Fabio Di Giannantonio overcame three race starts to claim a chaotic Catalan MotoGP race victory that was heavily impacted by two red flag incidents.
The race was overshadowed by two massive incidents that saw the race red-flagged – with Di Giannantonio collected as collateral damage in the first crash.
The first red flag was brought out after race leader Pedro Acosta’s bike cut out on the run to Turn 10, which was then hit by second-placed Alex Marquez directly behind and saw the Gresini bike split in half after a high-speed impact.
Eventual race winner Di Giannantonio was collected by a detached wheel from Marquez’s stricken bike, but was allowed to rejoin after getting his VR46 machine restarted at Turn 10.
The second incident occurred immediately after the red flag restart, with Johann Zarco making an error and collecting Luca Marini and Francesco Bagnaia, with the Frenchman getting stuck in between Bagnaia’s bike.
However, despite suffering from pain in his left hand, Di Giannantonio re-entered the action and claimed his second MotoGP victory after prevailing on the third race restart.
On the initial race start, Brad Binder had a problem off the first race start and was forced to withdraw into the pitlane before the start, signalling the start of KTM’s impending technical problems.
Much like in the Sprint race, Acosta made the best start from pole position and was able to cut across the fast start from Marquez on the outside of the front row to retain the lead in the first corner.
There was plenty of chaos over the course of the first lap however, with Raul Fernandez overtaking Marquez before the Gresini rider made contact with Jorge Martin and Zarco twice over the first three laps.
Acosta and Fernandez duelled for the lead of the race which allowed Marquez to close in from behind and join the battle, with his superior straightline speed from the Ducati paying dividends as took second from Fernandez on Lap 10.
Two laps later, Marquez attempted to use the slipstream once again to pass Acosta on the main straight, but the KTM rider toughed it out on the outside of Turn 1 to exit the first chicane with his lead intact.
However, just corners after his first attempt at an overtake was where the red flag came out. Acosta’s bike cut out on the run down to Turn 10, with Marquez directly behind and with nowhere to go as he smashed into the back of the KTM machine.
The resulting collision resulted in debris flying across the track from the Gresini machine that split in half and saw the race immediately red-flagged.
Marquez was taken to hospital for checks after narrowly avoiding the barriers, while Di Giannantonio, who was running seventh at the time, was collateral damage in the crash after being collected by a tyre that detached from Marquez’s bike.
All riders were allowed to rejoin for the 13-lap restart with the exceptions of Marquez and Enea Bastianini, who crashed out of the race on Lap 10. Di Giannantonio made it back to pitlane to restart, while Acosta was helped back to his garage by the Pramac Yamaha pair of Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The second restart saw the red flag come out immediately after a first corner mistake from Zarco and took out Bagnaia and Marini. Zarco was caught in between the rear wheel and the seat of Bagnaia’s bike, but was declared in a non-critical condition by the LCR Honda team, while the Italian pair were able to restart again.
In the third restart, there were no such issues. Acosta once again made the best start from pole position and led the race from the factory Aprilia of Martin and the Trackhouse Aprilia of Fernandez.
However, at Turn 5 Fernandez rode into the side of Martin and took out his factory counterpart, which ended both riders’ chances of winning the race although there was no further action taken by the stewards.
The crash between the Aprilias promoted Joan Mir into second and Bagnaia into third, despite the Italian suffering a wrist injury in his restart crash.
Di Giannantonio passed Bagnaia for second, and was immediately able to catch onto the back of the leading duo. Fermin Aldeguer and Ai Ogura also passed Bagnaia, and with five laps to spare both riders dragged themselves into contention for the race victory.
Shortly after overtaking Bagnaia, Di Giannantonio then produced an overtake on Mir and was straight onto him to the back of the leading Acosta.
The Italian then made his move on Acosta at Turn 10, where he was caught by Marquez’s debris, heading to the front with two laps to spare where he immediately managed to break away.
Ahead of the chaotic podium battle behind, Di Giannantonio crossed the line to seal his second MotoGP victory, and first in VR46 colours.
The battle for the podium heated up in the final stages, with Mir passing Acosta going onto the final lap. Both riders ran wide, which brought Aldeguer into contention as he tucked his Ducati under Acosta to steal third.
The podium positions remained locked in the final lap – Mir completed the race in second but was under investigation for a tyre pressure infringement, whilst Aldeguer took third.
Just behind, Ogura battled Acosta for fourth but made contact with the Spaniard’s handlebars and forced the long-time race leader to crash out at the final corner.
The Trackhouse rider crossed the line in fourth but received a three-second penalty to drop back to ninth, which promoted Bagnaia and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi into the top five.
Fabio Quartararo was closely behind in sixth, with Luca Marini and Brad Binder promoted to seventh and eighth respectively following Ogura’s penalty.
The Japanese rider slotted into ninth, while Diogo Moreira completed the top 10 after outdragging Alex Rins to the line, while Franco Morbidelli took 12th.
Maverick Vinales was 13th on his first race back after injury, as 14th-placed Jack Miller edged in front of team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu in the final points positions.
Fernandez finished 16th after his collision with Martin, while Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez took 17th.
Martin rounded out the classified runners after taking the chequered flag in 18th, almost a minute behind Di Giannantonio in the lead.
Acosta’s crash at the final corner saw him join the non-finishers list of the Catalan Grand Prix, alongside Zarco, Marquez and Bastianini.
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