Emilia Romagna MotoGP: Bagnaia holds off Martin in tense sprint
Championsh⛎ip lead shrinks after m𝓡istake gives Bagnaia Misano sprint revenge
Francesco Bagnaia converted pole to victory in the MotoGP Emilia Roma🌱gna Gra🅘nd Prix sprint after fending off Jorge Martin to bring the championship lead down to four points.
Having been beaten by Martin in the sprint at Misano two weeks ago, Bagnaia capitalised on a late mistake by the Pramac 💟r♈ider to take the lead on lap eight of 13.
O💎nce in the lead, Bagnaia wasn’t headed again by Martin and fended off the championship leader by just 0.285 seconds at the chequered flꦍag.
It has brought Martin’s championship lead down to just fou🦋🦂r points ahead of Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Enea Bastianini completed the top three on the sister factory team Duca💞ti, with Marc Marquez a distant fourth on his Gresini Ducati after coming from seventh on the ꧒grid.
In a repeat of the San Marino GP sprint, Bagnaia didn’t get off the l𝐆ine from pole as well as Martin and found the Pramac rider jumping into the lead at Turn 1.
Making matters worse, KTM’s Brad Binder from fourthℱ managed to take second from Bagnaia into Turn 1 too.
B🅰agnaia was able to quickly dispatch with Binder on the run down to Turn 8, with Bastian🔯ini following suit on the KTM rider.
Regrouping over lap two, Bagnaia brought Martin’s lead down by a few tenths, with the pair split by 0.5s at the start 🐈of the fourth tour.
Despite being able to close in on Martin through the last part of the lap💯, Bagnaia couldn’t find a way through and almost threw his Ducati down the road when he had a front moment on the kerb at Turn 5 on laꦫp seven.
It didn’t affect him too much as he quickly got back onto Martin’sꦏ tail, but it wouldn’t be until a mistake at Turn 13 for the Pramac rider nex🦩t time around that Bagnaia could find a way through.
Martin ran wide through Turn 13 and opened the door for Bagnaia to carv𝔉e past, with the world champion defending his track position into Turn 14.
Despite Martin - who was hit with a late tr💫ack limits warning - keeping the pressure on in the final laps, he could do nothing to stop Bagnaia winning his fourth sprint of the sea꧟son.
Bastianini had strong pace late in the sprint, but couldn’t catch the leaders as hꦜe settled for third, while Marquez was a distant fourth ahead of Tech3’s Pedro Acosta.
After his blistering start, Binder quickly fell down the order and was sixth in the end ahead of Yamaha’s Fabio Qua🐻rtararo.
The final points in the sprint went to VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezz๊ecchi and Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.
Maverick Vinales was the first of the Aprilia’s in 10th, while t🎐op Honda honours went to L💞uca Marini in 16th.
There were no retirements i✃n the sprint, though long lap pe📖nalties were handed out to Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Joan Mir (Honda) for repeatedly exceeding track limits.
