ALCAÑIZ,
Spain —
Enea Bastianini won the Aragon MotoGP with a last lap overtake after mayhem at the
start as world champion Fabio Quartararo crashed out to put a severe dent in
his hopes of retaining the title.
اضافة اعلان
Bastianini shaded
Francesco Bagnaia following a nerve-jangling duel over the closing laps to deny
the factory Ducati rider a fifth straight win by four-tenths of a second
With Quartararo the
victim of first lap drama pole-sitter Bagnaia moved to within 10 points of
Yamaha’s defending champion with five races remaining.
“Enea did an
incredible job all weekend, he was very competitive,” said Bagnaia, who will
have the race winner as his teammate next season.
“Fabio (Quartararo)
was unlucky. I tried to do my best, but on the last lap I didn’t feel I was
able to retake Enea as these 10 points are important so I did okay.”
“It was a really
nice race for me,” said Bastianini, on a Ducati satellite bike.
“I made some
mistakes but on the last lap I was in a position to attack this time to win.
Amazing!”
Aprilia’s
Aleix Espargaro took third at the end of a breathless 15th round of the championship
which saw six-time world champion Marc Marquez’s hopes of a dream return after
112 days out turn into a nightmare.
It was Marquez’s
Honda that Quartararo clipped, sending the Frenchman slithering across the
track as his Aragon curse continued at the Motorland circuit where he has never
made the podium.
‘Bad day for Fabio’
Seconds later Honda’s Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami also hit the deck,
after contact again with Marquez, who was forced to retire with damage to his
bike.
Yamaha boss Lin
Jarvis reported his star man Quartararo had escaped without serious injury.
“Obviously a really
bad day for Fabio,” he said.
“The good news is
he’s okay. I’ve just heard from the clinic that he has nothing, no serious
problem, only abrasions, but he’ll be fine for the next race in Japan.”
“Unfortunately in
the middle of the bunch he clipped the rear of Marquez’s bike. Fabio is angry,
upset, but from what we can see it appears a racing incident.”
Quartararo, whose
miserable day ended with another fall from a scooter leaving the track, said:
“I feel bad. For once we had the pace to fight for a good result here,
unfortunately that wasn’t possible.”
Marquez was back
for the first time since the Italian MotoGP after further surgery on the right
arm he injured in 2020.
“It was really unlucky,” Marquez told motoGP.com of his
disastrous opening lap.
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