* Rookie
A fast-starting Fabio Quartararo blasted clear for victory at the Catalunya MotoGP, increasing his title lead with a second win of the season.
But a big mistake by local star Aleix Espargaro saw the Aprilia rider lose second place after thinking the race was over one-lap early!
Backing off and waving to the fans into Turn 1 as the last lap began, Espargaro dropped to fifth by the time he realized his huge error.
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Espargaro stopped with his head in his hands after finally taking the checked flag and was inconsolable after returning to the pits.
It’s not the first time such a mistake has been made at Barcelona, usually due to a rider watching the timing tower rather than looking at their own pit board.
That incident promoted Jorge Martin, Johann Zarco and Joan Mir to second, third and fourth.
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There was early disaster for Mugello winner Francesco Bagnaia, who joined Alex Rins in being taken out at Turn 1 of the race after Takaaki Nakagami lost the front of his LCR Honda under braking.
After sliding down the track, Nakagami’s head hit and then became tangled in Bagnaia’s rear wheel, ripping off his visor and bringing down the Ducati star.
Rins was then side-swiped by the Japanese rider’s bike. It was the second time in a week Rins and Nakagami had tangled.
All were fortunately reported to have escaped serious injury, although Rins appeared to have a sore wrist and Nakagami was sent for medical checks in a local hospital.
Bagnaia briefly rejoined a distant last before retiring for the third time this season.
As he had forecast, warm-up leader Maverick Vinales gambled on the soft rear tire from his eighth place on the grid, with Alex Marquez (starting last after missing qualifying due to a fast practice fall) the only other rider not to choose the medium or hard.
All except the KTM chose the medium front, with the RC16s on the hard.
Home star Espargaro came into the race having topped FP2, FP3, FP4 and Qualifying, before a fall on his way to fourth in warm-up.
Joined on the front row by Ducati’s Bagnaia and world champion Quartararo, Espargaro came under attack from Quartararo into turn one at the start of the race, while Bagnaia was eliminated just behind them.
The Yamaha rider immediately set a high pace, while Espargaro lost another position to Jorge Martin.
Quartararo had pulled 3.4s clear by the time Espargaro retook second place from Martin, with 15 laps to go.
Tire consumption was expected to be a major issue but Quartararo showed no signs of weakness, eventually increasing his lead to over 5-seconds while Espargaro had his hands full trying to keep Martin and Pramac Ducati team-mate Zarco at bay.
Martin, who will undergo hand surgery after this race, repassed Espargaro with nine laps to go and the trio remained locked together, Espargaro making yet another pass on Martin with 4 laps to go and looked to have second place in the bag…
Joan Mir salvaged fourth from 17th on the grid to mark Suzuki’s first race finish since the post-Jerez announcement that the factory will quit MotoGP at the end of this season.
Luca Marini was sixth for VR46 Ducati, with Vinales seventh on the soft rear, ahead of KTM team-mates Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira.
Alex Marquez produced an excellent ride from last to tenth, while rookies Remy Gardner, Darryn Binder and Raul Fernandez all scored points – Fernandez for the first time in the premier class.
Already reeling from Bagnaia’s DNF, worse was to follow for Ducati when Marco Bezzecchi, triple 2022 winner Enea Bastianini (seventh place) and then Gresini team-mate Fabio di Giannantonio all crashed out before the midway stage.
Stefan Bradl and Andrea Dovizioso also joined the DNF list.
Marc Marquez was absent after electing to undergo a fourth operation on his right arm. The recovering eight-time world champion is being replaced by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl.
An official post-race test will be held at the Barcelona circuit on Monday. Jorge Martin will miss the test and undergo surgery to treat nerve problems in his right hand.
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