If the track was dry, rain was not far away under a gray sky, which made it difficult for the drivers to warm up their tires and improve grip. The race was marked by the fall of the young Spanish prodigy Pedro Acosta (GasGas-Tech3), who started in pole position, four laps from the end while he was in the lead. He was overtaken at the first corner by Bagnaia but quickly regained the lead, even managing to open up a slight gap.
Bad day for the French
But he crashed when approaching a corner a little too optimistically, ruining his chances of winning for the first time in his career, at 20, a race in MotoGP, the category where he is making his debut this year. Next year he will leave the Tech3 team of Frenchman Hervé Poncharal to join the KTM factory team, parent company of GasGas.
The French Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Johann Zarco (Honda-LCR) finished 14th and 18th respectively. “The track conditions affected our results. If we have grip that’s fine but if there isn’t we are far from the first,” said Quartararo, MotoGP world champion in 2021. “It was raining a little and these conditions are difficult for us. It’s not a question of settings but of grip. »
“I made a mistake at the start of the race and while trying to catch up, I pushed my teammate (Takaaki Nakagami) off the track. I was passing him but it didn’t end well and of course it’s not great when he’s your teammate. I apologized. We will try again tomorrow (Sunday for the Grand Prix) but I received a + long lap + penalty because of this incident,” lamented Zarco.
Acosta on pole for the Grand Prix
In the championship, Martin now has 372 points and Bagnaia 357. Followed by Bastianini with 300 points and Marc Marquez with 295. After the Grand Prix on Sunday, there will be four races remaining before the end of the championship.
Bagnaia and Martin engage in a very close duel, like last year at the same time. The Spaniard, who only started 11th on the starting line after falling in qualifying, made a superb start, gaining several positions from the start. With his 4th place, he limits the damage before the Grand Prix on Sunday, the start of which will be given at 7:00 a.m. for 24 laps while the sprint race only had 12 while bringing back fewer points.
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