Bagnaia Wins Catalan GP with Martin and Marquez on Podium

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Bagnaia Wins Catalan GP with Martin and Marquez on Podium
Marquez was one of four riders who took a chance with the soft rear tire in the hot weather

Bagnaia had a strong lead during the sprint on Saturday but crashed on the last lap.

He waited patiently in the first part of the race and then caught up to Martin from Pramac. He passed Martin on lap 19 out of 24 and finished 1.740 seconds ahead to win his third grand prix this season.

This win moves him back to second place in the standings, but Martin still holds the lead by 39 points after finishing second in the grand prix.

Marquez was one of four riders who took a chance with the soft rear tire in the hot weather. He started 14th on the grid and managed to grab third place, just 0.052 seconds ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Bagnaia, from Ducati, took the lead from the second position on the grid ahead of Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta, KTM’s Brad Binder, Martin, and poleman Espargaro.

Acosta, also using the soft rear tire along with Jack Miller (KTM) and Alex Marquez, tried to take the lead from Bagnaia at Turn 10 on the third lap. However, he went wide and let Bagnaia back into the lead. Miller crashed shortly after at the same corner, while Martin passed Acosta for second on the next lap.

Martin then passed Bagnaia at Turn 10 on lap five to take the lead, with Acosta following him through on the sixth lap.

The top two quickly pulled away, with Martin leading by 1.1 seconds when Acosta crashed on lap 11 at Turn 10.

Bagnaia steadily closed in on Martin’s lead, reducing it to seven tenths at the beginning of lap 16.

Martin’s lead continued to shrink until Bagnaia successfully passed him at Turn 5 on lap 19.

Bagnaia then pulled away from Martin to secure an important victory after his sprint troubles, with Martin finishing second.

Marquez’s journey from 14th began with a jump to 10th on the first lap, but he got stuck behind Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli until lap 11.

Once he passed Morbidelli, Marquez quickly overtook Binder on lap 12 and moved up to fourth ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez six laps later.

Espargaro, who won the sprint on Saturday, couldn’t hold off Marquez and fell to him on lap 21 at Turn 1.

Espargaro tried to catch up to Marquez on the final lap but fell just short by 0.052 seconds.

Fabio Di Giannantonio finished fifth on his VR46 Ducati, with Raul Fernandez sixth ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini) and Binder. Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo finished ninth, with Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing) in 10th place.

Bagnaia Wins Catalan GP with Martin and Marquez on Podium
Marquez was one of four riders who took a chance with the soft rear tire in the hot weather

The final points went to Marco Bezzecchi (VR46), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), Acosta after his crash, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, and factory Honda counterpart Joan Mir.

Enea Bastianini crossed the finish line in ninth but received a 32-second time penalty for not following two long lap penalties and a subsequent ride-through for ignoring his earlier penalties.

This dropped the factory Ducati rider to 18th place.

Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez and Morbidelli also crashed at Turn 10 and did not finish the race.

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By Preksha Sharma

being me means you've got to love cars, coffee and gilmore girls. sorry i don't make the rules.

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