MotoGP Mugello: Pecco Bagnaia dominates to secure Italian Grand Prix double

Pecco Bagnaia’s sensational weekend continued at Mugello on Sunday afternoon as he completed the double onboard the factory Ducati.

The reigning champion had to start the race from fifth on the grid following his three-place grid penalty for an incident with Alex Marquez on Friday, but he soon solved that problem with another sensational start.

Bagnaia was on the outside on the run down to turn one, and stayed there, going by his rivals before snatching the lead away from Jorge Martin at turn two. That was job done for Bagnaia who controlled proceedings for the remainder of the race.

It’s Bagnaia’s third consecutive Grand Prix victory at Mugello, whilst he’s also won both Sprint races held at the iconic circuit.

Enea Bastianini ensured that the celebrations didn’t end there for the factory Ducati team and the Italian fans. The ‘Beast’ snatched third spot away from Marc Marquez on the penultimate lap before slotting in down the inside of Martin at the final corner to cross the line in second…much to the delight of the 81,627 fans in attendance.

Bagnaia’s double means that he’s now only 18 points behind Martin in the championship standings. Marquez is now 35 points behind the championship leader, with Bastianini a further 22 points back in fourth.

Pedro Acosta was the best of the rest in fifth, albeit 7.501s behind the race winner, further showcasing the dominance of Ducati’s main quartet of riders. Franco Morbidelli was sixth on the second of the Prima Pramac Racing Ducatis, narrowly beating Fabio Di Giannantonio to the line.

Maverick Vinales was the leading Aprilia rider in eighth, whilst Alex Marquez and Brad Binder completed the top 10. Aleix Espargaro was 11^th on his final Italian Grand Prix appearance, coming home ahead of Raul Fernandez and Marco Bezzecchi. Miguel Oliveira and Alex Rins secured the final two points available.

Jack Miller’s difficult 2024 continued down in 16^th, with Red Bull KTM teammate Pol Espargaro finishing just behind him. Fabio Quartararo, Johann Zarco, Luca Marini and Lorenzo Savadori were the final classified riders.

A frustrated Augusto Fernandez returned to the pits at the end of lap five and retired from the race. Moments later, Joan Mir’s weekend came to a premature end when he crashed his Repsol Honda at turn one. Takaaki Nakagami became the second Honda rider to retire from the race when he crashed at turn 12 on lap 10.

The MotoGP teams will return to the Mugello circuit on Monday (June 3) for a one-day test, before heading home for an extended break before the Dutch TT at Assen on June 28-30.

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Pecco Bagnaia is a MotoGP sprint race winner for the first time in 2024 after dominating the opening race of the weekend at Mugello.

Bagnaia made the perfect start from second on the grid and led comfortably heading into turn one. From that point onwards nobody was able to get within striking distance of the two-time premier class champion.

It’s Bagnaia’s first sprint victory since his Red Bull Ring success last August, whilst he also claws back 12 valuable points on championship leader Jorge Martin, who crashed out of third at turn one on lap eight.

Martin had already been involved in some drama after he and Enea Bastianini clashed at he first corner, with the latter crashing out as a result. The FIM MotoGP Stewards decided that no further action was needed for the incident. A few laps later Martin was in the same gravel trap as Bastianini. It’s the first-ever DNF for Martin in a sprint race.

Marc Marquez had already overtaken Martin for second when the latter crashed, but the Gresini Racing Ducati rider had nothing for the dominant Bagnaia. It’s Marquez’s fifth second-place sprint finish of 2024.

The result means that Bagnaia moves on to 128 points, 27 points behind Martin, whilst Marquez is a further five points back in third.

Pedro Acosta completed the podium just a few hours after it was confirmed to the world that he will be in the factory Red Bull KTM team next season. It’s Acosta’s second sprint race podium of the season.

Franco Morbidelli equalled his best finish of the year in fourth ahead of Maverick Vinales, whilst a great start by Brad Binder saw him recover from 13^th on grid to sixth. Fabio Di Giannantonio finished seventh, whilst Alex Marquez, Aleix Espargaro and Raul Fernandez completed the top 10.

Marco Bezzecchi and Jack Miller crossed the line in 11^th and 12^th respectively, coming home ahead of Alex Rins and the returning Pol Espargaro. Johann Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami, Augusto Fernandez, Lorenzo Savadori and Luca Marini were the final riders to finish the race.

Miguel Oliveira and Fabio Quartararo crashed on the second lap when the former tucked the front whilst going down the inside of the Frenchman. The collision was deemed to be a racing incident by the FIM MotoGP Stewards.

Joan Mir returned to the Repsol Honda garage at the end of lap six and retired from the race.

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Jorge Martin smashed the lap record at Mugello to secure his third pole position of the 2024 MotoGP season.

The Prima Pramac Racing Ducati rider wasn’t able to challenge for the top spots on Friday but came out fighting this morning in the Italian sun, producing a new all-time lap record at the first attempt in Q2. Martin posted a 1:44.504 to claim top spot and was left unchallenged for the remainder of the session.

Pecco Bagnaia qualified second but will only start the sprint race from that position due to a three-place grid penalty handed to him for impeding Alex Marquez during Practice 1. Bagnaia ended up with the circuit to himself at the beginning of his second run, but despite being faster in the opening three sectors, was unable to dethrone Martin.

Maverick Vinales completes the front row, whilst Marc Marquez qualified fourth despite crashing at Scarperia (T11). The Gresini Racing Ducati man was on a stunning lap when he lost the front.

Enea Bastianini was fifth on the second factory Ducati, whilst Franco Morbidelli completed the second row after coming through Q1. Pedro Acosta heads row three alongside Alex Marquez and Aleix Espargaro.

Alex Rins (10^th), Miguel Oliveira (11^th) and Raul Fernandez (12^th) complete the opening four rows of the grid at Mugello.

Brad Binder was the best of the rest in Q1 as all four KTM machines failed to make it out of the session. Binder will start from 13^th on the grid, whilst Jack Miller suffered his worst qualifying performance of the season in 19^th.

Pol Espargaro, riding as a wildcard entrant for the factory KTM team, crashed on the exit of turn 10 during Q1 and was left momentarily in the middle of the circuit, with Takaaki Nakagami thankfully avoiding the KTM racer. Espargaro qualified 21^st, just behind Tech3 GasGas rider Augusto Fernandez (20^th).

Elsewhere, Fabio Di Giannantonio will start his home Grand Prix from 14^th on the grid, whilst Fabio Quartararo will start alongside him in 15^th. Marco Bezzecchi was 16^th, ahead of Honda’s Joan Mir and Johann Zarco.

Luca Savadori (22^nd), Nakagami (23^rd) and Luca Marini (24^th) complete the grid at Mugello. Saturday’s sprint race is due to begin at 14:00 (UK Time).