Enea Bastianini earned Ducati its 100th MotoGP win after a controversial final lap move on Jorge Martin in Misano as Francesco Bagnaia crashed out.
Bastianini took victory ahead of championship leader Martin after Bagnaia fell from third, allowing Martin to extend his lead in the riders’ standings to 24 points.
Martin got the best start off the line, beating Bagnaia into Turn 1, but the double reigning world champion was able to swoop around the outside to take the lead of the race.
Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder almost collided on the main straight after their strong starts as Bastianini stayed third with Binder fourth.
Binder resumed his battle with Pedro Acosta from the sprint race, but crashed out on the second lap at Turn 4.
Martin looked to have the pace to challenge Bagnaia on Lap 2 and attempted a move for the lead, but Bagnaia was able to get the cutback to retain his lead.
Martin again had a chance at an overtake at Turn 7 and he took it – Bagnaia attempted to cutback once more but a mistake on the corner exit caused his bike to get out of shape and allowed Martin to get away.
Martin looked to break from the Ducati duo and set a new race lap record as he extended his advantage to just under a second.
Bastianini seemed to have the strongest pace earlier than anticipated, and was able to force a move on teammate Bagnaia to take second as he attempted to charge after leader Martin.
The race fell into a bit of a lull in the middle, as the top ten remained in position, but Bagnaia appeared to have something as he started closing the gap on the top two by setting lap record after lap record.
Bagnaia was still pushing to the limit, and while attempting to close the gap out to the leading duo he crashed out of the race and gave up more ground in the championship fight.
The battle out front raged on as Martin continued to defend from Bastianini as the Ducati rider desperately searched for a way through on the Pramac in front.
Bastianini had one final opportunity to overtake at Turn 4, and his lunge sent Martin wide and onto the run-off and allowed the Ducati through to take victory.
Martin was furious with Bastianini’s move and crossed the line second, 3.979s behind the Ducati, with Marc Marquez sneaking onto the podium in third.
Ducati sealed the Constructors’ Championship with Bastianini’s victory after Jack Miller finished 16th for nearest challengers KTM.
VR46 academy riders Marco Bezzecchi and Franco Morbidelli came home in 4th and 5th respectively.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales took the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo in the final corner for sixth, ahead of the second Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro in eighth.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez was ninth as Trackhouse’s Miguel Oliveira rounded out the top ten.
Late race pace from both Repsol Honda’s allowed Joan Mir and Luca Marini to cross the line in 11th and 12th respectively ahead of the second Trackhouse bike of Raul Fernandez.
Fabio Di Giannantonio was 14th despite receiving a long lap penalty for track limits, while Johann Zarco made it three Hondas in the points after taking the flag in 15th.
Miller was unable to salvage a point from a nightmare weekend as he crossed the line in 16th, ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami in 17th and Augusto Fernandez’s GasGas in 18th.
Binder crashed out of the race but rejoined and finished 19th, over a minute behind Bastianini while Acosta and Bagnaia did not rejoin after their crashes and did not finish the race.
Alex Rins sat out of the weekend’s action due to illness and did not take part in the race.
What an arsehole move from bastianini,both nearly ending up in the dirt but ja once again oneup for ducati mafia…..ghdy control race direction
Couldn’t agree more, who’d have thought, motogp a contact sport😞