- 2023-05-01
-
SPORTS
-
MotoGP Spanish: Francesco Bagnaia Wins Spanish GP at Jerez
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) won Gran Premio MotoGP™ Guru by Gryfyn de España took place at the Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain on April 30, 2023.
The race was red-flagged on opening lap due to an incident between Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) and Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) at turn 2.
After restart the race, Fabio Quartararo had been slapped with a long lap penalty for what was deemed to be irresponsible riding.
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) led the race, but Francesco Bagnaia followed them and over passed Jack Miller on lap eight.
But Francesco Bagnaia was received a one-place demotion from the stewards for putting pressure on Jack Miller when he passed Jack Miller.
Even though, he overtook Brad Binder and moved into the lead on lap 21.
Finally, Francesco Bagnaia took his second victory of 2023, following Portuguese GP. Brad Binder and Jack Miller finished on the podium with 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Jorge Martin was 4th and pole-sitter Aleix Espargaro finished 5th ahead of Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati).
Wildcard Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM) was 7th in his first grand prix since Styria 2021.
Fabio Quartararo served his long lap penalty on lap four, but was forced to take it again when he ran out of penalty loop limits. Finally, he was 10th.
Francesco Bagnaia said, “In terms of weekend, looking at what happened, it's the best one. It's close to the one at Silverstone [in 2022], but better because the fight was so, so incredible. I really enjoyed this race, I really enjoyed this weekend because I think it can help us to grow together as a team. Friday was difficult, but my team worked a lot to give me a good feeling. I asked the correct things, my team understood well the way to work, and today with this little step compared to yesterday we have won again. It wasn't easy because KTM was incredible, but I just tried to be perfect and precise, not stress the rear tyre. To win here it's always special, so I'm really happy.”
He continued, “I don't want to say too much on the penalty. I just want to say that I accept it but in the future we need consistency. So today, if I take this penalty which for me wasn't so risky [of an overtake] compared to other touches we saw this year, then I just want consistency. If I see it then I accept it. After I overtook Jack [Miller] I just needed one or two laps to have again the same feeling with the front. As soon as I felt it again I pushed. I was quite surprised with the 1m 37.9s but I said I wanted to catch him. I managed well the tyres on the first part of the race because last year it was more or less the same. But it wasn't easy because as soon as I was behind again, then the front feeling was quite stressed. I tried to overtake him quickly to not stress it again. Was more for my ego. For me, this race wasn't easy mentally because after two crashes it was very easy not to be calm. When I saw the possibility I just tried to be in the front again and I wanted this victory to motivate my team for the work we are doing. Was for me, for my ego. It's a good race for the #1.”
Gran Premio MotoGP™ Guru by Gryfyn de España Qualifying Results- Francesco Bagnaia / Ducati Lenovo / 39m 29.085s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / +0.221s
- Jack Miller / Red Bull KTM / +1.119s
- Jorge Martin / Pramac Ducati / +1.942s
- Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Racing / +4.760s
- Luca Marini / Mooney VR46 Ducati / +6.329s
- Dani Pedrosa / Red Bull KTM / +6.371s
- Alex Marquez / Gresini Ducati / +14.952s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / +15.692s
- Fabio Quartararo / Monster Yamaha / +15.846s
- Franco Morbidelli / Monster Yamaha / +17.209s
- Fabio Di Giannantonio / Gresini Ducati / +17.911s
- Augusto Fernandez / Tech3 GASGAS / +19.010s
- Stefan Bradl / Team HRC / +27.294s
- Raul Fernandez / RNF Aprilia / +36.371s
- Iker Lecuona / Repsol Honda / +36.753s
- Jonas Folger / Tech3 GASGAS / +47.146s
Photo by MotoGP.- source : MotoGP
