MADRID, 1 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish rider Marc Márquez (Ducati) dominated the MotoGP race of the Aragon Grand Prix on Sunday, the twelfth round of the World Championship held at MotorLand Aragón, taking the victory ahead of his compatriots Jorge Martín (Ducati), leader of the championship after the fall of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), and Pedro Acosta (KTM).
In this way, the eight-time world champion, after numerous operations, complicated seasons and even a change of team, achieves a victory in the top category 1,043 days after the last one, achieved at the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
He also moved up to third place (229) in the general classification, behind only the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 276) and Jorge Martín (299) who leaves Alcañiz with the lead under his arm. The Madrid native arrived in Spain behind ‘Pecco’, but managed to make up the gap with a good sprint and, above all, with his second place this Sunday, which, together with Bagnaia’s fall due to his incident with Alex Márquez (Ducati), allows him to accumulate a 23-unit advantage.
Once the lights went out, the rider from Cervera defended his position of privilege and tried to escape, pursued by Pedro Acosta (KTM) and his brother Alex Márquez (Ducati) and with Jorge Martín (Ducati). Bagnaia had a bad start that condemned him to seventh place and forced him to react.
After a collision between the two on the second lap, Martín managed to overtake Acosta to move into second place on the fastest lap, although the eight-time champion continued to lead by two seconds, a gap that increased over time. Behind him, ‘Pecco’ caught up with Alex Márquez and the battle between them began.
The tension between the Gresini rider and the official Ducati rider came to a head with just six laps to go, when the Catalan rider’s bike ran over the Italian rider’s at turn 12 at MotorLand Aragón. Both riders ended up in the gravel and out of the race.
The biggest beneficiary of the incident, apart from Martín, was Acosta, who moved up to a podium position, although the first two were already far behind. Finally, Márquez returned to taste glory more than two years and 11 months later and Martín, with his second place, consolidated the lead that he rose to on Saturday in the sprint race.
Alex Rins (Yamaha) also finished ninth, while Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) was eleventh. Augusto Fernandez (KTM) finished thirteenth, Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) fifteenth and Raul Fernandez (Aprilia) sixteenth. Like Alex Marquez, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) was unable to finish, although in this case due to problems with his bike.