Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin are still in another galaxy. Despite Marc Marquez’s recent prominence, as he himself insists, the two leaders of the MotoGP championship remain one step ahead of the rest of the grid and extend their exhausting and exciting duel for the title. The defending champion won the race on Saturday, during the revalidation in Misano during the Emilia Romagna GP. He took the pole position with a new track record, upping the ante two weeks later at the San Marino GP on the same stage, and set a blistering pace in the sprintbeating his great Spanish rival in both sessions.
In an endless duel, where every detail counts, Martín started smiling when he overtook Bagnaia at the start of the short race, the weakest point for the reigning champion in recent races. Brad Binder’s KTM, who started fourth, also got in his way, although it was a flash and the Italian quickly got in the wake of the world leader. The Pramac rider from Madrid seemed to have everything under control, but playing with the limits he touched the green and received a warning from the stewards. The rest of the riders were, at that point, in another world. The warning on the bike’s dashboard threw the 89 off balance, and his small mistake opened the doors to the number one, who was ready to continue to put the pressure on him.
“I entered more open than usual, I almost crossed the white line and I had to lift off. That metre and a half was enough for Pecco to get past me. Without making mistakes, it is difficult to overtake on this track. The key is not to make them. A small mistake here is very expensive,” said the championship leader, who sees his lead at the top of the table reduced to four points. Bagnaia, who rode physically challenged at the last Grand Prix, celebrated recovering his best form and the tenacity to chase down his great rival despite his poor start. “I made a mistake at the start, and overtaking was very difficult. I was able to use his mistake to get ahead, and the pace was frenetic, even better than two weeks ago,” said the Ducati mainstay.
Marc Márquez, following the same pattern as two weeks ago, once again fell in qualifying and made life difficult for himself by starting in seventh place. Another good start allowed him to place fourth on the first lap, but his pace was not up to the level of the category’s leaders. In the sprint, he was five seconds behind the winner and could not catch Enea Bastianini either, even avoiding another fall when he tried to give it his all. Without the threat of rain and under normal conditions, the 93 still lacks a bit of pace to compete head-to-head with the rest of the leading Ducatis.
Bagnaia, who has been trying to challenge Martín on Saturdays for some time, is closing in on the Spaniard’s records. He now has four wins to his rival’s five, who this year has only missed out on two podiums in a short format that was his greatest asset in challenging him for the title last year. In his centenary as a MotoGP rider, the three-time Italian champion wants to complete the full house on his home circuit and celebrate in style what will be, barring a major surprise, Ducati’s 100th victory in the premier class, as well as the confirmation of its sixth constructors’ title with six races to go, an absolute monstrosity.
