosta extend a seven-tenth gap at the front, while the quartet continued their tango. However, once Fernandez deposed Marquez at turn 1, he posted a rapid lap 3 that allowed him to reel in Acosta and drop the rest of the group behind. The Trackhouse rider wasted no time in attacking Acosta to take the lead at the start of lap 5, while Marquez deposed Martin of 3rd in the same place to take over the pursuit, but already found himself 1.2 seconds behind the victory battle. The chase also included Zarco and Di Giannantonio, while Morbidelli fronted the next group, a second and a half down the road, with Mir, Marini and Aldeguer for company. The struggles continued for the Italian duo of Bagnaia and Bezzecchi - the Ducati man struggling to break into the top 10, while the Aprilia rider made a couple of early mistakes that dropped him to a distant 12th position. 

Back at the front, Acosta tested the waters occasionally but could not make a move stick on Fernandez, while Marquez was starting to steadily close back in and distance the Martin-Di Giannantonio-Zarco triumvirate by one second. As the quickest man on track at that early stage, Marquez made it a three-way victory battle by lap 9, and that rushed Acosta into reclaiming the lead at turn 1. Marquez further demoted Fernandez next time into the first corner, but bided his time before showing Acosta a wheel. Marquez hinted at an attempt at the start of lap 12, pulling alongside Acosta on the start-finish straight but the KTM rider wasn’t keen to give that up easily and Alex had to blink first and let his compatriot stay ahead.

However, complete disaster struck by the time they arrived at turn 10, when Acosta’s KTM seemed to suddenly cut out on the back straight, leaving Marquez with no time to react, the Ducati tagging the KTM at high speed and sending Marquez tumbling through gravel and grass along the sidewall. If that wasn’t bad enough, parts were flying off the Ducati and showering the track, hitting several riders who were close behind the incident, including Di Giannantonio, Fernandez and Zarco.

Once the track was cleared, a conscious Marquez was sent to the hospital for checks and some questions were asked of KTM - after 3 of their machines had encountered technical issues in those first 12 laps - a new 13-lap race got underway with Acosta, Fernandez and Martin on the front row. Although several riders looked in some discomfort, only Marquez and Enea Bastianini failed to make the restart - the Italian having retired with technical issues on lap 10. 

Acosta made a solid start at the second attempt, ahead of Mir and Martin, but before the sprint could really get going, another red flag came out after Zarco crashed at the first corner and took Bagnaia and Marini out into the gravel with him. After yet another break in proceedings, a third attempt was made to run this odd race, with everyone bar Zarco lining up for a 12-lap sprint - the Frenchman on his way to the hospital for further investigations on his leg. 

Acosta once again made a solid launch off the line, while the early squabble for second between Martin and Fernandez ended in the gravel at turn 5, after the Trackhouse rider rushed an overtake and tagged his compatriot. That left Mir in an unexpected second place, with a fast-starting and rather lucky Bagana in 3rd. An underwhelming getaway had lost Di Giannantonio some ground early on but the incident promoted him back to fourth, with Quartararo in the top five ahead of Ogura, Aldeguer, Bezzecchi, Moreira and Marini in the early top 10. 

Victory seemed set to fall into Acosta’s lap with Mir as his main challenger, although the Spaniard stayed glued to the KTM’s rear wheel early on - a group of 4 escaping at the front, also including Bagnaia and Di Giannantonio. Meanwhile, Aldeguer was left in charge of the chase, one second behind the leading quartet and with a big group in tow, but the Gresini rider soon closed in on Bagnaia, as the Italian struggled to keep the leaders’ pace after the first handful of laps on a medium rear tyre. Aldeguer eventually made his move at turn 4 of lap 7, and was a second off the podium positions. Bagnaia’s next threat was Ogura, the Japanese rider breezing past next time into turn 1, but then the Italian had one second in hand to defend 6th from compatriot Bezzecchi.

Back at the front, Acosta continued to lead the way but by the end of lap 8, Di Giannantonio had become his main threat, demoting Mir and leaving him as bait for Aldeguer and Ogura, who were the quickest men on track in those final handful of laps. Di Giannantonio made the decisive move at turn 10 of lap 10, and although Acosta tried to hang in there initially, the Italian had the inside line for turn 12 and stayed ahead. Acosta did not seem to have an answer to that, immediately surrendering a whole second to the Italian over the next lap. Suddenly, the podium did not seem secure either, as Mir relegated Acosta at the start of the final lap and Aldeguer did not need an invitation to go through at turn 4. 

