Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia crossed the finish line of the Japanese Grand Prix sprint with a razor-thin margin over Enea Bastianini, his teammate in the Ducati factory team, and Marc Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) on Saturday October 5.
Special racing conditions
“It wasn’t easy. We had to sacrifice a bit of performance during the race to better understand how the bike performed in these conditions”declared the Turinese, double reigning world champion, who started from 2e position on the grid.
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.
Heavy fall for Pedro Acosta
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.
But he crashed when approaching a corner a little too optimistically. He thus ruined his chances of winning for the first time in his career, at the age of 20, a race in Moto GP, 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.
“I made a mistake at the start of the race”
The French Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Johann Zarco (Honda-LCR) finished 14th respectively.e et 18e.
“The track conditions affected our results. If we have grip that’s fine but if there isn’t we’re far from the leadersindicated Quartararo, Moto GP 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’ll try again tomorrow (Sunday October 6 for the Grand Prix) but I received a long lap penalty because of this incident”lamented Zarco.
Bagnaia and Martin in the duel, Acosta on pole
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 October 6, 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. Eleventh on the starting line after falling in qualifying, the Spaniard made a superb start and quickly gained several positions.
With his 4e instead, he limits the damage before the Grand Prix on Sunday October 6, the start of which will be given at 7 a.m. for 24 laps while the sprint race only had 12 while bringing back fewer points.
Acosta will again start in the lead, the starting grid being the same for both races, and will do everything not to repeat his mistake made in the sprint.
The results
Sprint ranking: 1. Bagnaia (Ducati) in 21′ 01” 074, 2. Bastianini (Ducati) at 0”181, 3. M. Marquez (Gresini) at 0”349, 4. Martin (Pramac) at 2”498 , 5. Morbidelli (Pramac) at 4”326… 12. Quartararo (Yamaha) at 14”645… 14. Zarco (Honda) at 16”170…
Starting grid: 1. Acosta (GasGas-Tech3), 2. Bagnaia (Ducati), 3. Viñales (Aprilia), 4. Bastianini (Ducati), 5. Binder (KTM), 6. Morbidelli (Pramac), 7. Di Giannantonio (VR46 ), 8. Bezzechi (VR46), 9. M. Marquez (Gresini), 10. A. Marquez (Gresini), 11. Martin (Pramac), 12. Quartararo (Yamaha), 13. R. Fernandez (Trackhouse), 14. Miller (KTM), 15. Esparago (Aprilia), 16. Zarco (Honda), 17. Mir (Repsol), 18. A. Fernandez (GasGas-Tech3), 19. Rins (Yamaha), 20. Marini ( Repsol), 21. Nakagami (Honda), 22. Savadori (Trackhouse), 23. Gardner (Yamaha Factory).
This Sunday, October 6 at 7 a.m., on Canal+
