Bagnaia at last as new Ducati hits form
MOTOGP JEREZ (ESP) 1 MAY ROUND 6/21
At Jerez last November, Ducati appeared to have come out of the blocks swinging with its 2022 Motogp bike. Francesco Bagnaia said the marque had improved an already “perfect” motorcycle, while world champion Fabio Quartararo was left in despair at the lack of progress Yamaha had made with its 2022 prototype. They had been the two best riders of 2021, so it was expected that both would lock horns from the first round of 2022 in the battle for the world championship.
Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez last weekend, that hadn’t happened. Yamaha’s lack of top speed hindered Quartararo in Qatar, Argentina and the US, but his Indonesia second place and dominant Algarve win made it clear that he was still very much a player in the title tussle.
Ducati, on the other hand, had won twice – but with its 2021 bike, the GP22 clearly not yet showing its true potential. Bagnaia, who won four times in 2021, had yet to stand on the podium. The Italian had been struggling to find the same front-end feeling that helped him to become such a strong contender last year on the GP21.
Steady set-up tweaks since round three in Argentina to help with weight transfer under braking slowly rebuilt his confidence, and at Jerez he was “back in my best shape”. Bagnaia, who obliterated the lap record to claim pole and end Quartararo’s
100% Jerez qualifying record, and the Frenchman were expected to be the main contenders for victory.
And so that transpired. A gap of almost 11 seconds split second from Aprilia’s
Aleix Espargaro in third, as Bagnaia took the chequered flag just 0.285s clear of Quartararo after a tense 25 laps in the blistering heat of a packed-out Jerez circuit.
Quartararo knew before the lights went out that his race would be dictated by his start. The top-speed deficit of the Yamaha wasn’t as prominent at the tighter Jerez track, but front-tyre pressure would be the key issue following other bikes.
Quartararo and Bagnaia got off the line equally well, but that new-found front-end confidence in the GP22 allowed Bagnaia to take the holeshot at Turn 1. He wouldn’t relinquish that lead, his pace after the first lap never getting slower than a 1m38.4s. Nor did Quartararo’s but, feeling his front-tyre pressure go up chasing the Ducati, he was forced to put some clean air between himself and Bagnaia.
At one stage Bagnaia’s lead grew to close to a second, before Quartararo mounted a late charge that cut this advantage right down. But Bagnaia continued to be unbeatable on the anchors, Quartararo forced to throw in the towel in the final few corners as it became apparent that an overtaking move “was not possible”.
But on a day in which a badly behaved Suzuki left Alex Rins 19th and erstwhile championship leader Enea Bastianini could
only manage eighth on his Gresini Ducati, Quartararo has taken a seven-point lead in the standings. It will be vital for him to grow this next time out on home turf at Le Mans while Bagnaia still lingers 33 points adrift.
Quartararo’s nearest title rival presently is Aprilia’s Espargaro, the marque finally losing the concession status it’s run under since 2015. While this will mean an immediate end of unlimited testing and free engine development from 2023, Espargaro says his “real” results mean Aprilia is firmly in the 2022 championship hunt.
Marc Marquez currently isn’t, but a fighting fourth in a Spanish GP from which he was expecting a maximum of fifth showed that bubbling underneath a 2022 Honda package still far from its best, the six-time world champion dominator of old is still in there… somewhere. He beat a satisfied Jack Miller who, no matter what happens now, seems destined to be on his way out of Ducati. Sixth for Joan Mir left a sour taste in the Suzuki rider’s mouth, but it was another solid points haul on a bad day.
With the GP22 seemingly blossoming, the Gp21-mounted Bastianini is going to start finding his season much harder. But as he looks to secure a factory Ducati for next year, eighth place at Jerez will still serve him much better than a fourth crash in five races for Pramac’s Jorge Martin, the Spaniard sliding off his bike at Turn 1 on lap one and leaving Jerez pointless once again.