While Di Giannantonio, Mir and Aldeguer cruised to the finish line, Ogura left it until the final corner to make his move but nudged Acosta into a crash and got a three-second penalty for the incident, dropping him from 4th to 9th on the timesheets. After spending the final handful of laps fending off Bezzecchi, Bagnaia inherited 4th - but even that looked uncertain as both him and Mir were immediately under investigation for possible tyre pressure infringements, giving hopes at a podium to Bezzecchi, who had crossed the finish line 6th. Quartararo, Marini and Binder also benefitted from Ogura’s penalty, while Moreira completed the top 10 positions. 

A furious Martin pulled into pitlane before completing the final lap, fully aware of the costly Sunday that leaves him 15 points behind Bezzecchi in the championship. Di Giannantonio reclaimed 3rd from Acosta - now 26 points behind the leader, Acosta dropping to 4th, 50 points back. He is followed by the unfortunate Trackhouse duo and Alex Marquez, while Bagnaia jumps ahead of Marc Marquez in 8th - the reigning world champion now 85 points down, while still recovering from surgery.

UPDATE: 16 second penalties were handed out to Mir, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Raul Fernandez for tyre pressure infringements, while Bagnaia was cleared. That promoted the Italian to the podium and Bezzecchi up to 4th, while Mir dropped to 13th, ahead of Rins and Miller in the final point-scoring positions. 

Results:

A sunny Catalunya served a slow-burner of a Moto2 race that ended in a masterclass from championship leader Manu Gonzalez, who steadily hunted down poleman Celestino Vietti to steal the win in the closing stages and extend his lead in the championship. Vietti had led the way for most of the 21 laps but had no response once the attack came from Gonzalez and the Italian settled for second. Having started 11th on the grid, Izan Guevara had an excellent recovery to claim the final podium position and limit the damage in the championship. 

Gonzalez already showed his intentions when he took the lead off the line, but Vietti was quick to sneak back through at the second corner and recover prime position ahead of Gonzalez, Ivan Ortola and Alonso Lopez. An aggressive start for Guevara put him up to 5th right away, ahead of Dani Holgado and David Alonso, who had also made excellent progress from 13th on the grid. Senna Agius picked up Aron Canet for 8th, with Filip Salac completing the top 10 on the opening lap. On the other hand, misfortune hit front row starter Collin Veijer, whose poor launch left him 16th and he eventually crashed out of the race, as well as third row starter Jose Antonio Rueda, who dropped from 9th to 19th.  

Vietti’s early speed helped him extend half a second of advantage at the front over the first handful of laps, keeping Gonzalez, Ortola and Guevara at bay, while Holgado made some early progress up to 5th. The only real entertainment was coming from the battle for 6th between Agius and Alonso, however, that dropped the duo over a second and a half behind the leading group, and also allowed Lopez and Salac to join the party. Over the next few laps Lopez became the bigger threat in that group, challenging Agius for 6th, while Alonso dropped behind Salac for a bit. 

By the halfway point of proceedings, Vietti was still maintaining a six-tenth advantage over Gonzalez and Ortola, while Guevara dropped his pace and was left two seconds behind the victory battle - the same gap keeping him ahead of a similarly lonely Holgado in 5th. Agius still had the advantage in the battle for 6th, fending off Lopez, Salac and Alonso, while Luca Lunetta was having a solid race in 10th position. 

Things had gotten pretty quiet going into the final handful of laps, with the exception of a few sparks in the fight for 6th, but Gonzalez decided it was time to push for a victory bid and closed right in on Vietti. The two were separated by only a couple of tenths of a second with 4 laps left, while a fading Ortola was about to find some late trouble from Guevara in the dispute for the final podium position. 

Gonzalez made the first move in the run to the first corner with 3 laps remaining, the Spaniard taking the lead with no immediate response from Vietti, while Guevara also snuck ahead of Ortola by turn 10.  If Guevara quickly shook off Ortola, Gonzalez had Vietti breathing down his neck until the final lap, although the Italian was having a bit of a wild ride and was running out of time and opportunities to respond. The reply never came and Gonzalez secured the win by two tenths of a second at the chequered flag, Vietti settling for second, with Guevara a distant third. Ortola faded to 4th, while Holgado’s mostly lonely ride to 5th got a little company in the closing stages, when teammate Alonso picked up the pace and caught up with him. After Agius was at the forefront of the battle for 6th for much of the action, he faded in the last few laps, allowing Salac and Lopez to take 7th and 8th, before losing 9th to Lunetta at the final corner. 

Gonzalez’s masterclass helped him extend his advantage in the world championship standings to 18.5 points over Guevara, while Vietti climbed into 3rd, 31.5 points behind the leader and 8 ahead of Agius. 

