JEREZ (Spain) — Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia denied KTM’s Brad Binder a sprint-race double with victory at the Spanish Grand Prix to reclaim top spot in the riders standings.
Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi conceded top spot to Bagnaia in the standings when he crashed with seven laps to go while Binder also moved up three places to third in the table.
Bagnaia has a 22-point lead over Bezzecchi after four rounds while Binder is a further three points behind. Binder’s team mate Jack Miller finished third to move up to fourth in the riders standings, Reuters reported.
The two KTMs had a superb start as sprint winner Binder and Miller led into turn one but the race was red-flagged after Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and RNF Racing’s Miguel Oliveira crashed on the opening lap.
Oliveira was declared unfit to resume after dislocating his shoulder, marking the second time this season he was forced to abandon the race after Marc Marquez crashed into him in Portugal last month.
It was deja vu on the restart as the KTMs surged into the front with Binder making up three places by turn one to take the lead with Miller and Bagnaia behind him.
Bagnaia and Miller were involved in some aggressive racing with the Italian forced to drop a position by race control after moving up to second when he nearly took out the KTM rider on an overtake that left the Australian fuming despite an apology.
A mistake from Miller opened the door for Bagnaia and the world champion charged after Binder with nine laps to go, setting the fastest lap as he looked to reel in the South African.
Bagnaia’s determination reaped dividends when he finally got past Binder with three laps to go and although the KTM rider threw everything at him and closed the gap on the turns, the Ducati rider held him off to take the chequered flag.
Meanwhile, Quartararo’s day went from bad to worse when the 2021 champion, who was penalised with a long-lap penalty for the crash, was forced to repeat it as he eventually finished 10th.
An angry Davide Tardozzi called on MotoGP Stewards to revise their decisions after Francesco Bagnaia had to overcome a one-place penalty as he won the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez to take the lead of the World Championship.
The Ducati team manager was irked after Bagnaia was penalised when he made contact with Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller, with the move deemed excessively aggressive.
Bagnaia had to concede second place to the Australian, but the reigning champion was able to fight his way through again to win the race from Binder.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli were also hit with penalties at Jerez.
Tardozzi referred to an incident between Miller and Jorge Martin in race, when the KTM rider made a robust overtake on Martin at the final corner, which was not deemed to be deserving of a penalty by the Stewards.
“My comments on the Stewards this weekend are not very good,” said Tardozzi.
“I think the penalties to Quartararo and Morbidelli were unfair – they were race accidents.
“Also, Pecco found space, he went in and Jack closed the line. What if Martin closed the line when Miller was in the last corner inside of him?
Why didn’t they give a penalty to Jack too?” he asked.
“I think the Stewards have to revise their decisions. This is a man’s sport, a hard sport – it can happen.”
Pressed on whether the decisions should be revised, or if the Stewards panel itself needed to be reconsidered in the wake of Sunday’s controversial calls, Tardozzi said it was a ‘problem for Dorna’.
