Fourth went to Aleix Espargaro
who created his own piece of history
by finishing 2.2 seconds off the win,
the closest margin to first place in
the history of the Aprilia factory.
Eight-time World Champion Marc
Marquez came home fifth for Repsol
Honda after failing to run the hot pace
set first by Espargaro and finally by
Bastianini. Marquez finished 0.8 sec-
onds up on Suzuki's Joan Mir, with his
teammate Alex Rins in seventh.
Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati)
pipped World Champion Fabio Quar-
tararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) on
the line for eighth, the latter a sitting
duck on his Yamaha that was down
some 9 mph on top speed com-
pared to the Ducati of Zarco. Round-
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 10 MARCH 8, 2022 P81
MYOWNRACE
36 JOAN MIR
6TH MOTOGP
"Honestly today has been disappoin ng,
I was expec ng more from this race," Mir
said. "Our bike has definitely improved
and that was clear to us—the rhythm and
speed were be er than last year. I started
out well and I felt good at the beginning
of the race, but then I started to lose the
feeling with the rear, and it became very
difficult to make progress, especially in
the last laps, and I couldn't get more than
sixth. So, this is something we'll need to
look into, to try and get more grip, for the
coming races."
41 POL ESPARGARO
3RD MOTOGP
"It's a great way to start the year, we made
an incredible start, and we were able to
lead most of the race," Espargaro said.
"Honestly speaking, we were not expec ng
a race like this and with the pace we had,
so at the end we were really on the limit.
It's an incredible feeling to start the year like
this, of course I am disappointed that when
Bas anini passed me I got sucked into the
slipstream and I ran wide, dropping to third.
But s ll we have to be pleased to start the
year like this at a track where I normally do
not go well at and in the past has not been
the best track for Honda."
Brad Binder's "Sunday
Man" tag rang as true
as ever as the South
African took a gutsy
second place on the
Red Bull KTM.
(Left) For
three-quarters
of the race, Pol
Espargaro looked
like he may just
finally take a
MotoGP race win.
He didn't but third
place was still a
great start to
the year.
There were only glum
faces in the factory
Ducati pits, just like
Jack Miller's.
ing out the top 10 was LC Idemitsu
Honda's Takaaki Nakagami.
In the battle of the 2022 rookies,
current Moto2 World Champion
Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM) took
15th, just ahead of Darren Binder
(WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP
Team), with Fabio Di Giannantonio
(Gresini Racing Ducati) 17th and
Raul Fernandez (Tech3 KTM) 18th.
Despite taking the win, Ducati will
