Bagnaia beats Binder in tense red-flagged race

Bagnaia spent much of the 24-lap Spanish GP fighting with the KTM duo of long-time leader Brad Binder and Jack Miller and only moved into the lead on lap 21.

The Ducati rider kept a relentless Binder at bay to score his second grand prix win of the year to retake the lead in the standings after erstwhile championship leader Marco Bezzecchi crashed out.

Sprint race winner Binder and Miller completed the podium to cap off a banner weekend for KTM, while Quartararo was 10th after an eventful afternoon for the Yamaha rider.

The race was red-flagged on the opening lap when Quartararo and RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira tangled at Turn 2.

Quartararo made a solid launch from 16th on the grid but found himself hemmed in between Bezzecchi – who had a slide exiting Turn 1 – and Oliveira.

The Frenchman could do nothing to avoid contact with Oliveira, which took both riders down and brought the red flags out as the air fence needed replacing as both riders required medical attention.

Quartararo was able to walk away with just some pain in his leg, but Oliveira had to be taken to the medical centre where he was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder.

The incident was placed under investigation and Quartararo was deemed to have been at fault, the Frenchman slapped with a long lap penalty as he came to the grid to take the restart.

At the original start, poleman Aleix Espargaro got swamped by both KTMs and the same thing happened at the restart.

Binder grabbed the holeshot from Miller and Pramac’s Jorge Martin, with Aprilia’s Espargaro shuffled down to fourth ahead of Bagnaia.

Bagnaia moved ahead of both Espargaro and Martin on the opening lap to occupy a podium spot, while Miller threw his KTM up the inside of Binder at the last corner on the second tour to take the lead.

Binder retaliated on the brakes into Turn 6 on lap four, while Bagnaia would do the same on Miller next time around with an aggressive move that drew the ire of the Australian.

It also copped Bagnaia a one-place demotion from the stewards, who forced the Ducati rider to surrender second to Miller on lap eight.

All of this allowed Binder to take a lead of eight tenths at the start of lap eight, though Miller was able to halve this gap come the end of lap 11.

Jack Miller, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

On lap 15, Bagnaia capitalised on Miller running…