Bagnaia corrected his mistakes and regained the lead after winning at Jerez

the world champion pecco bagnaia He continued his MotoGP career drawn with a roller coaster profile. After adding 37 possible points to Portimao, he promised them a very happy 2023 where he led the No. 1 as champion, but then came the cakes with open hands because of his own mistakes in Argentina and Texas. He couldn’t afford another one but at Jerez, a circuit where he won last year from pole position and where his real comeback began. Shocking KTM pilots responded to him Brad Binder and Jack Miller who was with him on the podium on Saturday in the Sprint and again this Sunday, but this time he watched them from the top of the podium.

Bagnaia once again went all-one on his Ducati in Jerez and won a cushion of 22 points over Bezzecchi and 25 over Binder, impressive for his effort on a KTM that was inferior to the current Ducati. Despite the great step forward made, he lost like a champion for the first orange victory of the year in the good race, but in the distance of the race he did not have the same luck as in the Sprint.

Another rider in orange and black ran out all the qualifiers this weekend, in addition to getting all the love from Jerez. Dani Pedrosa, the Little Samurai who is getting older and is approaching 38 years old (in September) and after five years of not working as an official rider, made an exhibition of speed on a motorcycle where now his usual task is to be a test rider and commentator in MotoGP, good at both tasks because he has shown more than enough. With sixth in the sprint and seventh in the race, he bids farewell to this wildcard. Now it’s only in your hands if you want to receive another one in the height of September to continue testing new features for KTM in a GP.

On the grid there was unanimity when it came to choosing tires with 46ºc on the asphalt and 25 laps to go, medium front and rear, and ‘play’ with those tires to face the end of the race with guarantees.

Red flag like in the Sprint on Saturday

As was the case on Saturday in the Sprint from pole position, Aleix Espargaró lost the lead to Miller and Binder and Martín also overtook the Aprilia Capitano. And just like in Saturday’s Sprint when the peloton went through turn 2 running out of space, Fabio Quartararo fell with Miguel Oliveira after the Frenchman touched Bezzecchi. Dani Pedrosa lost two places on this first lap at the expense of Viñales and Alex Márquez, but before the fatal accident at turn 2 they stopped the race to look after the drivers. It was scary for Quartararo, but Oliveira, who hit the asphalt with his head, was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center while workers repaired the airfence.

Race Direction penalized Quartararo with a long lap for what appeared to be a race challenge and Oliveira left his place for free as he was still in the Medical Center when the restart took place. So Yamaha Morbidelli, who was guilty of the incident on Saturday, like Quartararo, who was considered the same this Sunday, will have to serve a long lap penalty. And on top of that, the French had to repeat it for doing it wrong.

KTM came back to surprise in the second start

Binder and Miller repeated their excellent start at Jerez for the fourth time, this time changing the order as it had on Saturday’s restart, and Martín also passed Aleix who took three corners at Bagnaia and in three others he liquidated the champion. Martín joined the KTM as Marini passed Pedrosa for seventh place and before the end of the first lap Zarco got ahead of the little Samurai.

Up front there was a leader change on the third lap when Miller overtook Binder at the entrance to the finish line and two laps later they switched again. Behind them Martín tried to squeeze Bagnaia for third place that when he left him he went to Miller who he passed with a fierce ax blow in turn 6 of the Italian to his former teammate.

Miller then did some brutal skiing on Martín that the man from San Sebastián de los Reyes didn’t like to take back third place. On the eighth lap, Bagnaia was forced to give up a place due to a penalty for a previous action against Miller, the Australian passed, and with all they gave in the air Binder gained a cushion of 8 tenths.

In the back Dani Pedrosa He held off Alex Márquez and Maverick Viñales who checked him for keeping the eighth and final place to join the peloton led by the South African from KTM followed by Miller, Bagnaia, Martín, Aleix Espargaró, Zarco, Marini and Dani.

Taking advantage of the fact that Miller began to widen, with 9 laps to go, Bagnaia overtook him inside turn 1 and Binder was 7 tenths ahead. And in just 8 the falls started again, from Zarco and the leader to Jerez Bezzecchi in the braking of 6 when he was pushing to improve the top-10 he occupied.

With 5 from the end Bagnaia pressed Binder, but the South African’s response was immediate, but one turn he tried it and succeeded at 13 and now it was Binder who went to get Bagnaia. The South African was uniquely trying to respond to the world champion with his KTM, but he could not find the space to pass the rider who regained a lead of 22 points over Bezzecchi and 25 points over Brad Binder. Jack Miller closed the podium, but in the end Jorge Martín was unable to beat him.

Aleix Espargaró came in fifth and in the end Dani Pedrosa was unable to beat Luca Marini by 42 thousandths, finishing seventh, three places better than a year and a half ago in his wild card in Styria, another race that a red flag though that time he was involved in the first person

As for the other Spaniards, Alex Márquez was eighth, Augusto Fernández 13th, Raúl Fernández 15th, Iker Lecuona 16th and Joan Mir fell at turn 9 in the second lap and Alex Rins in the first, leaving the two lap later and retired when the chain broke on his Aprilia Viñales on the last lap.