Results: 

Moto3 was doing Moto3 things on Sunday morning, which meant that the lead changed hands at every blink of an eye, track limit warnings were flourishing and it took until the final lap to decide the winner. However, the result was no different to the last two races, Maximo Quiles biding his time towards the bottom of the top 10 for much of the action, before making the decisive move at the start of the last lap. He couldn’t escape a final challenge at the final corner, but the championship leader kept his cool to cut back in and secure a third consecutive victory. The remaining podium positions were decided in a photo finish at the line, which placed Alvaro Carpe four thousandths of a second ahead of David Muñoz. 

At the start of the 18 laps, it was front row starter Brian Uriarte who got the jump ahead of Muñoz, while Quiles shot up to 3rd from 7th on the grid, but was soon challenged by David Almansa and poleman Valentin Perrone, who lost a handful of positions off the line. Hakim Danish, Jesus Rios, Marco Morelli, Adrian Fernandez and Joel Esteban were the top 10 on the opening lap, with Carpe pretty much holding station in 12th and Veda Pratama making solid progress from 20th on the grid up to 13th. 

Back at the front, Almansa made his move for the lead at the start of lap 2, while Muñoz had a go at leading one lap later, but Uriarte resumed control soon after a mistake from Muñoz left a bit too much space out of turn 3 on lap 3. The lead continued to change hands pretty much every time the field reached turn 1, Danish joining the list of headliners going from 4th to 1st at the start of lap 4, before Almansa swept back through. Also getting involved at the business end were Fernandez, Rios and Uriarte, while Quiles lost a bit of ground initially, briefly dropping out of the top 10 and spending the first handful of laps steadily recovering - up to 7th by lap 6, with Carpe, Perrone and Pratama also in the top 10. 

Muñoz and Almansa continued to hog the spotlight in the early stages, but lap 7 brought Fernandez to the fore for the first time, while lap 8 put Uriarte back in the lead - all while the leading group reduced to 9 riders, also including Rios, Quiles, Carpe, Danish and Pratama. The battle for the lead seemed to have settled a little going into lap 10, with Uriarte finally managing to hold onto top spot for longer than a lap and briefly enjoying four tenths of a second of breathing room, but that was short lived as the Intact GP duo promptly closed back in. 

Almansa gave leading another go at the start of lap 13, with Muñoz and Uriarte still as his closest challengers, but rather than splitting as the race went on, the leading group was actually increasing in numbers, adding Morelli and Casey O’Gorman to the mix, alongside Rios, Quiles, Carpe and Fernandez. Carpe and Quiles looked particularly eager to get involved in the victory battle for the final handful of laps, the duo finally making their way towards the front and the championship leader promptly took control of proceedings as the group started the last 4 laps - all while on his final warning for exceeding track limits before a penalty was due. 

That was hardly the end of the story, as Uriarte retook control with 3 laps to go, attempting a late escape, but the chase had none of it and closed back in for the final couple of laps. Quiles picked the start of the final lap to go from 3rd to 1st and was helped somewhat by the ensuing battle for second between Muñoz, Uriarte and Danish. However, small mistakes from the rookies on that final lap allowed Muñoz to get away and try to challenge for the win - which he did at the final corner, but Quiles cut straight back in to secure victory at the chequered flag. Muñoz ended up losing another position in the drag to the line, Carpe robbing him by only four thousandths of a second. Uriarte settled for 4th ahead of Almansa, with Morelli 6th, followed by rookies Danish and Pratama - who ended up benefitting from a late crash for Rios out of 7th position. Fernandez faded to 9th late on, while O’Gorman secured an exceptional top 10 after fighting his way from 24th on the grid. 

Quiles continues to rule the roost in the championship standings, now 64 points ahead of Fernandez and 67 over Carpe. Morelli and Pratama complete the top 5, both on an 82-point deficit.  

Results:

A spotless blue sky set the scene for the sprint in Catalunya and its colour perfectly matched those of the victor - Alex Marquez placing the Gresini blue onto the top step of the podium on home soil. Poleman Pedro Acosta gave his best to prevent that, which ended in the closest sprint finish ever - only four hundredths of a second separating the Spanish duo across the finish line. Fabio Di Giannantonio bookended the podium for Ducati, only four tenths back but never in a real position to attack for the win. 

