Chaos, confusion and the threat of rain: none of this stopped Francesco Bagnaia from winning the MotoGP Dutch GP. It's his third win of the year
The MotoGP Dutch GP was exciting and chaotic all at the same time. Apart from a blistering mistake for the race by defending champion Fabio Quartararo, it was with nine laps to go that a few drops threatened to fall at Assen. But nothing stopped Francesco Bagnaia from triumphing, leading the race from end to end. It is the Italian's third victory of the year.
Marco Bezzecchi took advantage of a mess between Aleix Espargaró and Fabio Quartararo to secure second place, the MotoGP rookie's podium. Maverick Viñales came in a great third place, with Aleix right behind, easing the problems caused by Quartararo early in the race.
Brad Binder is in fifth place. Completing the top-10 are Jack Miller, Jorge Martín, Joan Mir, Miguel Oliveira, and Álex Rins.
With the result, Quartararo holds 172 points and now has a 21-point lead over Aleix in the World Riders' Championship standings. Zarco is third in the standings, ahead of Pecco. Enea Bastianini is fifth, ahead of Brad Binder, Miller, Mir, Rins, and Oliveira.
MotoGP is now on vacation and will resume on August 7th with the British GP at Silverstone.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.
Find out how the MotoGP Dutch GP went:
The forecast for this Sunday was for rain, but MotoGP found the track, at least for the start, dry. The thermometers measured 22°C, with the asphalt reaching 29°C. The relative humidity was 58%, with the wind blowing at 10 km/h.
At the track exit, the two factory Ducati and the VR46 had soft front tires, while everyone else had medium tires. At the rear, soft was the choice of Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Marco Bezzecchi, Stefan Bradl, Takaaki Nakagami, Álex Márquez, and Álex Rins, while everyone else bet on hard.
As the lights went out on the start straight of the Dutch circuit, spectators saw pole-position Francesco Bagnaia defending his lead well, with Jorge Martín and Aleix Espargaró briefly passing Fabio Quartararo, who even made a brief escape from the track.
The World Championship leader was able to retake second place at De Strubben, but Aleix went through to take the position shortly after. Ignoring what was happening behind, Pecco had opened up a lead of more than 0s9, a lead that fell soon after but remained high at around 0s6.
When the field opened up on lap 2, Bagnaia led 0.5s ahead of Aleix, with Quartararo following closely behind, ahead of Martin, Bezzecchi, Miller, Brad Binder, Nakagami, Viñales and Oliveira.
Aleix was trying to catch up to Pecco, but he couldn't get rid of the pressure from Fabio, who was following close behind. Bezzecchi, on the other hand, had already pulled away, as the French Yamaha rider was setting the fastest lap of the race - 1min32s603.
On the fifth lap of the race, Quartararo attacked Aleix, but missed and crashed. The Frenchman pushed Aleix off the track at De Strubben, turn 5. The Catalan managed to stay on his feet, but plummeted to 15th. 'El Diablo' got up and got back on track, but last.
The Stewards Panel soon announced that the incident would be investigated, while also announcing a punishment for Jack Miller, who would have to pay another long lap for reckless driving.
With the setback, Pecco gained more than a 0s9s9 lead at the top, but Bezzecchi promoted to second place ahead of Martin.
De Strubben, by the way, cost Yamaha dearly this Sunday, as it was also the scene of a crash for Morbidelli, who abandoned the race. Shortly after, Darryn Binder left the race after a crash on number 11.
After trying to stay in the race, Quartararo eventually entered the Yamaha pits on lap 11 where he talked to the team and returned to the track. The Stewards Panel had announced that the incident would be reviewed after the race, probably to hear from the riders.
Hampered by Quartararo's mistake, Aleix was trying to climb. With 15 laps to go in Assen, the Catalan was 12th, 8s778 behind Bagnaia in the Dutch GP.
On lap 14, Fabio did the unthinkable: he crashed again at De Strubben. Now on a strong hypside. A Frenchman was thrown over the YZR-M1. And this time he called the race off.
At the other end of the field, Bagnaia was opening up more and more at the top of the Dutch GP. With 12 laps left in the Dutch GP, the Italian was 1s6 ahead of Bezzecchi, with Martin in third. Viñales was fourth, ahead of Miller, Nakagami, Oliveira, Zarco, and Mir. Aleix was already 11th.
On lap 16, Nakagami paid the penalty for the long lap and dropped to 11th, behind Aleix, who had just set the best lap of the race: 1min32s500. The Catalan, by the way, soon jumped to eighth, passing Zarco and Mir in sequence.
With nine laps to go, another change of scenery: the arrival of the rain flags, which released the riders for the flag-to-flag.
Martín was the first to shiver at the change. The Spaniard dropped to sixth, behind Viñales, Brad Binder and Miller. Bagnaia was firmly in the lead, but his advantage was slowly being eroded.
Aleix, on the other hand, kept rising. With eight laps to go, the Catalan was already seventh, 7s285 behind Pecco. The delay to Martín was 3s2.
Raúl Fernández entered the pits in the final stretch of the race, but instead of a bike change, he had to retire, apparently with a physical problem in his right hand.
Going much faster than the others, Aleix was closing the gap on Martin well. With five laps to go, the Pramac rider was 1s9 lap ahead of Brad Binder, who was not far behind his rivals.
With two laps to go, Miller upped the pressure on Viñales for the third place on the podium. It was the same script as last week, when the Australian was facing an Aprilia for the podium after serving a long lap early in the race for messing up someone on Saturday.
Further back, Aleix was already caught up with Martin, just 0s3s behind. Before the final lap, Pol's brother passed and made the elder Binder a target. The South African had only 0s6 of a margin, a difference that was demolished immediately.
At the front, Miller distanced himself from Viñales, pulling away by more than 0s9. At the last chicane, the legendary Geert Timmer Bocht, Aleix 'dined' Binder and Miller and secured fourth place, salvaging the best possible result in a race that was hugely undermined by Fabio.
Bagnaia reduced his pace in the final meters and won the Dutch GP by 0s444 ahead of his friend Bezzecchi, who took his first podium in MotoGP. Viñales also achieved his first top-3 finish since arriving at Aprilia.