Bagnaia, starting from pole position, for the initial moments dominated the race, with Martin chasing closely behind, followed by Vinales and KTM’s Brad Binder. However, chaos unfolded due to a multi-rider mishap at Turn 1, forcing out an early red flag.
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Bagnaia suffered a brutal highside crash, leaving him stranded on the track and at the mercy of Binder’ KTM, who was also in a very tough spot to have prevented anything. Enea Bastianini, Johann Zarco, Alex Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi were all in the gravel after the massive collision.
As the race resumed twenty minutes later, Vinales led the pack, under pressure from Martin and Espargaro, who hails from a stone’s throw away from the Montmelo track. The Spaniard soon surged into second place, hot on the heels of his Aprilia teammate. Miguel Oliveira on another Aprilia followed in third.
On the other hand, Binder, who was dealing with tyre issues, had to retire from the race and immediately went to the medical centre to check on Bagnaia’s condition.
At the midway point, Espargaro launched an all-out assault on the leader, setting the stage for a nail-biting final few laps.
With Bagnaia potentially out for a long period with suspected injuries to his knees, Martin now sits 50 point adrift of the Italian in the 2023 Championship. Zarco finished fourth, ahead of Oliviera and Alex Marquez, who managed to cross the finish line at sixth after restarting.
Fabio Quartararo saw the chequered flag at 8th after recovering from 18th position and was followed by Miller, Fernandez, and Giannantonio. The VR46 duo of Marini and Bezzecchi crossed the finish line at 11th and 12th respectively as Honda’s Marc Marquez headed home at 13th.
Bezzecchi is now third in the championship standings with 189 points bagged so far. He is led by Martin in second with 210 points and leader Bagnaia with 260 points scored so far.