Bastianini took his first win in MotoGP for the Gresini squad in its first race back as an independent team just over a year on from team founder Fausto Gresini’s death after his long battle with COVID-19.
The Italian kept clear of a late charge from Brad Binder on the factory KTM, who had a similar stunning race in the 2022 opener, ahead of long-time leader Honda’s Pol Espargaro who faded to third after running wide at Turn 1 when fighting Bastianini.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro narrowly missed out on the podium behind his brother Pol, with six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez in fifth for Honda on his first race since being ruled out with vision problems.
Despite promising practice pace, Suzuki duo Joan Mir and Alex Rins only managed sixth and seventh respectively, as Pramac’s Johann Zarco mugged defending MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo at the finish line by 0.007s to take eighth place.
It was a nightmare race for the factory Ducati squad, with Jack Miller…
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