MotoGP: Misano - Marc Marquez masters difficult conditions and defeats Bagnaia in his backyard.
The superstar of Gresini won for the second consecutive week after a brief rain shower shuffled the starting order halfway through the race.
It was quite an interesting Grand Prix in Rimini, just seven days afterMarc Marquez for an absolutely boring party in Aragon. Well, a boring party for most people who are not fans of Marquez.
At one of the most successful circuits in his career, he won Marquezevery session of the weekend in Aragon and he won both the sprint and the main race in a dominant manner.
While some thought it might have been a fluke and that he would probably never see the top step again aboard the year-old Ducati GP23, thought Marquezthere themselves otherwise about.
The race began with Pecco Bagnaia on pole and from the start it was a breathtaking opening race - with Jorge Martinon the way to second place, while Franco Morbidelli en Pedro Acosta briefly competed for third place.
It didn't take long beforeMartinan ambitious attempt made atBagnaia in bend three, an attempt he had to abandon before serious consequences occurred.. Acostatried a similar action onMorbidelli, which resulted in a collision and causedAcostaan aerostuk lost from his tub.
The last two crashed in separate crashes a few laps later, when it became clear that rain had fallen on the circuit, that was enough to make drivers take wrong lines and bring the group back together. The lead that had been built up over several laps disappeared in the blink of an eye and the lead in the race quickly came under threat.
While marshals waved red striped flags to indicate that a motorcycle change was required, guessed Martin seized this opportunity and he was the only rider in the leading peloton who switched to his reserve engine.
It later turned out to be a mistake, as the downpour was over so quickly and the Spaniard returned to the pits in the same lap to switch back to slicks - only to be stuck even longer because the team was not yet finished adjusting the engine. So you could say that his victory literally went down the drain. But if it had rained harder, we would have honored him. A gamble that unfortunately did not pay off as expected.
WhileMartinpractically out of the race, limpedBagnaiaforward as he struggled with the damp conditions. It wasn't long beforeMarc Marquez the lead in the race and was no longer at home. Under these circumstances drives Marquezas no other and he showed that again in Misano.
Bagnaia finally found his pace again, but in the end it was not enough to Marquez to catch up, who had already built a three-second lead. He crossed the finish line first and won for the second consecutive week, while Bagnaia had to settle for second place, just a few seconds ahead of his teammate Enea Bastianini, who closed the stage.
The recent form ofMarquez has now raised serious questions about what the near future of MotoGP will look like, or even the rest of this season with still a fierce battle for the championship ahead.
The Spaniard will next season together withBagnaia to form the factory team of Ducati, indicating that he will once again be a serious title contender after his injury-prone years with the struggling Honda team.
But in its current form, it seems that he could once again be a surprising contender for the championship this year, even though he is riding machines that are a year older, unlike Martin and Bagnaia that are currently ranked first and second, respectively, in the standings. MarquezhasBastianininow overtaken for third place in the standings, just 53 points from the lead.
It seemed very unlikely at the beginning of the season, for various reasons among the audience—whether it was because he had to get used to a Ducati after riding Hondas for ten years, the fact that he was riding machines that were already older, or the endless discussions about whether he is still the same alien he once was before his terrible arm injury four years earlier.
But given his recent form, he provesMarc Marquez that he still has it in him.
That said, it will certainly be a tough battle in the remaining six races of this season. How fast BagnaiaandMartinalso be on their factory machines, it will not be easy toMarquezstill to keep behind.
He gains more confidence in the Ducati every weekend and is known for pushing the absolute limit at all costs to win - as seen in his last few years with Honda, where he managed to push the bike into corners where it really didn't belong.
Featured image - Gold and Goose, Motorsport Images
Author
- Liam van de Seijp
