MotoGP weekend in Misano

10.09.2023

Sprint

Francesco brought his Desmosedici GP machine on the third step of the rostrum in Saturday's Sprint at the Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera, home round for the Ducati Lenovo Team held this weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. The championship leader, still not entirely in perfect shape, gritted his teeth in the 13-lap race, securing the 7 points for third.

After qualifying, which saw a Ducati lockout on its home track, with the top 3 in the championship making up the front row with second and Bagnaia third, the Bologna-based manufactured dominated the afternoon's Sprint as well.

At the lights, Pecco got an excellent start to slot into second place at the first corner behind Martin, but he went wide on lap 2, allowing Bezzecchi to repass him. The top 3 remained that way until the flag, with the rider from Chivasso finishing 4 seconds behind the leading pair, but an exhausted Pecco showed his true mettle in the final stages as Pedrosa tried his utmost to take him for third.

Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
"It was an intense battle, more with me or the bike than with the other riders. Dani was pushing a lot in the last laps, and I was trying to find the energy to brake hard and not give him any chance to be close enough. In the first two or three laps, I needed to warm again the leg, I was struggling to lean the bike on the right, but after a few laps, it got better, and I was increasing the lap time and pace. The feeling was quite good, but with the soft rear, I was struggling, as it also happened this morning, so for sure, tomorrow we will change because, with the medium, I feel better. It won't be easy, because it is double the laps, which is very long and I'm quite scared about that, so for sure I will increase the painkillers, but I don't want to think too much about that. My objective is top-5, I think this is one of the best results ever because of my situation. I couldn't ask for more."

Race

Francesco Bagnaia produced another heroic performance today to take the final podium place in round 12 of the MotoGP World Championship, the GP of San Marino and the Riviera di Rimini, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

On another triumphant day for Ducati, which achieved a 1-2-3 podium, Pecco finished third in the 27-lap race behind the winner Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), who led from lights to flag, and runner-up Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Racing). The championship leader leaves Misano with an advantage of 36 and 65 points over these two rivals in the title race.

Sporting a special Ducati Yellow livery on his leathers and Desmosedici GP23 machine, a tribute to Ducati's racing heritage, Bagnaia got the jump on Bezzecchi at the start and looked comfortable in second behind Martin for the first 18 laps, the top 3 lapping consistently in around 1m32. In the final third of the race, Bagnaia suffered a drop and had to give way to Bezzecchi at Quercia on lap 19, and then spent the remaining laps until the chequered flag holding off the attacks from Pedrosa (KTM).

Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
"It was a tough weekend, but we succeeded in achieving our goal, which was to finish in the top-5 in both races. One week ago, we were struggling, and it was difficult to consider a race weekend like this, so this was the maximum we could do. I tried to stay with Martin for as long as possible, but my leg, the fact that I was riding only with my arms and the front tyre pressure didn't allow me to do it. When it started to be too difficult, I had to leave a bit of a gap to Bezzecchi, and I just tried to breathe a bit and have a bonus of performance in the last two or three laps so as not to give a chance to Pedrosa to overtake me. But I'm incredibly happy and proud of the work we did, and I only lost 14 points instead of a possible 37. Now we go to India for a race where physically I will be in better shape, and we will try and score more points for the championship."

After tomorrow's scheduled Misano test, in which Bagnaia is not expected to take part, the MotoGP World Championship heads away from Europe for a run of six overseas events starting with the Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit, scheduled for the weekend of 23/24 September.

Race results

Pos.	Nr.	Driver	Team	Bike	Time
1	89	J. Martin			41:33.4210
2	72	M. Bezzecchi			+1.350
3	1	F. Bagnaia			+3.812
4	26	D. Pedrosa			+4.481
5	12	M. Viñales			+10.510
6	88	M. Oliveira			+12.274
7	93	M. Marquez			+13.576
8	25	R. Fernandez			+14.091
9	10	L. Marini			+14.982
10	5	J. Zarco			+15.484
11	73	A. Marquez			+15.702
12	41	A. Espargaro			+15.878
13	20	F. Quartararo			+15.898
14	33	B. Binder			+23.778
15	21	F. Morbidelli			+24.579
16	37	A. Fernandez			+31.230
17	49	F. Di Giannantonio			+32.537
18	6	S. Bradl	HRC Team		+35.330
19	30	T. Nakagami			+43.601
DNF	44	P. Espargaro
DNF	36	J. Mir
DNF	51	M. Pirro
DNF	43	J. Miller

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