Francesco Bagnaia moved clear of Brad Binder in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez to secure his second win of 2023 to snatch the points lead.
The factory Ducati rider maintained his fifth place starting spot following a decent getaway from the second start of the day – a red flag period having been enforced to clear up an incident between Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira on the opening tour of the original race – though soon began to make progress after passing pole-man Aleix Espargaro at Turn 5 straight away.
Just moments later he grabbed away third from Jorge Martin with a bold around-the-outside pass at Turn 6, the reigning world champion soon setting his sights on KTM duo Brad Binder and Jack Miller out front, who had both made lightning starts.
A move on Miller at Turn 6 after the Aussie ran wide resulted in contact between the pair, Bagnaia going through initially before later being ordered to drop back behind – though he finally made the position his as the race entered its final third.
By this point sprint race winner Binder was starting to struggle with his tyres, Bagnaia posting a fastest lap of the race with only a handful of circulations remaining to make clear his intentions of batting away his two successive DNF’s in the last two full-length races.
Bagnaia heaped heavy pressure on the lead KTM before finally diving through to the leadership at the final bend with just a couple laps remaining, a position he held to the flag despite Binder finding a second wind and attempting to get close across the final tour.
The Italian’s second win of 2023 also means he moves back into the series lead ahead of VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi, who saw a potential top ten result slip away after crashing at Turn 6 late on – an error that now leaves 22 points adrift of his countryman heading to Le Mans next time out.
Miller meanwhile managed to hold onto third to make it two factory KTM’s on the rostrum, the ’21 Spanish GP victor pulling away from Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin in the closing laps to secure the position.
Espargaro completed a rather anonymous encounter in fifth for Aprilia having been unable to profit from his pole position, while Luca Marini narrowly held of KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa for sixth on the run to the line.
Alex Marquez claimed eighth on his Gresini-run Ducati having struggled for speed throughout, while LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami headed home Fabio Quartararo – who was able to restart following his crash in the original contest – despite the Yamaha man having to serve a pair of long-lap punishments after he failed to take his first – for his part in his clash with Oliveira – properly.
Oliveira was unable to take the restart after sustaining a dislocated shoulder in the crash, the Portuguese pilot transported to the medical centre swiftly after the incident.
Maverick Vinales saw a top ten result go begging after crashing out from ninth on the very final lap, while Johann Zarco went down from fifth after losing the front of his Pramac Ducati at the fast Turn 5 just moments before Bezzecchi’s incident.
Americas GP victor Alex Rins was unable to recapture his Texan magic after crashing early on, while fellow Honda rider Joan Mir suffered yet another spill as his struggles to get a handle on his new RC213-V continued.
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