seven the following lap, had al-
ready signaled his intent. His fast-
est lap then put him within reach
of the two men ahead at the
start of the fifth lap. Behind the
lead quintet, Luca Marini (VR46
Ducati), Johann Zarco (Pramac
Ducati), Pedrosa, Alex Marquez
(Gresini Ducati) and Maverick Vi
-
nales (Aprilia Racing) had formed
in a top-ten covered by little more
than three seconds.
Turn 13 was the scene of
further KTM battling at the end
of lap four, as Binder retook the
lead. A lap on and it was time for
the FIM Stewards to make their
second laughable decision of
the afternoon. Miller was slightly
wide at turn six, giving Bagnaia
just enough space to accelerate
through. It was aggressive—the
penalty, because I was just try
-
ing to do my best."
The KTM RC16's prowess
off the line was evident before
the red flag was shown. And it
came to the fore in the restart,
as Binder got the jump into turn
one from fourth on the grid,
outflanking Miller (starting from
second), Jorge Martin (Pramac
Ducati), pole sitter Aleix Espar
-
garo (Aprilia Racing) and Bag-
naia. And soon the KTMs were
threatening to break clear, as
Miller took control at Turn 13 the
second time around and pulled
his teammate 0.6 seconds
ahead of the chasing pack.
But Bagnaia, who put an
aggressive first-lap move on
Espargaro at turn five, before a
delicious pass on Martin at turn
unjust punishment for RNF's
leading man.
To the astonishment of any
-
one who had watched at least
one race in their lifetime, the FIM
Stewards handed Quartararo a
Long Lap Penalty for the restart.
But the sad truth for Yamaha
was it had little impact on the
victory fight, even if Jerez has
been his track in recent times.
"I didn't try to make an over
-
take at the race start, I was just
trying to survive the corner,"
Quartararo said. "But I had Bez
-
zecchi on the right and Miguel
on the left. I touched Bezzec-
chi's and Miguel's bike, but only
because I had no space. It was
just a matter of trying to make
the corner. From our side, there
was no reason to give me the
ROUND 4 / APRIL 28-30, 2023
CIRCUITO DE JEREZ ANGEL NIETO / JEREZ, SPAIN
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P86
It was a disastrous weekend for Marco Bezzecchi (72)
with a ninth in the sprint and crash in the Grand Prix
seeing him squander his championship lead.
