BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
T
he seventh round of the
MotoGP World Champion-
ship for 2022 was notable
for a few reasons—the first being
still no French win on home soil,
the second for Enea Bastianini's
(Gresini Ducati) third win and
thirdly, for the way he made the
seemingly unbreakable Pecco
Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) crack
under pressure.
Bastianini, fastest on Friday but
only fifth after qualifying behind
pole-sitter Bagnaia, rocketed up
to second off the start behind
early leader Jack Miller (Lenovo
Ducati) but dropped back to
fourth by the end of the first lap.
It was a shocking start for Fa-
bio Quartararo (Monster Energy
Yamaha), who went from second
at the start to eighth by the end
of lap one, mired in a battle with
Honda's Marc Marquez, Takaaki
Nakagami and compatriot Johann
Zarco (Pramac Ducati). The
World Champion would eventu-
ally break free of the seventh-
place battle to latch onto Aleix
Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) and
Joan Mir (Ecstar Suzuki). One lap
later, this battle would be for sixth
as third-placed Alex Rins (Ecstar
Suzuki) got it all wrong on the
entry to the dauting turn one, fly-
ing across the gravel trap at high
speed before rejoining the circuit
even ahead of leader Miller. He
would crash out after the Suzuki
flicked him off as he went from
the gravel back onto the track.
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 20 MAY 17, 2022 P69
Enea Bastianini has
now been labeled by
Fabio Quartararo as the
man to beat in 2022
following his stunning
French MotoGP win.
NATURE
