A Pole position, followed by a sensational Tissot Sprint victory for Jorge Martin from Prima Pramac Racing has brought fans into euphoria at the MotoGP of San Marino and Rimini, held in Misano World Circuit.
Marco Bezzecchi, from Mooney VR46 Racing Team, chased the 25-year-old Spaniard close to finishing P2 on home soil.
The 2022 World Champion Francesco Bagnaia from Ducati Lenovo Team, in his ultimate hard-fought race yet after his last crash in Catalunya, has managed to fend off MotoGP Legend Dani Pedrosa and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Brad Binder for P3, claiming his 10th Saturday podium of the 2023 season.
TRAILBLAZING SPRINT
Martin got off to a great start at the sprint race, he grabbed the holeshot into Turn 1, while Bagnaia pushed his way around the outside of Bezzecchi to catch an early P2. Pedrosa went P5 to P4 to get the better of Maverick Viñales of Aprilia Racing, as Binder didn’t get away well – the South African was outside the top 10.
A TIGER BY THE TAIL
Martin began pulling his throttle open on Lap 2, as his lead was up to 0.9s to Bagnaia, who made a small mistake to relinquish P2 to Bezzecchi from P3. Meanwhile, Binder was responding in the only way he knew how: full attack mode. Halfway around Lap 3 Binder was up to P6 and chasing Viñales, who was nearly two seconds away from Pedrosa.
HEAD TO HEAD At the race lead, it quickly became a challenge between Martin and Bezzecchi, where the latter dominated Lap 3, and the Italian cut the time gap by a sizeable 0.5s. Bagnaia dropped two seconds off the P1 fight when crossing the 13-lap stint at Misano.
FENDING OFF PEDROSA
The defending world champion did everything he could to keep Daniel Pedrosa -who is in great form- off the podium. Riding carefully, yet precisely. Some will say that seeing Dani fight for a podium at 38 years of age, as a wildcard, shows how much the level of MotoGP has dropped.
That’s a bit shallow, it is an underestimation of Pedrosa’s skills. Valentino Rossi has won race number 115 of his career in Assen TT at 38 years of age; a season which witnessed Marc Marquez dominate the rest of the season beating the notorious Ducatis, and being crowned champion.
RESILIENT “PECCO” BAGNAIA
During the CatalunyaGP, Bagnaia flew off his bike during an opening-lap accident and another bike rode over his legs while lying prone on the track. An accident that could seriously go wrong, and even could possibly end his career early. But Pecco survived with a miracle sustaining not more than contusions.
He was taken to the hospital, and his Ducati team said that he sustained multiple contusions but no fractures: “Luckily, Bagnaia has nothing broken. Just sore,” Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi said on X, formerly known as Twitter, along with photos of his rider giving a “thumbs up” gesture.
SUNDAY RACE
On September 10, the MotoGP San Marino race will witness the clash between the world’s best motorbikes and their factories, the starting flag will wave at 14:00 local time. View the starting grid here.
Credit: AIPS Media
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