Pecco Bagnaia had a current account with Sunday’s long races. After winning the first of the year in Portimao, he fell to the ground in Argentina and Texas and scored two huge clean sheets in his standings, reminding him of the ghosts of last year, when he was on the verge of winning the championship lose in the first corner. . However, the Italian made just one mistake in the whole race, when he collided with Miller at Turn 6 and had to give him back second place as per Race Direction’s mandate. The Italian obeyed obediently and unquestioningly; and he had time to overtake the two KTMs again and add his second win of the year, four in total when his two wins in two Saturday sprints are added. The race was held in two companies. The first only lasted a few corners. Immediately after the start, Fabio Quartararo was optimistic and put his Yamaha in an impossible gap between the bikes of Bezzecchi and Oliveira. When he fell, he took the Portuguese in front of him, who left the circuit by ambulance with a dislocated left shoulder to await a more complete check-up at the hospital. The race was stopped with a red flag. Quartararo did not get off to a free start after this action because he was penalized with a long lap, which he had to redo during the race because he did not complete it correctly. A Sunday to quickly forget for the champion in 2021, who left the circuit with an apparent limp but without fractures. At the restart, the script that had already been seen on Saturday in the sprint and at the first start was repeated. The KTMs melted down pole sitter Aleix Espargaró, who watched helplessly as the Ducati of Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín also overtook him. It remained to be seen if the race wouldn’t take too long for Binder and Miller, at twice the distance of the sprint. But as the laps went by, the orange bikes’ lead didn’t fade. On the contrary, Binder remained solid in first position and managed to open a second lead with his pursuers engaged in a thousand skirmishes. The commented touch between Bagnaia and Miller, another of Miller with Martín; and several overtakes to the limit from Martín to Espargaró only benefited the South African, who had a fairly clean race ahead of him. Until Bagnaia put on his overalls. He retook second position and fell in Binder’s wake with five laps to go. During one lap he thoroughly studied his rival, his Ducati was a continuation of the KTM, and launched the attack four from the end, in a brilliant maneuver. However, Binder was far from done with the race and returned to the fray. He took a few laps to rest and in the last one he gave it all he could and set his personal best, but it was impossible against an inspired Bagnaia, who, like in 2022, crossed the finish line victorious in Jerez. He was joined on the podium by Binder and Miller’s KTMs, the same protagonists as in Saturday’s sprint but in a different order. While Martín and Espargaró, fourth and fifth, were left with honey on their lips to take a podium that always tastes better in Jerez. Pedrosa’s Sunday Regardless of the grand prix winner, the man of the weekend was Dani Pedrosa. After retiring nearly five years ago, he has seen Spanish fans revere him as the MotoGP legend he is. Since Friday he has enjoyed the love of the crowd, but the highlight of the weekend came on Sunday, before the start of the race, when the riders staged the ‘Rider Fan Parade’ all over the circuit. Hundreds of flags, shirts and caps with the number 26 in each stand and the pinnacle at the most iconic point on the course. The Nieto-Peluqui double curve where the fans make the most noise. There his name was chanted and even his own teammate, Jack Miller, lifted him onto his shoulders so that Pedrosa could take a well-deserved mass bath: «It was a beastly feeling, I almost started to cry, but not only because of the fans who gave me , I supported a lot, also because the pilots supported me a lot. After sixth in the sprint, he was seventh in the feature race and lasted all laps, despite admitting that on Sunday he had lost the spark with which he started the GP on Friday. He noticed the inactivity more than the weight for his age, 37 years old, but in addition to his good results, a big part of KTM’s success on this track was his. So he didn’t blush when they asked him at the end of the day what grade he would get. “I would give it a very high mark. A 10 because everything went very well. Maybe this year he will repeat the wild card at Misano circuit, but it will never be as intense and satisfying as the one in Jerez.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
