Pecco Bagnaia beats Jorge Martin to win the Catalan Grand Prix

It was hottest temperature of the weekend in Barcelona so the riders were going to riding in conditions with lower grip. Tissot Sprint winner Aleix Espargaro started from pole position ahead of Francesco Bagnaia who wanted to redeem his last lap crash from the lead in the Sprint, Raul Fernandez who also crashed out of the lead in the Sprint started from third. Championship leader Jorge Martin started from seventh with Marc Marquez starting 14th following four consecutive second places.

The lights went out and it was Pecco Bagnaia who took the holeshot ahead of Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder.

On lap three Acosta attacked Pecco into turn ten but ran wide, Jack Miller who was running in seventh went down at turn ten.

Martin who had sat in third for the first three laps block passed Acosta in turn ten to move into second. The following lap Martin did the same to Pecco to take the lead.

On lap six Acosta who was on the soft rear tyre used the grip to get a drive out of turn nine and pass Bagnaia into turn ten to move into second position.

Espargaro started to turn up the pace on lap 11 passing Binder down the home straight to move into fourth with Fernandez taking fifth from the South African at turn three.

On lap 11 Acosta was right on the back of Martin and lost the front at turn ten, the 20-year-old remounted on the bike. This meant Espargaro was now into third with Pecco in second place.

Marc Marquez who had been sitting behind Franky Morbidelli for the first ten laps of the race passed the Italian and then Binder at turn seven to move into fifth place at the end of lap 12.

Enea Bastianini who was running in ninth place received a long lap penalty for cutting turn two, this stake in the 2025 Ducati seat was looking slimmer.

Marc Marquez out-dragged Fernandez down the main straight to move into fourth place and was 0.4 seconds behind Espargaro. Morbidelli crashed out of sixth place at turn ten on lap 18.

Pecco had been chipping away at Martin’s gap since Acosta went down. The reigning world champion made his move at turn five, the same corner where he crashed out of the sprint and made the move stick.

Marc Marquez then replicated his move on Fernandez to Espargaro to move into third place. Meanwhile Bagnaia had pulled a 0.8 second gap over Martin with four laps to go.

Bagnaia answered back from his crash in the Tissot Sprint and took his first victory and podium at the Circuit de Catalunya. Martin settled for second position with Marc Marquez taking third place.

Espargaro finished fourth in his final home round in Barcelona, Fabio Di Giannantonio took fifth ahead of Raul Fernandez. Alex Marquez was seventh ahead of Binder, Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira who rounded out the top ten. Acosta still brought home three points in 13th despite his crash, Bastianini scored zero points due to a ride through penalty was given because the the Italian didn’t take his long lap penalty and his double long lap penalty.

Featured Image: Joel Cooper Photography