Acosta easily kept the lead at the start of the 12 laps, while Marquez breezed past Morbidelli off the line, but it was Johann Zarco who was the biggest threat to the Spaniards early on. The Frenchman was contesting Acosta’s lead by the end of the opening lap but Marquez soon demoted him back to third at the start of lap 2. A fast-starting Jorge Martin, coming from 9th on the grid, was squabbling early on with Raul Fernandez and Di Giannantonio for 4th, while Morbidelli got pushed around on the opening lap and dropped to 7th position, ahead of compatriots Marco Bezzecchi, Pecco Bagnaia and Luca Marini in the early top 10. Fabio Quartararo lost ground at the start and dropped to 11th, where he soon came under fire from a rapid Ai Ogura - the Trackhouse rider quickly up to 12th after starting 18th on the grid. 

Back at the front, Alex Marquez showed Acosta a wheel at the start of lap 3 and Acosta managed to keep him behind the first time around, but Marquez gave it another go one lap later and that time made it stick - the Gresini rider taking the lead and a track limits warning to go with it. The duo were still at the forefront of a feisty chasing group, but that group was down one when Martin crashed out of sixth place on lap 3. That left Fernandez, Di Giannantonio and Zarco to battle it out for third, but once Fernandez took control of that trio, he soon found a way through on Acosta at turn 5 of lap 5. 

After the first handful of laps, it looked like the quartet of Alex Marquez, Fernandez, Acosta and Di Giannantonio had managed to escape at the front, dropping Zarco by one second, while Bezzecchi and Bagnaia were headlining the fight for 6th, a further second behind the Frenchman. Morbidelli, Bastianini and Marini were still in the top 10 and not too far off from getting involved with their compatriots ahead, while one second down the road, Quartararo was fending off Ogura, who was about to unleash his stellar late race pace. 

With five laps to go, Alex Marquez seemed to be enjoying a little more breathing room at the front, but that was rarely over half a second. He was helped somewhat by Acosta attacking Zarco at turn 10 one lap later, which briefly put him seven tenths ahead, but Acosta seemed keen to make it a battle for victory and immediately closed back in. As the penultimate lap got underway, the two Spaniards were separated by only a couple tenths of a second, leaving Fernandez to defend third from Di Giannantonio - ultimately a failed mission as the Italian breezed past by turn 1. 

Although Acosta spent the final lap glued to the Ducati’s rear wheel, he couldn’t solve the puzzle and Marquez crossed the finish line four hundredths of a second ahead. Di Giannantonio settled for third some four tenths later, while Fernandez faded to a distant fourth. Zarco resisted late pressure from Bagnaia to keep 5th, after the Italian disposed of Bezzecchi with a handful of laps left. The championship leader seemed to be struggling in those closing stages, surrendering places to Morbidelli, a fast-charging Ogura and Enea Bastianini in quick succession - although a mistake from the latter at turn 7 handed the final point on offer back to Bezzecchi on the final lap. 

A pretty bad day for the factory Aprilia duo ended up making little difference to the championship standings, Bezzecchi and Martin now separated by two points. Acosta jumped back ahead of Di Giannantonio in third, reducing his deficit to Bezzecchi to 37 points and keeping one point ahead of his VR46 rival. 

Results:     

Saturday afternoon in Catalunya confirmed once again that Celestino Vietti is one of the men of the moment in the intermediate class, the Italian starting and ending Q2 at the top of the timesheets despite some brief interference from Collin Veijer. The Dutchman was keen to limit the damage of his long lap penalty for a French GP mishap and briefly threatened pole, but Vietti closed the show with an all-time lap record that was a quarter of a second quicker than Veijer’s top time. Manu Gonzalez also made a bid for pole and although he saw his best time cancelled due to exceeding track limits, his second-best was still good enough for third on the grid. 

Ivan Ortola was another of Saturday’s headliners, climbing as high as 4th after escaping Q1, and sharing the second row with Alonso Lopez and Aron Canet - in a season-best result for the latter. A late jump from Filip Salac promoted him to 7th, in the company of Dani Holgado and Jose Antonio Rueda on the third row. Holgado’s session was complicated by an early rodeo moment at turn 10, which prompted an unplanned pit stop to fit a new screen, but once he got going he climbed up to 8th. Meanwhile, rookie Rueda was one of the stars of Q1 and progressed into an excellent 9th place on the grid. 

Luca Lunetta was the unexpected leader of Q1 and joined his fellow rookie in the top 10 positions, opening the fourth row ahead of Izan Guevara and Senna Agius, who were both left quite a distance away from their main title rival. David Alonso’s challenging weekend continues, the Colombian scraping through Q1 and finishing Q2 seven tenths of a second off pole, down in 13th. He will be sharing the fifth row of the grid with Ayumu Sasaki and Dani Muñoz, with Deniz Öncü, Alberto Ferrandez and Alex Escrig on row six - the latter two ending their session tangled in the gravel, after Escrig lost control and took Ferrandez with him. 

