MotoGP™: More records for Bagnaia and Michelin at Jerez

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) not only won the Gran Premio Red Bull de España (Round 6 of the 2022 MotoGPTM World Championship), but he also took advantage of the grip and consistency of his MICHELIN Power Slicks to establish several new records for Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. The Ducati rider finished clear of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), while Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ended up just shy of the podium to place four different bikemakers in the top four in another demonstration of the Michelin tire range’s versatility.  

Bagnaia combined with Michelin to post new qualifying- and race-lap records for Jerez (the former by half-a-second), in addition to taking the win and qualifying on pole position. He also improved on the previous race-duration benchmark for the Spanish venue by five seconds to complete his perfect weekend.

The Italian dominated Sunday’s grand prix for the whole 25 laps after getting away flawlessly from first on the grid and setting a blistering pace from the outset, aided by the fast warm-up performance of his MICHELIN Power Slicks. Under constant pressure from Quartararo (2nd, +0.28s), he set the best lap of the afternoon (1m37.669s) fifth time around as the Franco-Italian duo pulled gradually clear of their chasers.

Clearly confident in their tires, the two riders remained uncatchable all the way to the checkered flag which they reached almost 11 seconds before third-placed Espargaro.

Bagnaia is the fifth different winner from six grand prix starts so far this season.

Fourth-placed Marquez was followed home by Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) who only relinquished third spot in the closing stages. The top 10 – which included all six bikemakers – was rounded out by Joan Mir (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing), Marco Bezzechi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

On the tire front, the hot weather persuaded all the riders to fit hard and medium MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear, a pairing that emerged as the perfect match for the difficult circuit.

Quartararo continues to top the provisional Riders’ standings on 89 points, ahead of Aleix Espargaro (82) and Enea Bastianini (69).

The weekend’s program also starred the opening skirmishes of the 2022 FIM Enel MotoE World Cup for which Michelin has developed a new rear tire made up of 46 percent sustainable materials, with an even higher proportion of natural rubber and regenerated carbon black, in line with the Group’s Everything Sustainable plan. They didn’t disappoint and helped Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) to claim both races.

Next round: Shark Grand Prix de France, Le Mans (May 13-15).