Bastianini Takes Emotional Maiden MotoGP Win For Gresini
Calum Gill 16:09 06/03/2022
Enea Bastianini took his maiden MotoGP race win in an action-packed Qatar season opener, giving his Gresini Racing team its first victory in the series since 2006 in its first race since reverting to being a satellite operation.
Gresini, which lost team founder Fausto Gresini to COVID-19 last year, had split with Aprilia in favour of running a pair of year-old Ducatis in 2022 - and the Desmosedici GP21 proved perfectly up to the task at the Lusail circuit, which has changed the official spelling of its name during the off-season. While Pol Espargaró on the new-look Honda led for almost the entirety of the first 18 laps, he was powerless to resist Bastianini’s trademark late charge - on a day in which the actual factory-spec Ducatis struggled mightily, and a pair of them collided. Ducati’s flagship rider Francesco Bagnaia, who had been lining up to pass Pramac’s Jorge Martín for eighth place after dropping down to 15th early on, tucked the front amid his attempt and took the poleman into the gravel with him.
The other works Ducati of Jack Miller was clearly compromised with some sort of issue, the Australian pulling into the pits after six laps. The Ducatis, normally such a threat off the line, had collectively disappointing starts, with Martín having to control a wheelie off pole and then having to check up swiftly to avoid contact with Bastianini - dropping down to seventh place as a result. Instead, a Ducati 1-2 on the grid turned into a Honda 1-2 into Turn 1, with Marc Márquez leading into the corner but Espargaró coming out ahead when the six-time champion ran slightly wide. Márquez sent it down the inside of Espargaró into that same corner the following lap but again went wide and relinquished the position, The next time he ran wide at Turn 1 was on lap six, allowing Brad Binder’s KTM to get ahead - before then yielding to Bastianini on the main straight the following lap.
Around the same time as Bagnaia and Martín came together, Espargaró began to break away from Binder, swiftly turning a half-a-second lead into a one-second lead. And with nine laps left to run, it was Bastianini setting off after Espargaró instead, having eased past Binder on the main straight. After fighting off Binder, Bastianini - who had made a late switch to a medium rear tyre on the grid, compared to Espargaró’s soft rear - began to quickly close in on the Honda man, arriving on the tail of the new-look RC213V with five laps to go. The next time they reached the main straight, Bastianini eased past Espargaró - and the Spaniard got Turn 1 all wrong in a desperate attempt to continue the duel, instead slipping behind Binder as he rejoined.
Instead of having to battle Espargaro again, Binder - who, like Bastianini, was a race day standout all throughout 2022 - actually put some late pressure on Bastianini, ultimately taking the chequered flag just 0.346 seconds behind the Gresini man. It marked KTM’s first-ever podium at Lusail, which had been something of a bogey circuit for its RC16 bike. Espargaró - bagging his second podium as a Honda rider - managed to maintain good enough pace to avoid a late challenge from his Aprilia-riding brother Aleix, who had forced his way past Márquez in the closing stages.
Behind Márquez, the two Suzukis of Joan Mir and Álex Rins finished a relatively disappointing sixth and seventh, but it was worse still for Yamaha’s defending champion Fabio Quartararo - who had made a great start but didn’t have the pace to challenge out front and ultimately lost out on eighth place to compatriot Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) by 0.007 seconds. Takaaki Nakagami made it three Honda riders in the top 10, his LCR Honda team-mate Álex Márquez having been running a place above the Japanese when he slid off at Turn 1.
Franco Morbidelli was 11th on the other works Yamaha, ahead of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), Luca Marini (VR46) and Andrea Dovizioso (RNF Yamaha). One of the other turn 1 fallers was Binder’s works KTM team-mate Miguel Oliveira, having run outside the top 10 before his shunt. VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi looked well on course to finish as the top rookie, but fell off at the final corner, opening the door for Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM) to beat Darryn Binder (RNF Yamaha) by 0.012 seconds to finish as the top newcomer and score a point.
