Francesco Bagnaia claimed victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello in commanding style as he led Fabio Quartararo home by 0.635s.
The Italian suffered of the start as he dropped to eighth, though the factory Ducati man quickly managed to work his way through several riders before moving into the runners-up spot just half-a-dozen laps into the contest as he slipstreamed past both Luca Marini and Quartararo on the run to Turn 1.
Having pressured race leader Marco Bezzecchi for several laps, the 2021 MotoGP vice-champion finally snatched the lead from his countryman just prior to mid-distance.
Bagnaia subsequently began to craft a lead as he looked to put his stamp on the race, Quartararo soon moving into second ahead fo Bezzecchi as he looked to try and repeat his victory from last season.
Despite the Frenchman’s best intentions he couldn’t close down the advantage, leaving Bagnaia to claim a comfortable second success of the year by 0.635s in the end ahead of Quartararo, who extended his series lead in the process.
Aleix Espargaro was once again rock-solid for Aprilia as he scored a remarkable fourth-straight third place finish, the Spaniard keeping himself well in range of Quartararo in the points standings.
Johann Zarco methodically worked his way through the leading group in the closing stages to bag fourth for Pramac ahead of Bezzecchi, who slipped back in the final tours to fifth – albeit still a best ever premier class result – with VR46 team-mate Luca Marini shadowing him home to complete the top six.
KTM’s Brad Binder once again stunned to take seventh despite a woeful Saturday for the Austrian brand, the South African taking the chequered flag just four seconds adrift of Bagnaia on his RC16.
Takaaki Nakagami was top Honda in eighth for LCR ahead of the sister KTM of Miguel Oliveira, while Marc Marquez ended his last MotoGP event for the foreseeable future as the final man within the top ten.
Pole-man Fabio Di Gianantonio struggled to match the race performance of his rivals as he slipped to 11th by the end, though the rookie still notched up his best ever MotoGP finish.
Maverick Vinales was 12th ahead of Jorge Martin, while the other factory Ducati of Jack Miller was only 15th after the Aussie struggled to recover from a bad start.
Suzuki suffered another dreadful Sunday as both Joan Mir and Alex Rins crashed out early on just moments apart, the former going down at Turn 1 before the latter crashed at Turn 12 on the same circulation.
Title challenger Enea Bastianini saw his day ended with a crash as he began to threaten Espargaro for what was fourth at the time, the three-time 2022 winner losing the front of his Gresini Ducati at Turn 4.
Quartararo’s points lead now stands at nine over Espargaro heading to Barcelona next weekend, with Bastianini’s DNF seeing him fall to 28 adrift of the Yamaha racer, while Bagnaia’s win lifts to fourth overall a further 13 behind.
| # | Rider | Bike | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | |
| 2 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 0.635 |
| 3 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1.983 |
| 4 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 2.590 |
| 5 | Marco Bezzecchi | Ducati | 3.067 |
| 6 | Luca Marini | Ducati | 3.875 |
| 7 | Brad Binder | KTM | 4.067 |
| 8 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 10.944 |
| 9 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 11.256 |
| 10 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 11.800 |
| 11 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati | 12.916 |
| 12 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia | 12.917 |
| 13 | Jorge Martin | Ducati | 17.240 |
| 14 | Alex Marquez | Honda | 17.568 |
| 15 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 17.687 |
| 16 | Darryn Binder | Yamaha | 20.265 |
| 17 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 20.296 |
| 18 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 21.305 |
| 19 | Remy Gardner | KTM | 30.548 |
| 20 | Andrea Dovizioso | Yamaha | 31.011 |
| 21 | Raúl Fernández | KTM | 42.723 |
| 22 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia | 1 Lap |
| 23 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati | 10 Laps |
| 24 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 16 Laps |
| 25 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 16 Laps |
| 26 | Pol Espargaro | Honda | 19 Laps |
