Bastianini Takes Third Win Of 2022 As Bagnaia Crashes Out
Calum Gill 14:14 15/05/2022
Enea Bastianini claimed his third win of the 2022 MotoGP season on a year-old Ducati at Le Mans, launching himself back into the thick of the title battle.
Gresini rider Bastianini outduelled Francesco Bagnaia to take the lead mere corners before the latter promptly crashed out, dashing Ducati’s hopes of a podium lockout. At the start, poleman Bagnaia was beaten by team-mate Jack Miller immediately off the line, and a bold trajectory into Turn 1 allowed Bastianini to relegate him to third place. Yet Bagnaia got back past Bastianini during the first lap, and eroded an early Miller lead to pounce on lap four, as the Aussie went wide at La Musée and yielded the place coming into Garage Vert.
Behind them, pre-race favourite Fabio Quartararo had suffered a poor start and dropped to as low as ninth as a result of an aggressive Takaaki Nakagami counter-attack, but soon settled into sixth place as part of a three-rider group chasing the three Ducatis out front. This would become a two-rider group a few laps later as Mir went down from fourth place. Bagnaia didn’t make a break for it once clearing Miller, but the Aussie soon fell into the clutches of Bastianini’s year-old Ducati, which slid up down his inside at Garage Vert approaching the halfway point in the race. Miller dropped away soon after as Bastianini began to ramp up pressure on Bagnaia.
On the 21st lap, that pressure finally translated into an overtake at the Dunlop chicane - but Bastianini then ran wide at La Chapelle and handed the lead back to Bagnaia. Yet this proved a temporary setback as Bagnaia first got Garage Vert all wrong to lose first place, and then crashed out later in the lap at Raccordement. Bagnaia’s crash promoted Miller to second, the Aussie finishing 2.7 seconds behind Bastianini, and Aleix Espargaró to the final podium position. The Aprilia rider fought off Quartararo to finish a tenth ahead, and is now four points behind the Yamaha man in the standings - with Bastianini a further four behind.
Johann Zarco (Pramac) completed a lonely race in fifth, seven seconds off compatriot Quartararo, while Marc Márquez and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) led Honda’s efforts in seventh and eighth. Early contact with Zarco cost Brad Binder a left winglet, but his KTM RC16 remained competitive enough for him to finish eighth, ahead of Luca Marini (VR46) and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) - the latter having to recover from a start that dropped him outside the top 20. Marquez’s factory Honda team-mate Pol Espargaró was compromised late on by having to avoid the spinning KTM of Miguel Oliveira - after Oliveira crashed at the Dunlop chicane - and had to settle for 11th, ahead of top rookie Marco Bezzecchi.
Neither Suzuki rider finished the first race following the announcement their employer was seeking to quit MotoGP at the end of the year. Álex Rins crashed out of third a few laps before Mir, having gone straight on in at Turn 2 and falling after a hard bounce on the kerbs once momentum brought him back onto the track at the Dunlop chicane. There was also a fall for Jorge Martín at Chemin aux Boeufs, marking his fifth non-score in seven races, and crashes for Tech3 KTM rookie duo Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández a handful of laps apart.
