Misano Adriatico: Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia clinched his home San Marino Grand Prix with a dominant display from pole at the Misano World Circuit on Sunday. The Italian, came to the race on the back of a win at the Aragon GP but was under intense pressure from championship leader Fabio Quartararo in the closing laps however, The factory Ducati man edged past the championship leader till the chequered flag to put himself at second with 186 points with the Frenchman Quartararo still at the top(234) points.
While ” Pecco” took the pole position, another Italian rider Enea Bastianini of Avintia Esponsorama Racing surprisingly got third place. Defending champion Joan Mir of Suzuki had a great chance to give himself a cushion to hold his title however he was unable to get a podium place. Bagnaia even topped the qualifying to earn the front spot of the grid before breaking away from everyone in them the last couple of laps where Quartararo tested his composure and technique however there was no stopping for the Italian to grab the pole position.
With Bagnaia looking bulletproof upfront, world championship leader Quartararo fell a little behind and was in a battle for third with Jorge Martin. However, the Monster Energy Yamaha made a great comeback shortly after that skipping past Jack Miller. At the 10 laps to it looked like Bagnaia’s lead was under no threat but the following five laps showed the quality of Quartararo as he was able to close down the gap between him and the factory Ducati man. However, it wasn’t going to earn him a win as Bagnaia had left in the tank to deny Fabio the pole position although the 22-year-old Frenchman still has enough to seal a MotoGP title for this season.
Bastianini the rookie arguably produced the standout performance of the race day. Starting 12th on the grid, the 23year-old Avintia rider who was riding a two-year-old “Desmodicci” stormed through the field with some serious lap times to earn a spot on the podium. His quality of riding was such that even factory Ducati rider Jack Miller couldn’t keep up much with the same Italian manufacturer’s satellite machine.
