MotoGP Gran Premio Monster Energy de Catalunya. Barcelona 2022
Qualification:
Aleix Espargaro took the home advantage and put his Aprilia on pole. P2 was Francesco Bagnaia on the Ducati and P3 Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha.
The Race:
There was much talk about how hot it was at the Circuit de Catalunya, and clearly, this would affect tyre temperature and how the riders might save their tyres for the whole race.
Aleix Espargaro shot off the line, asserting his pole position, but Fabio Quartararo was having none of it and by the first corner it was Fabio in the lead with Aleix close by. At that same corner came disaster, Francesco Bagnaia, Alex Rins and Takaaki Nakagami went down like skittles into the gravel. Takaaki with an over-ambitious move slid out and took the other two riders with him, why so anxious so early? Maybe talk of him being out of the team next year is affecting his psyche.
As the dust on the first corner settled it was Fabio Quartararo in the lead with Aleix Espargaro P2 and Jorge Martin P3 and teammate Johann Zarco P4. Joan Mir was stunning, he made his way from P17 to P7 in one lap! Lap three with twenty-two to go and Jorge Martin slipped past Espargaro into P2, with Fabio now having a gap of 0.754 in the lead. Pecco Bagnaia had somehow managed to salvage his Ducati from the crash but he soon retired to the box.
Twenty laps to go and Fabio Quartararo was already ahead of Jorge Martin by 1.460 and posted the fastest lap of the race, his metronomic lap times are the hallmark of the current world champion. Fabio when at his best, and when he is on it, hard to beat. Jorge Martin P2, Aleix Espargaro was in a solid P3 with Johann Zarco P4 and now Joan Mir in P5, a remarkable achievement from P17 on the grid.
With five laps to go Fabio was running his own race and pace in the lead with a 5.399 second gap over P2 man Jorge Martin, who was having a good race but being pursued by Espargaro and teammate Zarco. This type of race can get a little boring unless, of course, it’s your man up front. Although Fabio was seemingly unassailable there was a tussle going on with the others, which made for good viewing.
On the last lap, Fabio was all but home, and Aleix Espargaro thought he was, as in second place he slowed down and started waving to the crowd, thinking the race had finished! It was not until he saw Luca Marini fly past him that he realised his mistake, and then set after Luca like a cheetah after prey. As the race did actually finish it was Fabio for the win, with Jorge Martin a solid P2 and Johann Zarco a welcome P3, Joan Mir P4 and Aleix P5, having looked at the progress tower and not his pit board for information.
The Results:
Fabio Quartararo, Monster Energy Yamaha Moto GP, P1. Jorge Martin, Prima Pramac Racing, Ducati, P2. Johann Zarco, Prima Pramac Racing, Ducati, P3.
Once again Fabio shows why he is the world champion, his riding skills making the difference on a Yamaha that is still sweet as a nut in the turns but underpowered, so hopefully, Fabio showing faith in Yamaha by signing for another two years will get the factory motivated to find some more power from the inline-four. Another thought, the next Yamahas in the results, Darryn Binder 12th and Franco Morbidelli 13th, were not even worth talking about.
Author: Martin Northern
Founder of Bike Directory
