‘Pecco’ has his first win in the Italian GP despite the best efforts of Fabio Quartararo
The Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has scored his first victory in his home MotoGP™ race, the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley. Despite falling deep into the top 10 in the opening corners at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, he hit the front before the halfway mark and banked an important 25 points to get his title bid back on track. World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was a commendable second on a Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ entry which had to make up speed in the corners, while Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro finished third for the fourth race in a row.
VR46 off to a good start as Bagnaia drops back
Ducati had swept the top five in qualifying but, rather than Bagnaia being on the front row, it was Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) starting from pole, his fellow rookie Marco Bezzecchi sitting second on the grid on one of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team bikes, and the latter’s team-mate Luca Marini alongside them. Di Giannantonio made a good launch and emerged with the lead from San Donato (Turn 1) despite an attack from the VR46 duo, but Marini got past as they turned into Materassi (Turn 4) as Bezzecchi slotted into third position as 23 laps lay ahead of them.
Bezzecchi overtook Di Giannantonio through Scarperia/Palagio (Turns 10 and 11), before Quartararo snatched fourth spot back from Aleix Espargaro on Lap 2 after the Aprilia rider had made a bold move down the hill on the opening lap. Quartararo was third when he slipped by Di Giannantonio at Scarperia/Palagio on Lap 2, but he had a serious challenge on his hands to try and keep the Ducatis at bay given the power they had on tap up the main straight.
A new Ducati threat emerged when Bagnaia, who had been shuffled back to ninth on…