Nuvola azzurra: Bagnaia reigns as Bastianini charges past Martin and Marquez at Mugello Ducati Lenovo paint Mugello blue as the reigning Champion lays down the gauntlet and the Beast has his Sprint revenge Sunday, 02 June 2024 Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) completed a near-perfect weekend on home turf with a masterclass victory in the Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo. The Italian stormed to the lead from lights out and then kept it on perfect rails to stay a tantalising distance ahead of Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) for much of the race, with the gap going up and down but never quite in range for an attack. That instead came from Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) as the #23 put together an almighty final charge.
The Beast duelled Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and then put in a late burst of lightning speed to catch Martin, that enough to put him within striking distance at the final corner. And strike he did. Slicing up the inside and keeping it clean as anything, the #23 served his Tissot Sprint revenge to make it a Ducati Lenovo 1-2, with Martin forced to settle for third.
As the lights went out, Bagnaia went full Bagnaia. Second around San Donato as he threaded the needle from the second row, he immediately then lined up and pickpocketed Martin to go into the lead.
From there, the hammer was down as Martin dug in to hold on, with Bastianini third ahead of Marc Marquez and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing). The chess game was on from there on out. Three tenths, six tenths, eight tenths, five tenths; Martin wasn’t getting dropped but he wasn’t consistently able to stay close enough to attack the #1 in the lead. Meanwhile, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) was on the march. Marquez made a move on Bastianini into San Donato and headed wide, with the #23 hitting back immediately, and that put the rookie superstar right on Marquez’ tail. The GASGAS shadowed him round the lap but couldn’t find a way through, then heading wide at the final corner and forced to watch the Gresini disappear out of striking distance.
At the front, the chess match rolled on. Bagnaia led Martin led Bastianini, with Marquez then starting to harry the #23. Acosta was a few tenths further back, with Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) starting to come under pressure from Viñales with 12 to go. It was tense holding stations, with the one small ripple in the calm coming as Martin went deep into San Donato with 10 laps to go, but he gathered it back up.
By six laps to go, it wasn’t check mate but it was starting to heat up into a grandstand finish. Marc Marquez finally made a move on Bastianini, attacking into San Donato with a clean move that gave the #23 no right of reply. His mission seemed then to catch Martin, but Martin was starting to cut the gap to the front once again. By three laps to go, it had been halved from the eight or nine tenth maximum Bagnaia had had at any point. Game on?
Very much so, but not for the #89. Instead, Bagnaia threw down the gauntlet and disappeared again as Bastianini stole the spotlight. Through on Marc Marquez at Scarperia, the exact same style of move the #93 had pulled on him, the Beast was on a charge and his next target was the other half of the Sprint tangle that had sent him into the gravel. Locked on and flying, as Bagnaia crossed the line to take his third Italian GP win in a row as part of his second Mugello double, Bastianini was homing in. Into the very final corner the Ducati Lenovo Team rider found space on the inside to complete the fairtytale 1-2 for the team, and in some serious style as pandemonium erupted in the grandstands. Over the line with time in hand over Martin, Bastianini followed Bagnaia home – and Martin’s lead is cut to just 18 points.
Still, it was another podium finish and a good haul of points, and it was ahead of fellow frontrunner Marc Marquez, who was forced to settle for fourth. Acosta ended up in a lonelier ride for fifth after he’d lost touch with the front group.
Photo : Gianfranco Avallone ©
Photo : Marco Avallone ©
