Agencies
Barcelona
Italian Francesco Bagnaia came up with a commanding show to win the Barcelona MotoGP sprint on Saturday to esnure that the battle for the world championship title goes to the last race of the season.
Championship leader Jorge Martin finished third behind Bagnaia’s Ducati-Lenovo teammate Enea Bastianini and will take a reduced 19-point lead into Sunday’s Grand Prix.
“Job done for today but tomorrow we need to repeat what we did,” Bagnaia told TNT.
“I just tried to be smooth in the first sector. As soon as I was leading I knew my pace was good enough to open a gap. That was the objective for today. I didn’t need to push too much to open the gap.”
Bagnaia arrived in Barcelona with a 24-point deficit and knowing that he effectively needed to win both the sprint and the grand prix to have any chance of denying Martin a first world title.
The Italian has already won 10 of 19 grands prix this season but his lack of consistency has let him down. But having won in Malaysia a fortnight ago he was again in imperious form as he set the pace in qualifying to take pole for both the sprint and the Grand Prix.
Martin, in contrast, could only qualify fourth, on the second row of the grid.
While Bagnaia ran his own race up ahead Martin was locked in a thrilling duel with Bastianini, the two swapping places throughout until the final lap when the Italian swept past on turn 5 and held on for second.
“Tomorrow will be another story but I’m happy with the podium,” said Martin, who has been the most consistent driver of the season and remains the overwhelming favourite to win his first world championship.
If Bagnaia is to collect a third consecutive title, he will have to win Sunday’s grand prix and hope that the Madrid rider finishes no better than ninth.
Staring grid for Sunday’s GP
Front rowcTypeface:>Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati), Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia), Marc Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini)
2nd row: Jorge Martín (ESP/Ducati-Pramac), Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Ducati-Pramac), Pedro Acosta (ESP/GasGas-Tech3)
3rd rowcTypeface:> Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia), Enea Bastianini (ITA/Ducati), Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46)
4th row: Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha), Alex Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini), Johann Zarco (FRA/Honda-LCR)
5th row: Joan Mir (ESP/Honda), Miguel Oliveira (POR/Aprilia-Trackhouse), Alex Rins (ESP/Yamaha)
6th row: Luca Marini (ITA/Honda), Raul Fernandez (ESP/Aprilia-Trackhouse), Brad Binder (RSA/KTM)
7th rowcTypeface:> Jack Miller (AUS/KTM), Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR), Augusto Fernandez (ESP/GasGas-Tech3)
8th row: Michele Pirro (ITA/Ducati-VR46), Stefan Bradl (GER/Team HRC).
