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Zarco then made it a three- way fight for second place by latching onto the Aprilia's rear, while the fight for fifth settled down after an initial air of chaos. Mir edged clear of Marini, while Bastianini grew impatient while scrapping with Vinales, crash- ing out of seventh on the eighth circuit. In a nightmare lap for the Gresini team, Di Giannantonio followed suit, with a gust of wind catching him out at the penulti- mate turn. Crashes weren't the only means of coming apart. Tire issues reared their head also, with Pol Espargaro dropping down the order at an alarming rate, and Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati) not once competitive. Binder and Miguel Oliveira never in touch with the leaders from there. Knowing that he would struggle with increasing front tire pressure if trapped behind an Aprilia or Ducati, bikes faster in a straight line, Quartararo set about building up a commanding lead as early as possible. His ad- vantage stood at 0.4 seconds af- ter lap one, then 0.7 seconds on lap two. And it was difficult to see anyone other than the French- man winning when Martin, full of confidence on the brakes after reverting to a front fork setting from the start of the year, passed Espargaro on lap three. Now Yamaha's leading man had 1.2 seconds in hand. ROUND 9 / JUNE 3-5, 2022 CIRCUIT OF BARCELONA / CATALUNYA, SPAIN P84 Briefly... RINS BROKEN Following the big crash he suffered at turn one of the Catalan Grand Prix, Alex Rins underwent tests at the Hospital Universitari Dexeus in Barce- lona. Initial checks found a fracture in the pyramidal or triquetral bone of his left wrist with no displacement. A further MRI scan confirmed there was no ligament damage sustained. Checks were also made to his left ankle after Rins reported pain; this proved to be inflammation. Rins will begin a program of recovery which will include his wrist being immo- bilized, regular icing and electro- magnetic therapy, anti-inflammatory medication, and rest. He will now miss the Catalan Test taking place at Montmelo, Monday June 6. He will undergo further assessments and checks ahead of the next Grand Prix in Germany in two weeks' time. NO ACTION TAKEN FIM MotoGP Stewards reviewed the turn-one incident between riders Takaaki Nakagami, Alex Rins and Francesco Bagnaia from every angle. On the evidence provided by the multitude of angles available to the Stewards, including footage from the helicopter, it was judged a racing incident with no further action to be taken. Nakagami gained several posi- tions in acceleration to move forward from his grid position. He was judged to have braked at a similar time to rid- ers around him, gaining no significant distance on the brakes to indicate otherwise. Nakagami then lost the front end and crashed, with motor- cycle and rider thereafter contacting Rins and Bagnaia. The established threshold for such incidents to incur a penalty is for a rider to clearly be seen carrying far too much speed, MOTOGP I MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP