Bastianini claims third win of 2022 after Bagnaia crashes out

The Gresini Ducati rider looked poised to duke it out for victory at Le Mans with factory counterpart Bagnaia as the pair emerged with the strongest pace late on.

But a crash for Bagnaia with seven laps remaining gifted Bastianini a win that has thrust him back into championship contention after a tough recent run of races.

Jack Miller got the holeshot off the line from second on the grid, with Bastianini moving into second ahead of a fast-starting Alex Rins.

Poleman Bagnaia quickly regained third from Rins, while home hero Fabio Quartararo went backwards from fourth on the grid on his Yamaha – the world champion dropping back to eighth.

Quartararo’s afternoon almost ended in disaster at the end of the opening lap when he scythed past LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami into Turn 11.

Nakagami retaliated into the next turn and forced Quartararo out wide, with Marc Marquez on the factory Honda seizing the opportunity to snatch sixth from the pair of them – Quartararo almost coming into contact with the Spaniard.

A mistake for Nakagami at the Dunlop chicane moments later, however, allowed Quartararo back into seventh, and he would get ahead of Marquez on the fourth lap.

At the front, both Bagnaia and Rins were able to get ahead of Bastianini going onto the second lap, though the Suzuki rider’s race would only last until the third lap when he ran off at the fast Turn 2 right-hander and crashed when he bounced back onto the circuit at the Dunlop chicane.

Miller and Bagnaia pulled away by around a second at the start of the fourth tour, with Bagnaia taking the lead from his Ducati team-mate into Turn 6 when the Australian ran wide on lap four.

Miller’s pace would continue to fade as Bastianini came through on lap 12 into Turn 8, with the Gresini rider setting off on his chase for his third win of the season.

Behind, Joan Mir on the sole-remaining Suzuki was up into the podium battle and was closing down Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro for third when he crashed on…