Marc Marquez surged into the lead during a brief rain shower and held on to win the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix from Francesco Bagnaia, as Jorge Martin made a premature bike swap that left him 15th.
With spots of rain on the starting grid, humid and cloudy conditions briefly delivered substantial rain after seven laps of the Misano race, leading to half a dozen riders pitted to change motorcycles, including world championship leader Martin who had been running second on the Pramac Ducati.
But Gresini Ducati’s Marquez stayed on track, chased and passed Bagnaia and then broke the Italian’s challenge with the fastest lap of the race in the closing stages to storm to a second consecutive victory.
The threat of heavy rain never delivered which allowed a dry line to persist, forcing Martin to re-enter the pits for his original race bike with slick tyres.
The Spaniard classified 15th for the final point and his margin at the top of the standings shrunk to just seven over Bagnaia.
“For me the most important was the speed after the rain,” said Marquez of his 61st MotoGP win. “This one is for the team Gresini,” he added, having carried his late team owner’s dedicatory championship livery at Misano.
“Today, more than second was impossible, Marc was in too good shape,” conceded Bagnaia.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
In third was Ducati’s Enea Bastianini who had a decent gap to KTM’s Brad Binder as the first non-Ducati rider past the line. Local rider and VR46 racer Marco Bezzecchi atoned for his error in the Saturday sprint to take fifth place.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez ran as high as fourth but then suffered with traction problems and faded late on to sixth, just ahead of Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in seventh and KTM’s Jack Miller in eighth.
VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio defied weakness and pain from his right shoulder to score ninth and KTM’s wildcard test rider Pol Espargaro was 10th.
Trackhouse Racing’s Miguel Oliveira was the first of the Aprilias to the finish in 11th ahead of LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco.
GasGas Tech3’s Pedro Acosta started strongly, fighting in the top five in the opening laps, but had a near-escape on the second lap when he clipped the rear of Franco Morbidelli’s Pramac Ducati and lost his right aero, before falling two laps later.
The flag-to-flag status allowed him to enter for a second bike but he was far behind in 17th.
Franco Morbidelli was another early faller, as he went down on the on entry to Turn 3 in the opening phases of the race when the rain briefly intensified.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Just like Martin, Yamaha’s Alex Rins, Aprilia duo Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales plus Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez all entered the pitlane twice due to early bike swaps which put them out of the points.
The stomach virus that sidelined Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir appeared to also prevent team-mate Luca Marini from starting the race as he was ruled out with a similar complaint on Sunday morning.
Misano will see more MotoGP action tomorrow for the final mid-season one-day test of 2024. The championship will then stay parked at the Rimini track in preparation for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from 20-22 September.
