2022 Spanish MotoGP, Jerez Circuit – Full Race Results

* Rookie

Francesco Bagnaia holds off Fabio Quartararo to claim his first win (and podium) of the season in the 2022 Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.

It was also the first race win for the GP22 Ducati.

Almost 11 seconds behind, Aleix Espargaro won a close fight to claim the final podium place, moving him to second in the world championship behind Quartararo while Aprilia has now lost technical concessions.

• CLICK HERE for the new 2022 MotoGP world championship standings

Bagnaia and Quartararo retained their first and second places on the grid into turn 1, with Jack Miller best of the rest.

But the leaders soon began to pull clear of Miller, creating hopes of a long-awaited Bagnaia vs Quartararo victory duel, missing last season despite their one-two in the world championship standings.

Reigning champion Quartararo studied Bagnaia from a safe distance of 0.5-0.8s for much of the race, perhaps wary of escalating front tyre pressure.

But second was where Quartararo would stay. The Frenchman applying constant pressure on Bagnaia but never quite close enough to attack.

Having lost touch with the leaders, Miller, last year’s winner, soon came under attack from Marc Marquez and Espargaro for the final podium position.

The Australian held firm until Marquez, who had warned after qualifying that even a top-five would be difficult, finally squeezed past the Ducati with five laps to go.

“4

But the battle certainly wasn’t over: Espargaro overtook both Miller and Marquez (who ran wide after producing one of his famous front-end saves) at the final corner, with Joan Mir also looking to join the fight!

Now able to unleash his superior corner speed, Espargaro broke 1.7s clear of the Marquez-Miller battle, won by the Honda rider.

LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami made early gains for fourth but was forced wide at the end of the opening lap by a Marquez pass and dropped back to where he had started, in seventh, where he remained.

“5

Former title leader Enea Bastianini took eighth for Gresini with VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi top rookie in ninth. KTM’s Brad Binder completed the top ten.

Alex Rins began the race tied with Quartararo for the title lead but was unable to repeat his opening lap heroics in COTA, remaining well outside the top ten before running through the gravel at Turn 12, dropping him to 22nd. He eventually crossed the line 19th.

Espargaro’s Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales was buried down in 20th position in the early stages on his way to 14th.

“6

Pramac Ducati riders Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco, Stefan Bradl and Darryn Binder all fell. 

As expected, all riders chose the hard front and medium rear tyres.

Tech3 KTM’s Raul Fernandez, ruled out of last Sunday’s Portimao round due to a right-hand injury in qualifying, was also been declared unfit for Jerez.

Factory test riders Bradl (Honda) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) were making wild-card card appearances this weekend, ahead of Monday’s official test.
 

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Spanish MotoGP schedule – UK Time
 

Friday April 29

8.00-8.40am – Moto3 Free Practice 1

8.55-9.40am – MotoGP Free Practice 1

9.55-10.35am – Moto2 Free Practice 1

12.15-12.55pm – Moto3 Free Practice 2

1.10-1.55pm – MotoGP Free Practice 2

2.10pm-2.50pm – Moto2 Free Practice 2

 

Saturday April 30

8.00-8.40am – Moto3 Free Practice 3

8.55-9.40am – MotoGP Free Practice 3

9.55am-10.35am – Moto2 Free Practice 3

11.35am-11.50am – Moto3 Qualifying 1

12-12.15pm – Moto3 Qualifying 2

12.30-1pm – MotoGP Free Practice 4

1.10-1.25pm – MotoGP Qualifying 1

1.35-1.50pm – MotoGP Qualifying 2

2.10-2.25pm – Moto2 Qualifying 1

2.35pm-2.50pm – Moto2 Qualifying 2

 

Sunday May 1

8.00-8.10am – Moto3 warm-up

8.20-8.30am – Moto2 warm-up

8.40-9am – MotoGP warm-up

10am – Moto3 race

11.20am – Moto2 race

1pm – MotoGP race