MONTMELO: Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro won the Catalunya Grand Prix sprint in front of his home fans on Saturday after three different riders crashed while leading the race, including Ducati’s reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia on the final lap.

Gresini Racing’s Marc Marquez finished an astonishing second despite starting 14th on the grid and losing a part of his aero package in a collision, while rookie Pedro Acosta celebrated his 20th birthday by completing an all-Spanish podium.

“It’s like a fairytale, I don’t have the words to describe it. The track was super slippery but when I saw the lap times [of the leaders] I knew it was impossible to finish with that pace,” Espargaro, who announced he is retiring at the end of the season earlier in the week, said.

Espargaro could cap a momentous week by adding the main MotoGP race on Sunday — he did the double last year — for which he starts on pole.

Espargaro had smashed the lap record to take pole but the Spaniard had a poor start, slipping back to fifth by the end of the first lap, while Bagnaia took the lead with Acosta on his tail.

Acosta soon took over the lead only for Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez, aggressive on the throttle, to elbow past Bagnaia and then Acosta himself. Brad Binder then took advantage of the chaos to work his way up to second.

It all went wrong for leader Fernandez when he had just started pulling away, crashing out at the front at turn 10 and pounding the gravel with his fists in frustration.

Bagnaia, meanwhile, had moved up and had only Binder in front of him, until the South African crashed out at turn five.

Bagnaia himself then gave Espargaro an early departure gift when he crashed on the final lap, handing the Aprilia rider his first sprint victory of the season.

Marquez was running third but once again this season he made a last-lap overtake, this time on Acosta, to grab second place.

“The track was slippery but the pace was there,” Marquez said. “In the last lap I was able to go faster (even though) my rear tyre wasn’t in very good shape.”

Championship leader Jorge Martin of Pramac Racing finished fourth and has a 37-point lead over six-times MotoGP champion Marquez, who has now moved up to second in the standings.

Earlier Espargaro had produced a sublime performance in qualifying.

“I do not have 100 pole positions to my name,” said Espargaro, who is seeking a fourth MotoGP success. “Therefore, even if it is just the qualifying I am very happy to have achieved this at home. I made several errors on my first fast lap but my second is perhaps the best one of my life.”

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2024