MotoGP Catalan GP: Espargaro Wins Sprint as Bagnaia Suffers Last Lap Crash
After a spectacular race, Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of first place on the penultimate lap, gifting victory to Aleix Espargaro in the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix sprint.
By Divyam Dubey
After a spectacular sequence of crashes involving Francesco Bagnaia, Brad Binder, and Raul Fernandez—all of whom were in the lead at various times in the race—Aleix Espargaro secured victory in the Catalunya MotoGP sprint. Francesco Bagnaia, the reigning MotoGP champion, got off to a great start from the middle of row one, passing Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder to take the lead. As Marc Marquez sprinted up from fourteenth on the grid, polesitter Aleix Espargaro fell to fifth. With Bagnaia going from first to fourth in the space of a few corners, the third lap was jam-packed with action. On the first corner, Pedro Acosta passed the two-time winner, with Raul Fernandez and Brad Binder following closely after. Fernandez didn't waste time, quickly taking the lead from Acosta and creating a gap. But when Fernandez crashed at turn eleven, regaining the lead for Acosta, all chance for a first-ever sprint MotoGP victory disappeared.
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On lap seven, Binder also passed Acosta, but he crashed and lost the lead as well. Following this chain of events, Bagnaia momentarily retook the lead, but Aleix Espargaro eventually passed Acosta for second position and won the race.
MotoGP Catalunya GP: Sprint Race Result
Marc Marquez, who had lost some of his aero early on, was able to apply pressure for the third position, and Acosta started to suffer. With his advantage well-managed, Bagnaia was able to keep his lead over Aleix Espargaro at six-tenths of a second. Miguel Oliveira's crash on lap eleven further ruined Trackhouse Racing's day.
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia Racing | 20m 1.478s |
| 2 | Marc Marquez | Gresini Ducati | +0.892s |
| 3 | Pedro Acosta | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 | +1.169s |
| 4 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Ducati | +2.147s |
| 5 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati Lenovo | +2.980s |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | VR46 Ducati | +4.623s |
| 7 | Jack Miller | Red Bull KTM | +8.084s |
| 8 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing | +8.245s |
| 9 | Marco Bezzecchi | VR46 Ducati | +8.643s |
| 10 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Yamaha | +9.241s |
| 11 | Franco Morbidelli | Pramac Ducati | +9.537s |
| 12 | Alex Rins | Monster Yamaha | +13.045s |
| 13 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | +13.199s |
| 14 | Alex Marquez | Gresini Ducati | +13.378s |
| 15 | Joan Mir | Repsol Honda | +16.438s |
| 16 | Luca Marini | Repsol Honda | +18.000s |
| 17 | Augusto Fernandez | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 | +25.262s |
| 18 | Stefan Bradl | HRC Test Team | +33.751s |
| 19 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo | DNF |
| 20 | Miguel Oliveira | Trackhouse Aprilia | DNF |
| 21 | Johann Zarco | LCR Honda | DNF |
| 22 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM | DNF |
| 23 | Raul Fernandez | Trackhouse Aprilia | DNF |
The decisive moment came when Bagnaia, who had a lead of more than seven-tenths, committed a major mistake. At the end of the race, the factory Ducati rider was well ahead of the pack until he crashed out of control of his GP24 at turn five. Espargaro took the lead and ultimately won because of this error. Taking advantage of the situation, Marquez managed to pass Pedro Acosta on the last lap and secure an impressive second place.
