battle took on added spice as Di
Giannantonio, the man who had
infuriated the Spaniard by look-
ing over his shoulder after a last
lap
overtake at Le Mans, caught
and passed him at turn 10 with
just over two laps to play.
Acosta was on the ropes, with
Mir and Aldeguer passing him
on the final lap before Ai Ogura
(Trackhouse Aprilia) landed the
final blow at the final turn, punt-
ing him off. Then more drama.
The Japanese rider
was given
a three-second penalty, which
demoted him to eighth. And Mir
incurred a nonsensical front-tire
pressure infringement, which
robbed him of second, promot-
ing Aldeguer and Bagnaia, dizzy
and
nauseous after his turn-one
It was a turn old when Zarco
tagged Luca Marini and Bag-
naia, necessitating further red
flags.
And a second restart over
12 laps resulted in a similar
result, with Acosta now leading
Mir, Bagnaia, Di Giannantonio—
bearing a wounded left hand
from when he clattered into the
detached, flying front end of
Marquez's Ducati—and Fermin
Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati).
Yet more drama ensued
as Fernandez committed the
cardinal sin of taking out his
title-chasing Aprilia man, Martin,
the Spaniard so infuriated he
started shoving some of his
team personnel back in the box.
With three to go, Acosta's
tires were spent. And the final
The race's second half was
beautifully poised. In brutally
low-grip conditions, had Mar-
quez used up too much rear tire
to
catch Acosta? We'll never
know, as Acosta's KTM cut out
exiting turn nine the 12th time
around.
The ensuing carnage was
horrific, and attention quickly
turned to the fact that KTM had
also suffered retirements from
Binder and Enea Bastianini
(Tech3 KTM), as well as Maver-
ick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) in the
Sprint.
Although it later emerged
that a clutch was to blame for
Binder's demise, while engine is-
sues were to blame for the other
two. Undeterred,
Acosta made
the restart.
ROUND 5 / MAY 15-17, 2026
CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA / BARCELONA, SPAIN
ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P78
Bagnaia (63) was
promoted to a podium
spot in third after
Mir's tire-pressure
infringement penalty.
