Perfect Pecco powered through this weekend in dominating fashion. He did the double and showed why he is a multiple world champion—no one could come close to him this weekend, including fellow Factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini. The Beast managed to pick up some solid championship points with a P4 in the Sprint, and a P3 put him on the podium on Sunday, but the two riders in front of him this weekend were in a class of their own.
@Red Bull
Prima Pramac Racing's Jorge Martin was the only one who came close to challenging Pecco, and even then, it was only for a few laps right at the start of the race before Martin fell back and settled for a duo of second places. A much smarter ride from the Spaniard, who can be known to throw away points; settling for strong results sees him leave this weekend just 5 points behind Pecco. Teammate Franco Morbidelli also looked strong for parts of the weekend before settling for a P8 in the race and P6 in the Sprint.
Double disaster befell Gresini Ducati on Saturday, with both brothers crashing out of the Sprint. Alex Marquez had a quiet Sunday with a P10 finish. His brother and teammate, Marc Marquez, had anything but a quiet Sunday; his ride height device didn't engage correctly on the start line, giving him an awful launch that saw him fall back down the grid. He did manage to battle his way through to cross the line in P4.
@VR46
VR46 saw a crash for Fabio Di Giannantonio that forced him to retire with a dislocated shoulder. Holding down the fort was Marco Bezzecchi, who showed some form this weekend after what has been a disappointing season. He collected a P8 in the Sprint and a P6 in the Grand Prix.
An awful start to the weekend came the way of Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro. Multiple crashes had you thinking it would be a weekend to forget for the rider, but he managed to turn it around, picking up a podium in the Sprint with a P3 and following this up with a P9 in the Grand Prix. Fellow factory Aprilia rider Maverick Viñales had a weak weekend, finishing P7 in the Grand Prix after a pointless P11 in the Sprint.
It was a similar story of poor results at Trackhouse Racing, with both riders falling outside of the points on Saturday. Raul Fernandez retired from the race on Sunday with just two laps remaining, and Miguel Oliveira picked up P12, collecting just 4 points. A tough weekend for the American-based team.
@Rob Gray (Polarity Photo)
KTM had a strong showing for their home race, with three riders in orange this weekend as test rider Pol Espargaro joined the grid. He came home in P9 in the Sprint and P11 in the race, a very strong result for the retired rider. Regular rider Jack Miller showed strength on Saturday, coming home in a respectable 5th place. However, he was unable to translate this into more success on Sunday and crashed out while battling. Brad Binder continued his run of solid finishes with a P7 in the Sprint and a P5 in the Grand Prix.
Saturday was not the weekend for GasGas, with Pedro Acosta channeling his inner Joan Mir by crashing out and running away from it. Both he and teammate Augusto Fernandez were unable to collect points on Saturday, but they managed to secure some on Sunday with a P13 and P15, respectively.
The same old story occurred with the Japanese manufacturers, who still struggle halfway through the season. LCR Honda managed to collect 2 points after Takaaki Nakagami picked up a P14 in the Grand Prix, but Factory Yamaha and Factory Honda collected no points in another frustrating weekend.
Comments