Results: 

Qualifying in the lightweight class was as close as they come, with 16 riders covered by seven tenths of a second and a margin of only five thousandths of a second for pole. By the time the chequered flag waved, Valentin Perrone was down in 14th position but a lightning-quick final flying lap secured him pole position in his unofficial home race - continuing the run of 6 different pole sitters in 6 races. David Muñoz followed a similar pattern, although his story started in Q1 before jumping from 13th up to 2nd on his final lap of Q2. Compatriot Brian Uriarte was a persistent threat, briefly holding top spot in the closing stages, before settling for third on the grid, but only a hundredth of a second slower than the poleman. 

Both David Almansa and Marco Morelli occupied prime position at different points of Q2, but eventually got demoted to the second row of the grid, alongside impressive rookie Jesus Rios. Maximo Quiles was slower to get going but managed to make up some ground on his final lap and climb into 7th place, three tenths off pole and sharing the third row with Joel Kelso and title rival Adrian Fernandez, who also relied on his final lap to rejoin the top 10. 

Hakim Danish completed the top 10 ahead of Joel Esteban and Q1 graduate Casey O’Gorman, while Matteo Bertelle opens the fifth row alongside a disappointed Alvaro Carpe, who managed to escape Q1 but being half a second off pole left him 14th. Rico Salmela completes row five, while Eddie O’Shea, Q1 leader Guido Pini and Ryusei Yamanaka make up row six. 

Results:

Qualifying did not offer much of a surprise in terms of pole position, as Pedro Acosta continued to set the standard in Catalunya - the KTM rider getting Q2 underway with a red hot lap and then closing the show even faster to secure a rare second pole in the premier class. The big surprise on Saturday morning came from Franco Morbidelli, who headlined a competitive Q1 and then put the extra track experience to good use to help himself to second on the grid late in Q2 - for a first front row start of the season. Alex Marquez looked like Acosta’s main contender throughout, but the Gresini rider struggled to get within a quarter of a second of the poleman and settled for a solid third place on the grid. 

Today it was Raul Fernandez’s turn to lead Aprilia’s charge from 4th place, with Johann Zarco an impressive 5th and with Fabio Di Giannantonio completing the second row of the grid. Fabio Quartararo stays in the limelight in 7th place, ahead of Brad Binder and Jorge Martin - the latter making a nervy escape from Q1 after crashing out at turn 5 with five minutes left of that session. FP2 leader Joan Mir completed the top 10 positions and will be opening the fourth row of the grid, alongside Jack Miller and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi, who took a fast tumble in the final four minutes of Q1, after losing the front at turn 2. The Italian was already down in 8th and subsequently got demoted to 12th after the final shootout. 

Q1 proved costly for Pecco Bagnaia, who missed out on Q2 by five hundredths of a second and will start from the fifth row, ahead of Enea Bastianini and Fermin Aldeguer, but it was a real nightmare for Ai Ogura, who struggled to do any better than 18th - behind Luca Marini and the returning Maverick Viñales on row six. 

Results:   

The final practice session for the premier class ended with a surprise appearance from Joan Mir in top spot, the Honda rider nowhere near Friday’s benchmark in the cooler conditions of Saturday morning, but two tenths quicker than Pedro Acosta in FP2. Fabio Di Giannantonio kept close in 3rd, with Jorge Martin and Fabio Quartararo in the top five. 

Franco Morbidelli also made a cameo appearance in 6th, only a thousandth of a second ahead of Alex Marquez, while the rest of the top 10 positions were occupied by Raul Fernandez, Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was 11th, half a second off top spot, with rookie Diogo Moreira ahead of Brad Binder, Fermin Aldeguer and Johann Zarco in the rest of the top 15.

Results:

Although track conditions were not all that ideal in a rather chilly Catalunya, the intermediate class were pretty quick to challenge the all-time lap record halfway through FP2, when Alonso Lopez took over the timing screens. However, it was Manu Gonzalez who eventually wrote his name under that record, the Spaniard picking up the pace in the final five minutes to go a tenth quicker and stayed in top spot until the chequered flag. Lopez settled for second, with early session leader Dani Holgado in third. Senna Agius also made a late jump into 4th, with Filip Salac completing the top five - six tenths of a second off the lead.

Alex Escrig, Jose Antonio Rueda and Izan Guevara were the final riders to post lap times within a second of the leader, while Deniz Öncü and Joe Roberts rounded out the top 10 positions. David Alonso started getting back up to speed after a troublesome Friday and made his way up to 11th place, 1.1 seconds off top spot and in the company of Collin Veijer, Zonta van den Goorbergh, Dani Muñoz and Celestino Vietti in the rest of the top 15. 

Results: