Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1507015
MotoGP Sprint Race After qualifying on pole, Bagnaia charged into the lead at turn one ahead of Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) and Vinales with Espargaro holding fourth. By the third lap, Martin had dropped back to fourth and even - tually ran off at turn one, dropping back to sixth ahead of Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) and Espargaro had started his charge towards the front. Three laps later, Espargaro did what's been the dream of every non-Ducati rider for years by drafting past the factory number one of Bagnaia into turn one, holding him on the brakes and sealing the lead of the race. From there on, no one could touch him. The boy who grew up a stone's throw away from the Catalunya venue and who could hear the engines roaring as he sat in class as a schoolboy was now on course for a dream first home race win, one that would also be his first career Sprint Race victory. Espargaro took the gold by 1.9 seconds as Bagnaia had his hands full with Vinales, manag - ing to hold him off to the flag to make it Ducati meat in an Aprilia sandwich on the podium with Vinales in third, 2.04 seconds off Espargaro's winning time. Binder held on for fourth ahead of Martin, Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team), Johann Zarco (Prima ROUND 11 / AUGUST 1-3, 2023 CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA / BARCELONA, SPAIN MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P66 20 FABIO QUARTARARO 18/7 MOTOGP "This morning we went back to last year's setup and fairing," Fabio Quar- tararo said after Sunday's race. "It helped quite a lot. I think that the race today was great. I had a great start and great first few laps, and seventh was the maximum we could do today. This weekend we stayed calm and worked hard. It's good, but we still need to figure out so many things. Hopefully we can get more informa- tion also in Misano to be 100 percent sure of what we will do." 43 JACK MILLER 16-8 MOTOGP "We made some massive changes today, and it took me a good five-six laps to get used to them and manage these low-grip conditions," Jack Miller said Sunday. "I have to apologize to the guys because they have been working their butts off to help us and to save the tires. We turned the bike upside down, and I got the feeling back. I made a couple of mistakes but then started going quite strong. I didn't realize it was the last lap because I wanted to manage the tire, but it was fun, and I could ride the way I wanted." MYOWNRACE Francesco Bagnaia's crash was brutal. Brad Binder is about to nail him, but he got away without serious injury.