MotoGP: home win for Bastianini as more records tumble for Michelin at Misano
The Gran Premio Pramac dell’Emilia-Romagna (Round 14 of the MotoGPTM World Championship) was won by Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team), ahead of the championship pace-setter Jorge Martin (Pramac Prima Racing) and Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGPTM). Michelin's slicks proved particularly competitive once more and helped to establish new track, race-lap and shortest race-duration records for Misano. Read on for more about the weekend's events in Italy.
Bastianini started strongly from third on the grid, posting a new race-lap record as early as Lap 2 before easing into second spot behind Martin three laps later. Drawing maximum benefit from the consistency and grip of his medium-compound front and rear MICHELIN Power Slicks, the factory Ducati rider waited until the last of the afternoon's 27 laps to take the lead and pocket his second victory of the season after his success at Silverstone.
It was also Ducati's 100th win and enough to sew up this year's Manufacturers' title. Meanwhile, second for Martin in both the sprint and grand prix has taken him 24 points clear of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) at the top of the Riders' table.
The Italian was contesting his 100th MotoGPTM start at Misano and celebrated by qualifying on pole with a new track record (1m.30.031s). He then won Saturday's sprint and led the following day's grand prix for the first three laps before falling behind Martin and Bastianini. A run of quick times saw him notch up the best race lap (1m30.877s) 16th time around as he attempted to catch the leaders but he ended up squandering valuable championship points with a mistake on Lap 21.
The MICHELIN Power Slick range performed strongly again, helping to improve the track record several times before Bagnaia established the definitive new benchmark during Q2. Sunday's showpiece began at a very fast pace and the former race-lap record was initially bettered as early as Lap 2. Again, it was Bagnaia who came away with the new reference when he shaved 0.68s off the effort posted by Marc Marquez at the venue two weeks ago. Last but not least, Bastianini completed the race-distance in a time of 41m14.653s, close to 19 seconds faster than it took Martin to win at Misano in 2023.
Tire choices were relatively simple, with the front medium and rear soft MICHELIN Power Slicks being everyone's preferred fitment for the sprint. Practically the entire field switched to the medium rear for the grand prix itself, the only exception being Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) who stayed on the soft rear.
Martin now tops the provisional Riders' standings, 24 points clear of Bagnaia. Bastianini is third (+59 points) and Marquez fourth (+60).
Next round: Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia, Mandalika (September 27-29).